High volatility in local equities across low volumes

The MSE Equity Price Index decreased by 0.20% to 3,665.250 points as the declines in nine equities outweighed the gains in MIA, HSBC, IHI and Lombard. Meanwhile, the total trading value in local equities amounted to €0.15 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

APS Bank plc was today’s most traded equity as it shed 1.8% to a one-week low of €0.55 across fifteen trades totalling 112,001 shares.

Also in the banking sector, Bank of Valletta plc moved 0.8% lower to the €1.25 level over three deals totalling 6,117 shares.

Malita Investments plc slumped by 15.3% to an almost two-month low of €0.50. Yesterday, Malita announced that during an Extraordinary General Meeting, shareholders approved all the resolutions. The resolutions include giving authority to the Board of Directors to give effect to a rights issue and subsequently allot new ordinary shares, the re-designation of Malita’s shares, the increase in the authorised share capital, as well as the replacement of the company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association. Malita also published the presentation that was delivered to shareholders present at the EGM. The presentation includes updated information with respect to the ongoing Affordable Housing Project, which is estimated to cost approximately €120 million. In this respect, Malita explained that the funding for the project is composed of €58 million in existing bank funding, an additional €30 million in bank debt with approvals in place, and the remaining €33 million is anticipated to be raised via a proposed Rights Issue in the first quarter of 2024.

PG plc declined by 1% to the €2.06 level on a single deal of 500 shares. PG is set to publish the interim results for the six-month period ended 31 October 2023 next Monday 18 December 2023.

MaltaPost plc decreased by 3.9% to a one-month low of €0.49 on two trades totalling 5,374 shares. MaltaPost recovered from an intra-day low of €0.41 (-19.6%). MaltaPost is set to publish the financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2023 next Tuesday 19 December 2023.

Simonds Farsons Cisk plc (-1.4%) and Plaza Centres (-4.6%) declined to the €6.90 and €0.62 levels respectively over lacklustre volumes.

Malta Properties Company plc plunged by 13.7% to an all-time low of €0.302 on muted activity.

VBL plc plummeted by 34.8% to an all-time low of €0.15 albeit over trivial volumes.

On the other hand, HSBC Bank Malta plc advanced by 0.8% to a fresh four-month high of €1.25 across two trades totalling 4,009 shares. Yesterday, HSBC announced that following regulatory approval, it repaid the €62 million loan with HSBC Bank plc, which it had entered into on 12 December 2018 and had an early call repayment option exercisable on 14 December 2023. Last Tuesday, the bank announced the conclusion of a new €65 million subordinated loan granted by its parent, HSBC Continental Europe, which bears an interest of 3-month EURIBOR plus a margin of 237 basis points. This loan will qualify as Tier 2 capital for the bank.

Malta International Airport plc gained 2.7% to a one-week high of €5.75 over three deals totalling 7,000 shares.

Lombard Bank Malta plc surged by 12.7% to a two-week high of €0.845 as 3,000 shares changed hands.

A single trade of 41,776 shares pushed the share price of International Hotel Investments plc 2.2% higher to the €0.46 level.

Loqus Holdings plc increased by 5.3% to €0.20 on one trade of 2,000 shares.

Today, Santumas Shareholding plc announced that its Board of Directors is scheduled to meet on Tuesday 19 December 2023 to consider and approve the interim financial statements for the six-month period ended 31 October 2023.

MedservRegis plc issued an Interim Report providing information about its financial performance in Q3 2023. Revenues in the third quarter amounted to €18.3 million whilst EBITDA was €2.7 million for the period under review. During the nine-month period ended 30 September 2023, revenue increased by 7% to €50.3 million compared to €47.0 million in the corresponding period of 2022. Revenue from ILSS remained practically unchanged at €29.1 million. Meanwhile, income from the OCTG segment surged by 20.2% to €20.8 million. Management expressed confidence that the positive revenue trajectory will continue throughout the entire year. EBITDA during the period amounted to €11.7 million which is 33% higher than the €8.8 million reported for the same period last year. The growth in EBITDA is reflective of improved margins from both principal operating segments. In this respect, the EBITDA margin for the first nine months of the year improved to 23.3% compared to 18.6% in the same period last year.

The RF MGS Index lost some of yesterday’s gains as it moved 0.16% lower to 899.640 points, reflecting further volatility in sovereign bond yields. Nonetheless, throughout the day, most of the eurozone sovereign bond yields trended lower with the German 10-year bund yield reaching a fresh one-year of 2.02%. Data released today showed that in Germany, both the services and manufacturing industries are expected to continue to contract at a faster rate than what was forecasted during December.

Today, the Central Bank of Malta published updated forecasts for the Maltese economy up to 2026. Notably, projections included upward revisions to GDP growth for both 2023 and 2024 to 4.3% and 3.8% respectively, driven by private consumption and investment. On the other hand, annual inflation has been revised downwards and it is expected to ease to 2% by 2026. The Central Bank stated that inflation risks for 2024 are on the upside due to the potential increase in energy prices driven by geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, on the fiscal side, the risk tilts to the deficit being larger-than-expected as a result of the likelihood of higher-than-anticipated spending on energy support measures.