GO shares plunge to a new 2-year low

In addition to the previous ten successive weeks of declines, further selling pressure was evident today in GO plc’s shares as support for the equity remains very subdued following last month’s 2010 full-year results publication. The quad-play operator revealed a loss for the year of €19.2 million and a 50% cut in net dividend to €0.05 per share. During this morning’s session, GO shed a further 1% to close at a new 2-year low of €1.49 across ten trades totalling 16,370 shares. Following today’s downturn, GO is now 23% below its value at the beginning of the year. The shares will turn ex-dividend as from 5 May 2011.

The two big banks’ equities trade around the €2.95 level. In fact, HSBC Bank Malta plc today edged 0.7% higher to regain the €2.95 level on volumes of just over 29,800 shares. Meanwhile Bank of Valletta plc failed to hold on to an intra-day high of €2.96 to end today’s session minimally below the previous closing price at the €2.949 level.

MaltaPost plc eased from its near all-time high by 1% to drop back to the €1.09 level on a single trade of 1,000 shares. Further offers unsatisfied at the closing price whilst best bids now pitched at the €1.00 level.

The two other active equities, namely Malta International Airport plc and Middlesea Insurance plc closed unchanged at the €1.77 and €0.90 level respectively on low volumes.

Last Friday’s financial results announcement fails to generate any trades in the shares of International Hotel Investments plc. Offers already placed at the €0.75 level, representing a 9.6% drop from the last closing price of €0.83, whilst best bids come in at the €0.711 level. The 2010 results shows a 1.4% drop in turnover to €101.8 million mainly due to the performance of the Group’s hotel in Tripoli which was negatively affected by visa restrictions over a 6-week period in the first half of 2010. This mainly resulted in the 15.6% decline in EBITDA to €47.6 million (2009: €56.4 million). Overall the Group incurred a loss after tax of €13.1 million (2009: €1.6 million). Similar to previous years the Directors did not recommend the payment of a dividend. In the Profit Statement, the Directors explained that during 2010 the Group benefitted from a slow but steady recovery in business and this trend is expected to continue during 2011. However, the Group believes that the events in Libya will affect the Company’s current year performance and may also adversely affect its future performance and financial position. Further details on results available at https://rizzofarrugia.com/news-events/2011/full-year-results-50/.