Big caps up

Maltacom shares opened trading on Monday at Lm0.87, down 1c from the previous session's close. It went on to trade on 52 deals during the week, closing on Friday at Lm0.949, up 9.08%.

Total turnover amounted to 66,250 shares. Best bids for 600 shares at Lm0.92 and best offers of 140 shares at Lm0.949 were the best outstanding positions at the close of the week.

HSBC Bank Malta shares also had a positive run in the past five trading sessions, with the relevant share price registering a 2.276% increase on Monday's opening price.

Trading in 20 deals amounting to 16,070 shares, the equity went on to close on Friday at Lm3.999; 5,500 shares at Lm3.94 and 2,700 shares at Lm4 were the best outstanding bids and offers respectively, following Friday's trading session.

Meanwhile, this past week, Bank of Valletta shares witnessed a 6.22% increase when they opened on Monday at Lm2.25, and closed on Friday at Lm2.39.

Forty-five deals were struck, in which 43,753 shares changed hands. Best bids for 200 shares at Lm2.10 and best offers of 1,540 shares at Lm2.40 were outstanding at the close of business on Friday.

The market in BoV shares now seems to have stabilised following the expected adjustment in the wake of the bonus issue. The bank announced an issue of one bonus share for every five held at the end of business on Friday, January 3, when the price closed at Lm2.85.

The expected market value after the bonus issue, arithmetically, would therefore be Lm2.37c5 and, indeed, by Tuesday 7th the share was trading at an average Lm2.36c2.

Importantly, it has since maintained these levels and this shows that the adjustment was purely arithmetical. The reserves backing the new shares came from the share premium account and is made up of the money received by the bank when it made past share issues; it is calculated as the share price less the nominal value of the shares sold.

This reserve, being part of capital, can only be distributed in the form of capital, and cannot be given out as dividend. The bonus issue therefore 'liberated' this tied capital and this was justified in view of BoV's strong solvency ratios.

Vincent Curmi was appointed vice-chairman of Simonds Farsons Cisk plc with effect from yesterday, the company said on Monday. Following the demise of Chev. Anthony Miceli-Farrugia, the post of chairman of the Farsons Foundation has been handed to Luke L. Miceli.

Simonds Farsons Cisk shares witnessed one deal being struck on Thursday, whereby 15,000 shares changed hands at Lm0.70.

In a company announcement on Tuesday, Suncrest Hotels plc published its preliminary profit statement for the year ended October 31. Loss after tax for the year amounted to Lm196,730 (year ended October 31,2001: profit after tax of Lm61,000); earnings per share were 2c0 (0c6). The board of directors did not propose paying any dividend.

The other equities to trade during the week appear below, followed by the range in which trading was struck:

1,000 FIMBank shares at US$1.24; 520 International Hotels Investments shares at Lm0.89; 750 Lombard Bank shares at Lm3.25; 1,400 Malta International Airport shares at Lm0.73 and 1,500 GloBAl Financial Services Group shares at Lm0.18.

Trading over the week in corporate bonds was made up of a total value of Lm152,160, and total Malta Government Stock turnover over the week amounted to a nominal value of Lm123,100, being struck in 31 deals over 17 different stocks.

The Malta Stock Exchange Share Index increased by 68.076 points over the week, equal to 3.75%, and now stands at 1,883.759.