Lombard announces allocation policy for excess shares

The MSE Equity Price Index moved 0.05% lower to 3,615.604 points as the declines in MIA, BMIT, Malta Properties, and Convenience outweighed the gains in PG and AX Real Estate. Meanwhile, two other equities closed unchanged as the total trading activity was muted at €0.07 million. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

A single trade of 558 shares left the share price of Lombard Bank Malta plc unchanged at the €0.755 level. Today, Lombard announced the result of the Excess Shares Offer relating to the residual balance of 12,430,744 shares following the Rights Issue. Lombard received applications for an aggregate amount of 17,238,100 shares and the offer period was closed ahead of schedule on 3 November 2023 due to the oversubscription. Preferred applicants (employees and Directors of Lombard as well as shareholders of MaltaPost plc) applied for 570,800 shares and these were allocated in full. Meanwhile, applications from the general public amounted to 16,667,300 shares. In this respect, all applications up to 5,000,000 shares were allocated in full, while any applications of over 5 million shares will be scaled down and satisfied up to 61.3% of the number of excess shares applied. Lombard explained that refunds of unallocated monies will be completed by 16 November 2023 and the new ordinary shares including the excess shares will be listed on the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange on the same day. Trading is expected to commence on 17 November 2023. Lombard noted that the total gross proceeds of the Rights Issue and Excess Shares Offer amount to €46.4 million.

Also in the retail banking sector, HSBC Bank Malta plc traded flat at the €1.15 level across three deals totalling 3,762 shares.

Malta International Airport plc eased by 0.9% to the €5.50 level on four deals totalling 5,980 shares. Last Tuesday, MIA published its financial results for the first nine months of the year and also provided an updated guidance. During the first nine months of 2023, revenues reached a record (at interim stage) of €91.6 million, which is 18.5% higher than the previous record of €77.3 million generated in the first nine months of 2019. Likewise, the net profit for the period amounted to €32.3 million (3Q 2019: €26.9 million). For the second time this year, MIA updated its forecasts for the 2023 financial year. MIA now expects a new record of passenger movements of 7.8 million (2019: 7.31 million), revenues of €118 million (2019: €100.2 million), EBITDA of €74 million (2019: €63.2 million), net profit of €40 million (2019: €33.9 million), and capital investments of €45 to 50 million (2019: €24.9 million).

MaltaPost plc slumped by 16.3% to a one-month low of €0.41 across three deals totalling 8,630 shares.

BMIT Technologies plc shed 0.5% to the €0.41 level as 56,000 shares changed hands.

The Convenience Shop (Holding) plc moved 2.8% lower to the €1.05 level over three trades totalling 2,000 shares. Convenience recovered from an intra-day low of €1.01 (-6.5%)

PG plc surged by 4.2% to a one-week high of €1.98 over four deals amounting to 3,350 shares.

AX Real Estate plc gained 1.8% to the €0.46 level, albeit over trivial volumes.

The RF MGS Index extended yesterday’s gains as it advanced by a further 0.02% to a fresh seven-week high of 864.748 points. The gains in prices for longer-dated MGS slightly outweighed the declines in prices for shorter-term MGS as the yield curve continued to flatten. US unemployment eased slightly in line with market expectations but still remained close to last week’s seven-week high. Data showed that the unemployed are finding it more difficult to return to employment as continuing unemployment claims rose more than expected to an over-six-month high.

This report contains public information only and is not to be construed as investment advice or an offer to buy or sell any securities. Information contained herein is based on data obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but no representations or guarantees are made with regard to the accuracy of the data. Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Limited is a company licensed to undertake investment services in Malta by the MFSA under the Investment Services Act, Cap. 370 of the Laws of Malta and a member of the Malta Stock Exchange.