Trading in MIA drives activity across equities

 

The MSE Equity Price Index closed virtually unchanged at 4,645.569 points as three companies trended higher, four shares moved in negative territory whilst another four closed the day unchanged. Trading activity improved to an over one-week high of €0.34 million largely on the back of heightened activity in MIA. Download today’s Equity Market Summary.

Malta International Airport plc added 1.5% to regain the €6.95 level across 16,090 shares. Yesterday, MIA announced that it is expecting an increase of 2% to 3% in passenger movements in 2020 to a new record of 7.5 million passengers (compared to 7.31 million in 2019). Furthermore, the airport operator set out the following financial targets for the 2020 financial year: revenues of over €102 million; an EBITDA of over €64 million; a net profit of over €35 million; and capital investments of €23 million. MIA also unveiled its long-term vision for the airport, revealing details of an investment of circa €100 million in a terminal expansion. The project will see the terminal building doubling its footprint size to around 31,200 sqm, focusing on the improvement of passenger experience and airport processes at key points. In this respect, MIA added that it will shortly be issuing a call for architects to submit detailed design proposals and phasing plans for the Terminal Expansion Project. Other important projects such as the development of Apron X and the development of SkyParks II are also in the pipeline and in fact, a call for proposals for a hospitality partner to run the hotel which will form part of the SkyParks campus was issued earlier this week.

BMIT Technologies plc recaptured the €0.52 level (+2%) on two deals totalling 42,300 shares.

The other positive performing equity was Mapfre Middlesea plc with a gain of 5.5% to the €2.32 level across 7,000 shares.

On the other hand, PG plc shed 3.5% to the €1.95 level on a total of 35,248 shares.

MaltaPost plc eased 0.7% to the €1.34 level albeit on just 5,000 shares.

Among the larger companies, GO plc lost 0.5% to the €4.14 level across 10,940 shares whilst HSBC Bank Malta plc retracted back to its multi-year low of €1.05 (-2.8%) on volumes amounting to 44,446 shares.

In contrast, Bank of Valletta plc held on to the €1.08 level across 7,597 shares.

Light trading activity also took place in the equities of RS2 Software plc (€2.30), Simonds Farsons Cisk plc (€10.80) and Malta Properties Company plc (€0.655) all of which ended flat.

The RF MGS Index resumed its recent upward trend as it rebounded by 0.24% to a near twelve-week high of 1,153.746 points. Prices of most Malta Government Stocks moved notably higher as rising concerns over the economic impact of coronavirus fuelled renewed demand for ‘safe-haven’ assets. Meanwhile, in the UK, the Bank of England left interest rates on hold and slashed its domestic growth forecasts amid uncertainty over Brexit. Elsewhere in the US, preliminary data showed that economic growth in Q4 2020 stood at 2.1% – in with line expectations. As a result, the world’s largest economy grew by 2.3% in 2019 which is slightly lower than the growth of 2.5% registered in 2018. Yesterday, the Federal Reserve kept its federal funds rate unchanged and signalled that interest rates are likely to remain on hold in the coming months. Chairman Jerome Powell also indicated that the central bank is focused on preventing a downward spiral in inflation, potentially foreshadowing a shift to easier monetary policy over time.

Yesterday, 1923 Investments plc announced that it reached an agreement with Teekay Tankers Limited to acquire, through Carmelo Caruana Marine Solutions Limited, a portion of its oil and gas ship-to-ship transfer support services business, which also provides LNG terminal management and LNG consulting services, for approximately USD26 million. The acquisition is expected to be completed early in Q2 2020.