Daily Market Highlights (02.09.09)

  • The MSE Share Index recovers yesterday’s losses as it gains a marginal 0.25% to close at 3,094.068 points on gains recorded in IHI, MaltaPost and FIMBank which managed to offset the losses posted by the two major banks (BOV and HSBC) and GO. Download a copy of the latest Equity Market Summary .
  • BOV’s share price closes minimally below the €3.00 level as 2,200 shares are exchanged at €2.999. Lowest offers available at €2.99 whilst highest outstanding bids remain at €2.85.
  • HSBC share price declines by 1.85% to €2.65 on volumes of 9,335 shares.
  • IHI rises by 4.6% to €0.88 over a single 500-share trade. 2,482 shares remain on offer at the closing price with outstanding bids pitched at the €0.78 level. Also a single trade of 1,000 FIMBank shares helps the equity minimally higher at €1.29.
  • MaltaPost also gains 1.5% to close at €0.70 on total activity of 19,500 shares across 4 transactions. Lowest offers now available at €0.72.
  • Meanwhile, GO’s equity declines by 0.6% to €1.79 on low volumes of 680 shares. On Monday the telecoms company published its 2009 interim financial statements on Monday showing a 4.8% decline in revenues over the same period last year. After deducting net finance costs together with the share of loss in Forgendo Limited (€3.73 million) and taxation, GO registered a net loss of €5.4 million compared to the net loss of €4.4 million incurred in the first half of 2008. Last week the Greek telecoms company Forthnet announced its results for the three months ended 30 June 2009. The results showed an improvement in revenue and Group EBITDA with the EBITDA margin reaching 20.3%. Copy of GO’s half-year results available here.
  • On Tuesday Corinthia Finance announced a €20 million bond issue at a coupon of 6.25% per annum. Further details available here.
  • Island Hotels Group Holdings plc launches a bond and equity offering as part of its plans to list on the Malta Stock Exchange. The bond offer consists of 10-year paper at a rate of 6.5% per annum while the equity offer amounts to 8,383,300 shares at a price of €1.00 per share. Full details of the offerings available here.