MaltaPost approaches all-time high

The share price of MaltaPost plc gained 2.5% this morning to close at a 32-month high of €0.95. MaltaPost’s equity had reached an all-time high of €0.968 on 25 March 2008 just after the highly successful IPO. The Company is expected to announce the date when a Board Meeting will be held to discuss and publish the September 2010 full-year results and recommend a dividend to shareholders.

The other positive performing equity today was FIMBank plc. The US Dollar denominated equity edged 1.1% higher to regain the US$0.94 level. Yesterday the trade finance specialist announced that further to the company announcement published last Friday, the voting rights and other rights over 35 million ordinary shares in the company recently vested in Burgan Bank from Massaleh Investments, are being restituted to Massaleh, bringing its voting rights back to 43.90% with immediate effect and until further notice.

Despite the gains registered in MaltaPost and FIMBank, the local equity market closed in negative territory as Bank of Valletta plc eased lower for the first time in ten sessions. BOV’s share price lost 0.3% to close at the €3.689 level on low volumes of 3,768 shares. BOV’s share price was well supported at the €3.70 level during the previous seven sessions as the shares are still trading with the entitlement to the 1 for 5 bonus issue.

Malta International Airport plc also saw its share price decline today. One trade of 2,600 shares was executed at €1.625, representing a decline of 1.4%. In a recent announcement, the Directors stated that during the current financial year ending 31 December 2010, the Company is expected to register an improvement over the €8.8 million in profits registered in 2009 on the back of the expected continued growth in passenger numbers during the last three months of the year.

RS2 Software plc shares were active for the first time in over four months. The equity of the IT services company slumped 10.7% to €0.50 on a single trade of 2,000 shares. Last week’s the Directors reported a 7% increase in the Group’s customer base and an expected improvement in profitability for 2010.