GO plc - Quote

GO plc - Profile

GO plc (formerly Maltacom plc) was constituted on 31 December 1997 with the purpose of replacing TeleMalta Corporation, a public corporation which was established by the Government in 1975 to provide and operate telecommunications services in Malta. The business of TeleMalta was transferred to GO on 2 January 1998 when the Government of Malta held 100% of the shares.

GO plc went public on 11 June 1998 when 40% of its shares were sold on the Malta Stock Exchange in the form of ordinary shares and on the London Stock Exchange in the form of Global Depositary Receipts (1 GDR = 6 shares).  The IPO took the form of an offering of 40.5 million ordinary shares with a nominal value of €0.5823 each. The shares sold to the public were offered at €2.0964 per share. The Company’s shares began trading on both the Malta and the London Stock Exchange on 23 June 1998.

GO is Malta’s leading provider of telecommunications and ancillary services and is the only quadruple play operator. The core services provided by the Group include fixed line telephony, mobile telephony, data services and Digital Terrestrial TV (through its acquisition of Multiplus Ltd in January 2007). GO’s subsidiaries and associated companies are also engaged in the provision of data storage and cloud services as well offering internet, mobile and TV services in Greece through Forthnet SA.

On 15 May 2006, the Privatisation Unit authorised the sale of its 60% shareholding in GO plc to Emirates International Telecommunications (Malta) Limited (EITL) – a company which forms part of Tecom Investments of Dubai. The agreed price was €220 million or €3.6198 per share. The share purchase agreement was signed on 17 May 2006.

The Directors of GO plc are: Deepak Padmanabhan (Chairman), Nikhil Patil, Norbert Prihoda, Yasser Zeineldin, Paul Testaferrata Moroni Viani, Paul Fenech, James Kinsella, Joseph Agius and Francis Galea Salomone (Company Secretary).

Subsidiaries

• Mobisle Communications Ltd. (100%): the mobile arm of the Group operates under the trade name go mobile. It was set up on 2 June 1999 as the second mobile operator as a competitor to Vodafone Malta Limited which had been the sole provider for over a decade. On 1 February 2009, Melita Mobile became the third operator in the sector.

• Forgendo Ltd. (50%): a company registered in Cyprus and equally owned by GO and EITL. On 29 January 2008 Forgendo acquired 21% (8,158,912 shares) of Forthnet (a Greek telecommunications company) for a total consideration of €93,827,488 or €11.50 per share. On 11 June and 23 June 2008, Forgendo acquired further shares of Forthnet to increase its shareholding to 9,212,870 shares (23.71% of Forthnet’s total issued share capital of 38.86 million shares). On 14 April 2008, Forthnet announced the acquisition of NOVA, a Greek pay television service platform, for a total consideration of €490 million. On 11 July 2008, Forgendo acquired a further 676,277 shares of Forthnet for a total consideration of €2,870,175 or €4.24 per share resulting in a 25.45% shareholding in Forthnet. On 12 August, GO announced that following the Forthnet rights issue, Forgendo held a total of 52,674,013 shares representing 33.89% of the total issued share capital of the Greek broadband operator. Subsequently, Forgendo acquired further shares in Forthnet via the Athens Stock Exchange. To date, Forgendo owns 64,151,263 shares which represent 41.27% of Forthnet’s issued share capital.

• BM IT Limited, BM Support Services Limited and Bellnet Limited (99.99%): On 28 April 2009 the Group acquired 60% of BM IT Limited, BM Support Services Limited and Bellnet Limited (collectively the BM Companies) for a total cost of €9,439,096. The BM Group specialises in providing co-location, hosting, IP connectivity and bandwidth services. It is the leading provider for such services within the Maltese market mainly to the large number of international gaming companies operating from Malta. BMIT also offers its services in 25 cities across Europe. On 1 July 2011, GO exercised its option to acquire the remaining 40% of the issued share capital of Bellnet Limited, BM IT Limited and BM Support Services Limited for a purchase consideration of €8.2 million.

• Malta Properties Company Limited (99.99%): The main activity of Malta Properties Company Limited is the holding company of the Group’s various property interests. During 2011, Malta Properties Company Limited acquired ZTN Property Company Limited, SLM Property Company Limited, BKE Property Company Limited and SPB Property Company Limited. On 9 May 2012, the Government of Malta transferred the full ownership of eleven properties mainly used as telephony exchanges to GO in exchange for a parcel of land in Qawra.

Associate Company

• Loqus Holdings plc (30%): operates a national radio-based vehicle location, tracking and two-way data system. Loqus has a listing on the Second Tier Market of the Malta Stock Exchange. In GO’s 2011 Annual Report, GO confirmed its intention to sell the investment in Loqus Holdings plc.

Share Capital

GO’s issued share capital is made up of 101,310,488 ordinary shares of a nominal value of €0.5823 each.

GO plc - Financials

GO plc Interim Accounts

GO plc Final Accounts

News for GO plc

GO plc - Downloads

• GO plc - Investor Fact Sheet - December 2012 (220.2 KiB, 109 hits)
• GO plc - Investor Fact Sheet - June 2012 (128.5 KiB, 237 hits)
• GO plc - 2011 Annual Report (1.6 MiB, 299 hits)
• GO plc - Investor Fact Sheet (127.5 KiB, 362 hits)
• Forthnet S.A. - Corporate Presentation - May 2011 (1.7 MiB, 584 hits)
• GO plc - Interview with CEO David Kay - March 2011 (119.8 KiB, 336 hits)
• GO plc - 2009 Annual Report (1.8 MiB, 535 hits)
• GO plc - 2009 Full-Year Results Report (1.1 MiB, 446 hits)
• Forthnet AG - Corporate Presentation May 2008 (1.2 MiB, 558 hits)