Latest News From the Investment World
Chip stocks lead the bull market
Despite the turbulent macro-economic and geopolitical events in recent months, international equity markets performed very strongly during the first half of 2026. The outbreak of war in Iran, the resulting sharp energy shock and rising inflation, an interest rate hike by the European Central Bank together with a leadership change...
Equity Participation on the MSE
Last week, I was asked to participate in a panel discussion during the 2026 Camilleri Preziosi Capital Markets Conference. The theme of the first panel discussion during the conference was...
Malta’s Dividend League Table
Income generation remains the principal objective for the majority of Maltese retail investors. In fact, most retail investors nowadays have an overriding preference to invest in bonds — Malta Government...
Continued operating progress at Farsons
At the end of May 2026, Simonds Farsons Cisk plc published its Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 January 2026 and held its annual meeting with...
ACS Finance – Malta’s first rated bond
The new €29 million bond issue by ACS Finance plc is not yet another new corporate bond that will be listed on the Regulated Main Market of the Malta Stock...
In the midst of the AGM season
Between April and the end of June, the majority of companies whose equity is listed on the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) publish their audited financial statements and convene their Annual...
Signals from the debt markets
In my article published on 9 April entitled ‘Surge in Sovereign Bond Yields’, I had explained how the conflict in Iran which erupted in late February had triggered an energy...
The second wave of the AI rally
In my article published on 16 April I documented the volatility among the Magnificent Seven stocks over the previous months as well as the ceasefire rally at the start of...
Flying start for MIA
Malta International Airport plc (MIA) has been publishing its quarterly financial statements for quite some time and more recently, this good initiative has also been replicated by three of the...
MedservRegis: from turnaround to further expansion
MedservRegis plc published its 2025 Annual Report on 28 April and delivered a presentation to financial analysts on 5 May titled ‘Engineered Growth’. The financial performance in 2025 confirms that...
Corinthia’s three-pronged strategy
International Hotel Investments plc (IHI), the publicly traded equity owning the Corinthia brand, recently published its 2025 Annual Report. Although the financial statements show a meaningful improvement in the bottom...
Foreign banks dominate MGS auction
The initial Malta Government Stock (MGS) issuance for 2026 took place last week with the Treasury successfully raising approximately €499 million across new 10-year and 15-year bonds as it exercised...
GO’s growing cash flow from Malta
GO plc published its 2025 annual report on 25 March and presented the main findings to financial analysts last week. GO celebrated its 50th anniversary last year and apart from this...
Volatility across the Magnificent 7
The Magnificent Seven stocks comprising Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Meta Platforms. Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla have been among the best performing investments over recent years. They contributed to a major part...
Surge in Sovereign Bond Yields
All asset classes were severely impacted last month following the conflict in Iran which erupted in late February. Within days, the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow maritime chokepoint through...
BOV’s balance sheet surpasses €16.5 billion
Malta’s full-year earnings season continued last week with a number of announcements. Undoubtedly, the most important one was from Bank of Valletta plc given its dominance in the banking sector...
Investing in times of war
The unfolding developments in the Middle East late last week with the attacks on oil and gas infrastructure first in Iran and immediately after in Qatar, led to a further...
APS Bank continues to gain market share
The earnings season in Malta continued last week with the publication of the annual financial statements of BMIT Technologies plc and APS Bank plc. Given the important developments taking place...
CrediaBank aims to ‘Supercharge’ Malta
Earlier this week, while the major focus of attention by the investing public would have surely been on the unfolding developments in the Middle East and the significant surge in...
A Liquidity Provider for the Corporate Bond Market
The secondary market for corporate bonds listed on the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) remains relatively illiquid as it is characterised by limited daily activity (albeit on the rise over recent...
Devising an Equity Market Development Programme
Malta’s equity market has not developed as one would have hoped for over the past decade with very little new issuance over recent years. As I mentioned in several articles...
Funding national projects
In the concluding paragraph of last week’s article, I remarked that “the latest ambitious reiteration of the Grand Harbour regeneration plan is another clear case study of how the intermediation...
AI spending takes centre stage
The financial reporting season in the United States is well underway and since most of the largest companies are heavily involved in the technology sector, investors were eager to assess...
Malta’s earnings season
The earnings season is well-underway in the US, UK and Europe with companies issuing their Q4 financials and providing details on their guidance for the year ahead. One of the...
A chaotic start to 2026
From the performance of the main indices in the US and Europe, one would think that it was a relatively calm and uneventful start to the year. In fact, the...
Revisiting the idea of MSE’s privatisation
Just over a decade ago, I published an article titled “A roadmap for the Malta Stock Exchange”, in which I had reported that during the 2016 Budget Speech, the Finance...
Further growth ahead for MIA
Last week Malta International Airport plc published its customary announcement at the start of the year confirming the traffic results for the previous 12-month period and providing traffic and financial...
Observations from the equity market
In early 2024, I published a number of articles dealing with the state of the Maltese equity market and also highlighting a number of initiatives that could revive sentiment towards...
When is a financial ratio healthy?
During the course of 2025, I regularly wrote about Malta’s corporate bond market in view of the record amount of issuance last year at over €700 million and also in...
Strong year for European equities
Following last week’s article detailing the performance of the S&P 500 index in 2025, it is worth devoting time to review the developments across the European equity markets in my...
S&P 500: another year of strong gains
The US equity market is approaching the end of 2025 showing another strong year of gains. Since the start of the current bull market that began in late 2022 (the...
The bond market in 2026
With just a few weeks left until the end of the year, it is the right time to look back at achievements and developments over recent months and possible outcomes...
Foreign bank participation in the MGS market
The month of November has been a truly busy time for the domestic bond market with various corporate bonds being issued together with the final Malta Government Stock (MGS) offering...
The Campari method
During last week’s informative seminar organised by Camilleri Preziosi on Corporate Finance, it was a pleasure listening to Mr Simon Grech, Chief Commercial Officer at Bank of Valletta plc, explaining...
Debating spin-offs
Last month’s equity listing of Quinco Holdings plc via a spin-off from Simonds Farsons Cisk plc raised the debate once again among the investing community on the rationale and effectiveness...
Malta’s growing debt servicing requirements
The main measures being proposed in the 2026 Budget Speech were given ample media coverage over the past 10 days. The initial part of today’s article will not delve into...
APS aiming to accelerate market share gains
APS Bank plc commenced the Q3 reporting period earlier this week confirming its increasing market presence across the retail banking sector. The September 2025 results published on Monday coincide with...
MedservRegis: Debt reduction plan in sight
Earlier this week MedservRegis plc published a prospectus in connection with a €25 million bond issue which included an updated financial analysis summary containing revised financial forecasts for 2025 and...
Will the rally last?
The US equity markets marched relentlessly higher in recent weeks with the S&P 500 index registering its best performance for the month of September (+3.5%) in 15 years, fuelled by...
A look at the CrediaBank deal
CrediaBank is a brand that officially only came to life just over two months ago following the merger of Attica Bank and Pancreta Bank in Greece. However, it seems that...
Assessing a company’s leverage
In last week’s article I stressed on the importance for a company to have sufficient equity in order to maintain reasonable levels of leverage. International credit rating agencies typically use...
In need of equity
From the title of today’s article, one would presume that I am writing about the need for additional share offerings to be launched on the Malta Stock Exchange. Although the...
Does Prospects have a future?
It has been almost a decade since the launch of Prospects by the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) in February 2016. While in recent years, there has been a surge in...
PG gears up for investment phase
During the 2024/25 financial year which came to an end on 30 April 2025, PG plc registered only a slight increase in revenue to just over €202 million. The company...
Share Buybacks and Safe Harbour
Since early 2024, I have been very vocal, both through the media and also via seminars dealing with capital market developments, on the need for some companies whose shares are...
Bond Reviews: Commercial Property Sector
Following the deadline for the majority of bond issuers and their guarantors to publish their updated Financial Analysis Summary (FAS), over recent weeks I published a short overview of some...
Improved guidance from MIA
Malta International Airport plc (MIA) was among the 4 companies that published their half-yearly financial results last week. Given the monthly announcements of the traffic movements by the airport operator...
Malta banks’ earning season
The interim reporting season in Malta commenced last week with 5 companies publishing their half-yearly financial results including the important announcements by Malta’s three largest retail banks. Although the three...
Bond Reviews: Maritime Sector
In my article of two weeks ago, I published a short overview of some of the main findings and financial metrics across a number of companies within the hospitality sector...
Insights from latest MGS issue
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department announced the issue of two new Malta Government Stocks (MGS) for an aggregate nominal amount of up to €400 million. The two fixed-rate stocks...
Hospitality sector review
The end of June was the deadline for most bond issuers and their guarantors to publish their updated Financial Analysis Summary (FAS) providing financial projections for 2025. Although each of...
Mobilising savings into investments
In last week’s article I mentioned the need for the equity market in Malta to grow in size and also in depth if Malta wants to adopt the recommendations of...
Reduction in free float
Over the past years, I had made several attempts at highlighting the need to reduce the minimum percentage holding of shares which must be in public hands which is often...
A golden age for GO plc
The AGM season is now in its final stages for the majority of companies whose equity is listed on the Malta Stock Exchange. Apart from the customary resolutions generally placed...
Another v-shaped recovery
At the start of the year, investment sentiment across the equity markets, particularly in the US, which is by far the largest capital market, was highly positive as a result...
Busy times for the bond market
In my article published two weeks’ ago dealing with the development in the sovereign bond markets in the US and also Japan, I had made reference to the state of...
Farsons – a year of strategic importance
Last week, Simonds Farsons Cisk published its Annual Report & Financial Statements for the 2024/25 financial year which came to an end on 31 January 2025. It was yet another...
Investors’ focus on Government Debt
In recent days, one of the main themes across international financial markets was the movement in government bond yields in Japan and also in the US. The prices of the...
Short-term yields at 2%
In my weekly media contributions over recent years, on an occasional basis I gave prominence to movements in yields on short-term financial instruments since these gained popularity following the strong...
Flying start for MIA
Malta International Airport plc (MIA) has been publishing its quarterly financial statements for quite some time and more recently, this good initiative has also been replicated by three of the...
Earnings deluge
Last week was characterised by a vast amount of earnings announcements both locally as well as internationally. On the international front, the main focal point for financial analysts and market...
Increasing participation in the capital market
This week marks an important milestone in my journalistic duties as it is my 900th article published in the media. To mark this event, it is coincidental that I was...
The strengthening euro
While the financial developments in recent weeks were dominated by constant updates related to the US trade policies and heightened volatility across the equity and bond markets, it is also...
Political u-turns
Despite the title of today’s article, I will not be opining on the current political state of affairs or political u-turns either in Malta or internationally. I will instead continue...
The month of April
During the first week of April, global equity markets experienced a very severe downturn. From 1st April, the day before what President Trump referred to as Liberation Day in view...
Banks dominate the headlines
The banking sector dominated headlines over recent days with various news stories regarding the potential sale of the 70% stake of HSBC Bank Malta plc. A number of news portals...
Liquidity across Malta’s bond market
In an article published in mid-December 2024, I mentioned the consistent growth in the size of the corporate bond market which had increased to €2.8 billion. I will not be...
Europe outperforming the US
In last week’s article I mentioned that during the fourth quarter of last year and in early 2025, the consensus view among most financial analysts was that the US stock...
Eurozone bond yields jump
We often encounter the phrase “a week is a long time in politics” highlighting the volatility and unpredictability of politics as unexpected events can lead to dramatic changes in political...
MIA accelerates investment programme
Following the 16 January announcement by Malta International Airport plc (MIA) with respect to the traffic results for 2024 and the guidance on traffic expectations and financial targets for 2025,...
HSBC kicks-off earnings season
The annual reporting season commenced in Malta last week with the publication of the financial statements of HSBC Bank Malta plc. Given the record interim financial performance for the first...
Short-term yields approach 2-year low
There was an evident change in investment appetite by retail and corporate investors in Malta for short-term financial market instruments following the surge in interest rates within the euro area...
AI spending takes centre stage
The financial reporting season in the United States is well underway and since most of the largest companies are heavily involved in the technology sector, investors were eager to assess...
ECB committed to monetary policy easing
The past three years brought significant shifts in the monetary policy set by major central banks as the post-pandemic economic revival combined with supply chain disruptions and geopolitical conflict in...
Share buybacks and Issuer Market Making
In last week’s article I gave prominence to the important announcement by Malta International Airport plc of 16 January in which they disclosed that during its upcoming Annual General Meeting...
MIA to propose share buyback
Last Thursday, Malta International Airport plc held its customary press conference at the start of the year to disclose its traffic results for the previous year and also to provide...
Sharp surge in sovereign bond yields
Movements in sovereign bond yields across major economies have been particularly substantial in the last few weeks, especially for longer-dated securities. Since the direction of the yield is inversely related...
US debt climbs to a new record
The United States national debt ceiling was reached in the first week of 2025 as the outstanding debt in the world’s largest economy reached a new record of USD36.1 trillion....
The need of a corporate calendar
As we look ahead to the new year, the financial markets will soon be dominated by the annual financial reporting period for companies who also have their financial year ending...
Developments within Malta’s telecom sector
The recent acquisition of Melita Limited by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, the private equity arm of a very large and prominent bank in the US, was widely reported across the media...
Bond redemptions in 2025
Malta’s bond market has grown remarkably over recent years indicating both the important role of the capital market as a complementary means of finance for many companies as well as...
S&P 500 on course for rare double-digit gains
During November, the S&P 500 index gained 5.7% which ranks as its best monthly performance during 2024. Following the sharp upturn last month, the S&P 500 index is now up...
Bond market terminology
When I started publishing articles in the media just over 17 years ago, one of my main aims was always to assist in educating the investing public. In fact, over...
Mixed performances across euro area companies
The performance of various international equity indices in 2024 has been remarkable with strong double-digit gains across the main US indices which surpassed expectations at the start of the year....
The capital market and the Budget Speech
Earlier this year, I published a series of articles in which I articulated my views on the state of the Maltese equity market and a number of initiatives that the...
Q3 performance by Malta’s retail banks
In the midst of the hectic reporting period across the US, UK and European stockmarkets, the three largest retail banks in Malta (APS Bank plc, Bank of Valletta plc and...
China takes centre stage
Over recent weeks, developments in China were among the main headlines across business media channels. After several years of underperformance when compared to the US stock market and other major...
2024 MGS issuance exceeds €1 bln
Following the successful Malta Government Stock (MGS) offering earlier this month, the total issuance so far this year has surpassed €1 billion thereby bringing the total MGS issuance (the main...
2nd anniversary of bull market
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at fresh all-time highs last week after stronger-than-expected profits from two of the major banks during the start of the Q3...
Bright skies ahead for MIA
Earlier this week, Malta International Airport plc published its monthly traffic results showing a growth rate of 10.4% in September. This was largely expected given the equally strong upturn in...
Implications of lower interest rates
The world’s major central banks are now all clearly in the early stages of a monetary easing cycle. Over the past couple of months, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank...
Commercial property companies in focus
In last week’s article I provided some details of the current takeover bid of Tigné Mall plc by the subsidiary of Hili Ventures Ltd, Marsamxett Properties Ltd. Many minority shareholders...
Another takeover bid in Malta
Over recent months I was highly critical about the state of the local capital market and also described it as moribund. However, the events over the past ten days brought...
PG’s revenue approaches €200 million
In the last few days of August when many companies were publishing their 2024 interim financial statements, PG plc published its annual financial statements for the 2023/24 financial year that...
The power of compounding
In my articles over the years, I wrote about Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway Inc on various occasions. In recent weeks, both Mr Buffett and the company which he manages...
Interest rate cuts ahead
Following the recent short-term correction across international equity markets and the subsequent sharp rebound with the S&P 500 index now just minimally below the all-time high registered in mid-July, the...
A short-lived flash crash
It was an eventful month for international equities with a flash crash during the first few days of August that sent the main benchmark indices across the world into a...
Banks price to book multiple
While investors’ attention over the past ten days may have been mainly focused on the flash crash that sent international equity markets into a tailspin during the first few days...
MIA reports double-digit profitability growth
Last week as the share prices of Bank of Valletta plc and HSBC Bank Malta plc hit their highest levels in over 5-years after both banks reported record profits for...
BOV’s NAV reaches €2.29 per share
The interim reporting season is now in full-swing both locally as well as internationally. At the start of the week, Bank of Valletta plc published its financial statements as at...
Exalco’s business centres maintain full occupancy
Over the past two weeks, my articles focused on bond market developments and the suggestion for investors to review all the financial information at their disposal to gauge the financial...
Assessing the strength of bond issuers
In last week’s article I mentioned that from a review of the various announcements published via the Malta Stock Exchange, one can conclude that there are a number of companies...
Thoughts about the bond market
Preference by the Maltese investment community for bonds was once again evident in the recent offering of Hili Finance Company plc. The company raised over €102 million for its €80...
The AI rally
The S&P 500 index, which is the main benchmark index of the US stockmarket, climbed by almost 15% during the first half of 2024. This ranks among the strongest performances...
MSE Capital Markets Roundtable
The Malta Stock Exchange organised a highly topic event last week bringing together a number of market participants in the presence of the Minister of Finance and also the Malta...
Sustainable growth ambitions from Farsons
The Annual Report & Financial Statements recently published by Simonds Farsons Cisk plc covering the financial year between 1 February 2023 and 31 January 2024 shows record group revenue generation...
Hili Ventures targets EBITDA of €160 million in 2025
Last week, Hili Finance Company plc published a Prospectus in connection with its 4th bond offering across the local capital market. Hili Finance is a special purpose financing vehicle for...
The dividend league table returns
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, I used to publish an article on an annual basis subsequent to the end of the reporting season highlighting the dividend yields available across the...
Meme stocks make a comeback
n recent weeks, apart from the continued upturn in international equity markets with the main indices in the US, Europe and UK reaching fresh record levels, another development was the...
Dow Jones @ 40,000
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) index crossed the 40,000 point-level for the first time in history last Thursday and closed above this symbolic milestone the following day. The recent...
The AGM season
After the conclusion of the financial reporting season at the end of April, we have now entered the period when companies with a December financial year-end will be convening their...
The functions of a capital market
In one of my recent articles wherein I compared the performance and activity across the local equity market in the decade prior to the COVID-19 pandemic to the situation over...
Uses of pricing multiples
The annual reporting season in Malta for those companies with a December financial-year has now finally come to an end. As several companies opted to publish their results in the...
The equity market in pre-COVID times
Earlier this month, I published an article detailing the sharp upturn across the main international equity markets during the first quarter of this year and some readers correctly pointed out...
Interest rate divergence ahead?
Last week was a volatile one for various asset classes (bonds, shares and also currencies) following publication of fresh economic data in the US and the monetary policy meeting of...
Sharp upturn across equity markets in Q1
The main international equity markets registered a very strong performance during the first quarter of the year. This positive momentum was a continuation of a similar upturn during the final...
BOV’s dividend payout ratio at 26% for FY2023
Following the surge in profitability reported by HSBC Bank Malta plc towards the end of February, it should not have come as a surprise that Bank of Valletta plc also...
Malta TBill issuance declines to under €500 million
Ever since the change in the interest rate environment in the second half of 2022 following the extended period of unprecedented low to negative interest rates across the eurozone, various...
From the Mag 7 to the Granolas
International equities are in the midst of a bull market with the main indices in the US and Europe reaching new all-time highs. Since the low of 3,577.03 points on...
Replicating a British ISA in Malta
In recent weeks I published a series of articles highlighting a number of challenges across the Maltese capital market and urging policymakers to adopt a number of reforms to reignite...
MIA dividends at all-time high
Following the publication of the annual financial statements of HSBC Bank Malta plc on 21 February, the earnings season continued in Malta last week with an announcement by Malta International...
HSBC’s profits surge to new record level
The earnings season in Malta commenced in a very positive manner last week with HSBC Bank Malta plc reporting a surge in profits to €133.9 million. This ought to have...
Activity on the Borza
In my recent articles I clearly highlighted the very weak investor sentiment across the local capital market. I mentioned the need for companies to devise detailed communication strategies to assist...
The Freefloat debate
Following the €50 million rights issue by Lombard Bank Malta plc in Q4 2023, another equity raise is being planned in Malta – this time by Malita Investments plc. The...
Earnings season ahead
The earnings season is well-underway across the international financial markets with all the major news portals and financial journalists providing in-depth coverage of the important developments across the larger companies....
Mixed fortunes for Japan and China
My article last week documented the strong upward movement of the S&P 500 index in the US and based on the data of previous bull markets, there is clear evidence...
The trend is your friend
“The trend is your friend” is a commonly-used phrase across financial markets. It is generally used to describe specific trading patterns either in a specific asset class such as in...
Fantastic year for MIA
During last week’s press conference, the CEO of Malta International Airport plc Mr Alan Borg described 2023 as a fantastic year. With an absolute record of 7.8 million passenger movements...
Positive returns for MGS investors in 2023
Malta’s sovereign bond market generated positive returns last year following three successive years of negative performances including the double-digit decline in 2022 which was brought about by the multiple interest...
A surprising end to a volatile year
Given how eventful the year has been, when publishing a review of 2023, it would be amiss to simply show the annual performances across the major asset classes since these...