Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1415342
3 NEWS 30.9.2021 Farsons registers improved interim results FROM PAGE 1 Profit before tax for the period amounted to €5.2 million compared with €1.6 million for the equivalent period last year, resulting from the im- proved turnover and operating margins. e Group's Board of Directors of the Farsons Group announced its interim unaudited results for the six months ended 31st July 2021. e six months under review were all influenced by COVID-19 related restrictions, albeit of a different nature and severity than those prevailing for the previous half year to 31 July 2020. During this period the Group was bet- ter placed to combat the many and var- ied challenges posed by the pandemic as a result of greater flexibility in pro- duction and distribution practices as well as the consistent adoption of cost containment measures. Government measures to protect em- ployment and to help overcome the economic fallout caused by the pan- demic were extended beyond the start of the year. ese factors, together with the grad- ual return of tourists and the Group's continued efforts in responding to the fast-changing dynamics of the local market have contributed to a growth in turnover as compared to the same pe- riod last year and have led to improved margins being achieved across all the Group's business sectors. Earnings per share attributable to shareholders improved from €0.053c in the first half of financial year 2021 to €0.163c in the comparative period of fi- nancial year 2022. During the period, the Farsons Group has also continued to monitor and cur- tail capital investments, retaining only those investments deemed essential for ongoing projects and product develop- ment to ensure that its innovative and competitive edge is retained. e major investment currently being undertaken by the Group is the resto- ration and rehabilitation of the Old Brewhouse which is a landmark regen- eration project to be known as e Bre- whouse. A gradual opening of the vari- ous facilities is planned for the start of the New Year. Farsons Group Chief Executive Officer Norman Aquilina said: "e pandemic seems here to stay for a while; how- ever, it is also clearer that both public health entities and businesses are now better equipped to deal with this un- precedented situation. We are learning to live with COVID-19 and this has led to a gradual improvement in busi- ness confidence and ultimately in our results. However, uncertainty remains, and continuing vigilance is required. Complacency and pandemic fatigue are real dangers and must not be allowed to set in. Nonetheless, there is room for us to be reasonably satisfied when one considers the context of the very chal- lenging and complex environment in which we have had to operate over the past eighteen months." "Looking further forward, a looming threat is the growing evidence of sus- tained inflationary pressures building with significant price increases being experienced across a wide range of raw materials, products and services, including particularly sharp increas- es in shipping costs. We must remain focused, motivated to overcome these threats," Aquilina said. FROM PAGE 1 Borg acknowledged that this was a phenomenon that had been happening for decades. But he insisted that the large number of employees leaving the private sector for a job with the gov- ernment following the relaxation of measures was unprecedented. He said this was happening in Malta too, as his association confirmed in a recent meeting with the Malta Cham- ber. However, Gozo businesses were feeling the effect more acutely due to the much smaller employment pool on the smaller island. And it is not pay that is motivating this exodus, since in many cases people are joining the public sector at a lower pay-grade than they enjoyed before. Borg conceded that some people join the public sector for security of tenure, knowing full well the private sector can never guarantee long-term employ- ment that civil servants enjoy. "And the private sector, by necessity, holds employees to a higher standard and expects, and demand, elevated lev- els of productivity," Borg told Business- Today. "at is not necessarily true through- out the public sector and many join just to be able to enjoy a more relaxed work life, where discipline is somewhat curtailed." Being in the run-up to an election was also not helping, he said. But identifying which ministry or de- partment was most to blame was diffi- cult with three Gozo ministers sitting on the Cabinet. Borg said, however, he believed that many employees left the private sector seeking a more cushy posting and not because of political favouritism. He said the government should not ac- cept everyone a priori and that it should help the private sector by limiting the numbers joining the public sector. e Gozo Business Chamber and the Malta Chamber agreed that whilst understanding the needs of the pub- lic sector, overstaffing across various government departments and entities, eliminates business competitiveness. "What hurts most is having em- ployees leave at a time when they are needed the most, when businesses are starting to get back on their feet after months of inactivity or reduced busi- ness," Borg said. 'Worrying' trend - finance minister Speaking on TVM's XtraSajf, finance minister Clyde Caruana said that re- cent trends of private sector employees in Gozo, moving on to public sector employment, was "worrying" for gov- ernment. "Of course, the situation worries me. We are either going to employ a style of politics which helps the private sector to succeed or we do nothing," he said on TVM's Xtra Sajf. Caruana said he understands the sen- timent felt by private sector employers. "I think the public and private sector should not be competing against each other," he said. e finance minister said the public sector's way forward is not to continue expanding, but rather to aid the private sector in generating more wealth. "We are either going to change the way we do things, or we are going to remain the same," he said. is newspaper reached out to the Gozo ministry for comment, but no reply was forthcoming by the time we went to print. 'Government needs to limit number of people joining public sector' Clyde Caruana Joseph Borg