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30.05.19 7 NEWS BMIT Technologies plc has held its first Annu- al General Meeting following its listing on the Malta Stock Exchange last February. In addition to reporting a successful 2018 to its sharehold- ers, the company outlined major initiatives it is undertaking in order to reach its strategic objec- tives, including the opening of a new data centre. Addressing shareholders at the Hilton Malta, BMIT Technologies plc Chairman Nikhil Patil touched upon the company's growth strategy and its journey from a privately-owned organi- sation to a listed company worth €100 million. "Our strategy saw us investing in Kinetix IT Solutions Limited in 2016, and eventually con- solidating it through full acquisition in 2018. is acquisition enables us to continue enhancing our services portfolio, by providing holistic solutions to our customers and positions us to provide a new breed of services to our customers," Patil said. Shareholders were also addressed by BMIT Technologies plc CEO Christian Sammut who provided an overview of the company's main strategic initiatives, as well as a status update on a new data centre, which is scheduled for com- pletion in 2020. "We are already in the advanced stages of devel- oping a new data centre in Żejtun that promises to be the largest purpose-built data centre facility on the island. is new data centre has been de- signed and is being built according to established international standards," he said. "We expect it to be certified as a Tier 3 data centre from a leading international institution. In addition to new co-location and hosting capacity, we plan to offer enhanced cloud services as well as to roll-out new and advanced IT solutions." Chief Finance Officer Alexia Muscat provided an overview of the financial performance of the company, and explained that for the year ended 31 December 2018, BMIT Technologies plc gen- erated revenues in excess of €21 million, thereby registering an increase of 8% over revenues gen- erated in 2017. EBITDA grew by €0.7 million to €9.3 million while profit before tax amounted to €7 million, an increase of 10%. Shareholders also approved all the resolutions presented for their consideration. ON Friday 17 May, Main Street Complex p.l.c. held its first An- nual General Meeting since its 2018 IPO. e meeting was chaired by the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Joseph A. Gasan, who presented an over- view of the company's perfor- mance and financial results dur- ing 2018. e board confirmed that all the profits for the year were be- ing distributed as dividends, as had been indicated in the pro- spectus dated 23 April 2018. During his statement, Gasan highlighted the positive perfor- mance of the Main Street Com- plex with record level of footfall following the completion of the Pjazza Antoine De Paule renova- tion project. He said the company looks for- ward to attaining 100% occupan- cy for the mall shortly, with the opening of a new store in June. Shareholders were asked to vote on three resolutions. ese covered the approval of the Au- dited Financial Statements of the Company for the financial year ending 31 December 2018 together with the Directors' and Auditors' report, the final net dividend of €190,163 (or €0.00981 per share), and the ap- pointment of Pricewaterhouse- Coopers as auditors of the Com- pany. e three resolutions were approved unanimously. e shareholders re-appointed all members of the board until the next AGM. e board mem- bers are Joseph A. Gasan, Mario Camilleri, Etienne Borg Cardo- na, Christopher Mifsud and Isa- bella Vella. BMIT Technologies plc holds first AGM following listing Main Street Complex p.l.c.'s AGM held THE Central Bank of Malta has pub- lished the second issue of its Quar- terly Review for 2019, which analyses economic and financial developments in Malta and abroad during the fourth quarter of 2018. is issue includes a study on an alter- native approach which supplements the pure production function used by the Bank to estimate potential output. e Review also analyses the length of stay of foreigners in the Maltese labour mar- ket over the period 2002-2017. Additionally, this edition reports on the results for Malta of the European Investment Bank Group Survey on In- vestment and Investment Finance that was carried out in the second quarter of 2018. With regard to the latest economic developments, the Review notes that growth in the Maltese economy ac- celerated during the fourth quarter of 2018, with real gross domestic product (GDP) rising by 7.2% in annual terms, following a 7.1% increase in the third quarter of the year. Economic activi- ty was driven by domestic demand, as the contribution from net exports was slightly negative. Annual GDP growth in Malta was more than five times that recorded in the euro area. In contrast to GDP growth, poten- tial output growth eased to 5.3% in the last quarter of 2018, from 5.8% in the preceding quarter, although it remained elevated from a historical perspective. As a result, the positive output gap, measured as a four-quarter moving av- erage, widened compared with the third quarter and in the corresponding quar- ter a year earlier. Although the degree of overutilisation of the economy's productive capacity increased, it remained below the lev- els estimated for 2015 and 2016. e Bank's Business Conditions Index stood unchanged from its value in the third quarter of 2018 and in the last quar- ter of 2017, and continued to suggest above-average conditions. e labour market remained robust, as employment grew strongly and the unemployment rate fell further. Ac- cording to the Labour Force Survey, the unemployment rate stood at 3.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018, lower than the rate recorded in the same quarter a year earlier. It also remained below the Bank's structural measure of 4.1% and continued to suggest a degree of tight- ness in the labour market. Consumer price pressures moderated. e annual rate of inflation measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) stood at 1.2% in Decem- ber, down from 2.5% in September. is moderation was driven by services in- flation, which had risen sharply earlier in the year following a revision in the weight of services related to tourism. e Retail Price Index (RPI), which only takes into account expenditure by Mal- tese residents and was thus unaffected by this revision, eased marginally, going from 1.6% in September to 1.5% in De- cember. In contrast, the Bank's measure of core inflation accelerated from 0.7% to 1.1% over this period. As a result, the gap between the core and the overall in- flation rate narrowed. While consumer price pressures mod- erated, producer prices continued to increase at a brisk pace. Malta's unit labour cost (ULC) also continued to grow, though the annual rate of change eased when compared with previous quarters. Central Bank of Malta publishes second issue of 2019 Quarterly Review

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