HSBC Bank Malta plc - Interim Results

On 31 July, HSBC Bank Malta plc published its interim results as at 30 June 2009. The Board of Directors declared an interim gross dividend of €0.077 per share (June 2008: €0.119), payable on 27 August to those shareholders as at close of trading next Friday 7 August. The shares will trade ex-dividend as from Monday 10 August 2009.

During the first six months of 2009, the HSBC Malta Group generated a pre-tax profit of €34.8 million, 25.3% lower than the comparative period last year. The Bank’s profitability was negatively impacted by the interest margin compression following a 325 basis point cut by the European Central Bank, lower revenues as the economy slowed and the downward pressure on the profitability of insurance and investment-related business which was dampened by the volatility in bond and equity markets.

On the Balance Sheet side, the Bank experienced a 0.2% drop in customer deposits whilst loans and advance to customers increased by 2.2%. As a result the advances to deposit ratio was lowered to 79.3%.

Despite the downturn in profitability during the first half of 2009, HSBC’s CEO, Mr Alan Richards reassured investors that “this is a resilient performance in light of the current market conditions”. The CEO also explained that the performance of the Bank during the period under review is in line with the Board’s expectations. Moreover the CEO commented that the Bank is well positioned to go through these challenging times.

A copy of the Interim Results is available here.

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