Index marginally lower as turnover increases
  1. Home
  2. Local Weekly Roundups
  3. Index marginally lower as turnover increases

Index marginally lower as turnover increases

October 10, 2015
|In Local Weekly Roundups
|By Jesmond Mizzi Financial Advisors

MSE Trading Report for week ending October 9, 2015

The MSE Index failed to sustain its recent positive trend as it lost 0.7 per cent over the previous week to close at 4,320.804 points. Activity was spread over 14 equities of which eight lost ground, three gained in value while another three closed unchanged amounting to a total turnover of €875k – a 22 per cent increase.

FIMBank plcheaded the list of fallers as its share price plunged by 8.9 per cent to close at $0.451 as 70,000 shares changed hands over five trades.

Meanwhile, Bank of Valletta plc (BOV)failed to support its recent gainshaving eased 0.4 per cent to close at €2.38. BOV was the most liquid equity for the week as 54 trades of 113,647 shares worth €270k were executed.HSBC Bank Malta plc closed unchanged at €1.81 as 28 trades of 57,808 shares were concluded.

In the same sector, Mapfre Middlesea plc shares retracted some of their recent gains as six transactions of 5,785 shares pushed the share price down by 4.8 per cent to close at its weekly high of €2.17, recovering from a weekly low of €2.111.

The only financial equity to close the week in the black was Lombard Bank Malta plc as 14 transactions of 67,607 shares pushed the share price up 3.3 per cent to reach a 46-month high of €2.22.

A significant decline was registered in the share price ofGlobalCapital plc after trading for the first time since the Listing Authority’s announcement to terminate the suspension of listing and trading in the company’s securities. Its share price declined by 6.3 per cent on a low volume of 2,000 shares to close at €0.75. During the week the company announced that EIP plc has acquired 1,180,000 ordinary shares in the company representing 8.93 per cent of the issued share capital of the company.

MaltaPost plc, in which Lombard Bank Malta plc holds a majority shareholding, registered a 2.9 per cent increase over a single trade of 2,776 shares to close at an all-time high of €1.75.

Similarly, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc shares closed at an all-time high of €5.80 as its share price gained 0.9 per cent over eight transactions of 4,529 shares.

Elsewhere, Malta International Airport plcshares lost 0.6 per cent over 11 deals of 25,609 shares to close at €3.83. On Friday, this equity recovered some of the losses for the week after the companyannounced the traffic results for the month of September, with passengers passing through Malta International Airport exceeding 500,000 for the third successive month, a three-month record streak never seen before.

For the first time ever, more than 1.6 million passengers travelled through the airport in just three months. With a total of 502,823 passengers travelling through the airport last month, this marks an 8.6 per cent rise over the number of passengers at Malta International Airport when compared to September 2014. The average seat load factor for the month, which measures the number of filled seats on every flight, rose marginally to 85.8 per cent last month.

In the IT sector,RS2 Software plc shares declined by 0.8 per cent to close at €2.49 as 11,612 shares changed hands over six transactions. In the same sector,6pm Holdings plc closed unchanged at £0.70 over scant volume.

Meanwhile, International Hotel Investments plc ended the week in the red as seven transactions of 28,939 shares pushed its share price down by 0.6 per cent to close at €0.795.

The other faller for the week was GO plc as its share price inched 0.3 per cent lower over 17 trades of 36,670 shares to close at €3.45. Turnover for this equity totalled €125k.

Elsewhere, Medserv plc shares closed unchanged at €3.095 on thin volume. On Thursday, the company announced that it has entered into a conditional share purchase agreement for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of METS Group. The METS Group provides and operates a comprehensive threading, repair, inspection and storage service for oil country tubular goods. It maintains three sites namely in Sharjah, Oman and in Basra, Iraq; thus presenting an opportunity for the Medserv Group to increase its scope of services to customers and to enter the well-established Middle Eastern region where extraction costs are comparatively low. METS is considered to be in line with the company’s longer-term strategy of increasing its geographical and product spread as well as to continue to grow its customer portfolio of international oil and gas companies and subcontractors.

The Company shall, in due course, issue a notice to shareholders for the purpose of convening an extraordinary general meeting to approve the acquisition.

During the week, Island Hotels Group Holdings plc announced that during the Extraordinary General Meeting held on September 30, 2015, all shareholders approved the discontinuance of the listing of all the Company’s issued share capital on the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange and consequently an application for discontinuance has been delivered to the Listing Authority.

Meanwhile, Santumas Shareholdings plc announced that its next Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on December 11, 2015.

In the corporate bond market,26 issues were active, of which, 11 drifted lower, seven closed higher while eight closed unchanged – turnover amounted to €917k. The 5.75% International Hotel Investments plc Unsecured € 2025 was the best performer as it gained 3.7 per cent over four deals of 51,000 nominal to close at €110. On the other hand, the 4.25% Bank of Valletta plc € Notes 2019 Series 2 Tranche 1 declined by 2.1 per cent to close at €103.01 as three trades of 19,000 nominal were concluded. The 5.1% 6PM Holdings plc Unsecured € 2025 continued to register high liquidity as six deals of 322,600 nominal totalled €352k – 38 per cent of total turnover.

On the sovereign debt front, total turnover amounted to €4.7m, a 35 per cent decrease, as 23 stocks were traded of which eight lost ground while 15 gained in value. The 3.3% MGS 2024 (I) headed the list of gainers as four trades of 61,400 nominal pushed the price up by 1.4 per cent to close at €115.88. The most liquid issue was the 4.3% MGS 2022 (II) as eight transactions worth €1.7m were dealt.