Crimsonwing, GO and BOV shares soar
Following last week’s minimal decline the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) Index turned bullish with a notable 1.1 per cent appreciation, thus touching a new two year at 3,462.062. Despite heading lower in the first two sessions of the week, the index managed to cancel the incurred 0.2 per cent decline with a solid display in the subsequent sessions in which it captured a 1.2 per cent appreciation. From the equity front, Crimsonwing plc shares rose by 10 per cent, Bank of Valletta plc (BOV) surged to their highest price since April 2011, while GO plc shares shifted towards the green tagged line by hitting a 28-month high.
Activity in the week witnessed the trading of 15 equities, in which gainers prevailed over losers as five edged higher, three declined in value, while seven closed unchanged. Meanwhile, total turnover for the week was noted on higher values of €807,171, with 30 per cent of the said amount being traded in BOV shares.
Meanwhile, from the local sovereign front, investors opted to shift their assets towards riskier grounds following the recent monetary stimulus re-assurance by leading central banks. In fact, yields rose as prices fell over most of the active stocks. Turnover for the week was noted at €5.4m with €1.9m from the said amount being traded within the 7.8% MGS 2018 issue.
Front the fixed-income corporate front, yields were mixed as from the 23 active bonds, 11 garnered support, two edged lower while 10 closed unchanged. The 7.15% Melita Capital plc € 2014-2016 issue headed the list of gainers with a 0.5 per cent appreciation.
From the financial front, Bank of Valletta plc registering a 2.6 per cent or €0.06 gain to close the week at €2.34. The equity was active throughout the entire week with impetus being noted in Friday’s session as the banking equity captured a 1.7 per cent appreciation on 12,215 shares.
In line with its peer, HSBC Bank Malta plc managed to partially snap back last week’s decline by registering a 0.2 per cent gain on reasonable volume to close at €2.72, while both Lombard Bank plc and FIMBank plc closed the week unchanged. Lombard was active in the mid-week session to close flat at €1.85, after trading at an intra week high of €1.96, while theFIMBankwas traded over a total of 31,650 shares to close at the $1.00 price position.
Meanwhile from the telecommunications sector, GO plc shares spiked by 7.8 per cent over two sessions to end the week at the €1.66 price position. Accounting for this week’s gain the equity managed to reach price levels which were last recorded in March 2011. Meanwhile, in the week Forthnet S.A., in which GO plc has an indirect investment through Forgendo, announced that Zesmero Limited, a Cypriot company, acquired 27.04 per cent in Forthnet.
On the same encouraging note, Crimsonwing plc soared by 10.3 per cent over three sessions to end the week at €0.64. The I.T. operator gained 6.8 per cent exponentially on Monday and Wednesday in anticipation of its annual financial statements which were released on Thursday. In fact, following the announced results the equity gathered a further 3.2 per cent as investors’ enthusiasm was re-instated following positive results for the year ending March 31, 2013. The Group managed to deliver positive results with a profit before tax €981,475, as opposed to the loss of €207,346 recorded in 2012. The directors are also proposing a gross dividend of €0.01 per share, which dividend can be paid either in cash or by the issue of bonus shares at the shareholders discretion.
Meanwhile, from the same line of business RS2 Software plc declined for the second consecutive week with 0.8 per cent depreciation, thus re-moving towards the €1.30 price level.
Similarly, Maltapost plc shaved-off a further 1.4 per cent from its share value over 4,000 shares to close at €1.03, while Grand Harbour Marina plc lurched lower by 2.6 per cent on Tuesday to close at €1.90.
Conversely, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc returned to positivity with a minimal gain of 0.04 per cent to close at €2.751.
Meanwhile, closing unchanged were Malta International Airport plc and Plaza Centres. The former was active over 70,600 shares to close at €2.04 after trading at an intra-week low of €2.00, while the latter closed flat at €0.565 over two trades worth €16,950.
Finally, the other non-movers for the week were Midi plc, Malita Investments plc and Santumas Shareholdings plc which closed at €0.24, €0.51 and €1.85 respectively.