Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1461072
2 NEWS 17.3.2022 MALTA-BASED 4Sight Group Ltd, a lead- ing digital services, technology and con- sulting business has opened a new office in Larnaca, Cyprus. is new venture already supports Cypriot customers in the real es- tate, medical and legal sectors. Maurizio Mamo, Chief Executive Officer of 4Sight Group Ltd, said: "Our expansion into Cyprus is supported by all of the ex- perience we have gained in Malta since 2007 by offering a unique combination of consultancy, technology, digital transfor- mation and marketing services. With our strong background, we look forward to de- livering custom digital solutions to Cypriot businesses who are also looking to increase their operational efficiency." Currently, 4Sight Cyprus is offering Dig- ital Transformation Services in the coun- try, such as Business Solutions, IT Cloud Services, Web Development, Digital Mar- keting, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and a selection of Creative Services. 4Sight Group, based out of Malta and Cyprus, provides a wide array of services in the information technology and digital sector. Established in 2007, 4Sight has sup- ported companies in both the private and the public sectors locally and internation- ally. For more information see the https:// 4sight.group website. Malta's 4Sight Group expands into Cyprus Malta-based 4Sight Group Ltd has opened a new office in Larnaca, Cyprus offering technology, consulting business and digital services THE APS Personal Pension Plan is a long- term plan to help customers prepare for their retirement while providing flexibility in their pension savings and investments. New subscribers to the APS Personal Pen- sion Plan will benefit from an additional top up of €150 until 15 April 2022. When taking out an APS Personal Pen- sion Plan, customers will make regular contributions into their pension pot and choose from a range of ready-made invest- ment strategies. Subscribers can keep track of their pen- sion through an online portal. Customers setting up a personal pension plan will also benefit from a tax rebate of 25% on the annual contributions (up to a maximum of €750 per year). Personal pension plans are distributed from all APS Branches through author- ised Investment Advisors who have been trained and are authorised to distribute these plans. Anyone wanting to set an appointment to discuss the APS Personal Pension Plan options, can visit apsbank.com.mt/person- al-pension Offer launched for new APS Personal Pension Plan subscribers THE Average DSO – Days Sales Out- standing or as also referred to 'the payment collection ratio' – across all the Maltese business sectors as at 31 December 2021 was 84.60 days. is figure was derived from a sur- vey conducted by e Malta Associa- tion of Credit Management (MACM) amongst its members. MACM rep- resents suppliers selling on credit in Malta and other creditors hailing from all sectors of the Maltese econ- omy. e DSO figures for specific indus- tries and sectors were also issued and communicated to the respective MACM Members who participated in this important exercise. MACM notes with that there has been an increase of 4.92 days com- pared to last year's DSO figure which stood at 79.68 days. It has also been noted that a DSO of 84.60 days is still relatively high when compared to the average DSO of oth- er European countries which reads 52 days for B2B, 31 days B2C and 62 days for the Public sector (Intrum Justitia Late Payment Report – 2022). From discussions with its members, MACM attributes this increase in the average DSO figure, for businesses across all sectors of the Maltese econo- my for the year 2021, to Covid-19 pan- demic. Accounts Receivable, or as they are commonly known 'Debtors', repre- sent on average about 40% of the to- tal assets of the balance sheet of most firms, which assets are deemed liquid. Consequently, an increase in the DSO would not help the cash flow of a busi- ness and may also hinder further busi- ness growth. In fact, late payments remain one of the main concerns for businesses not only in Malta but also for European businesses. e DSO ratio is the tool widely used by businesses globally to measure the performance of the credit manage- ment function. It represents the average time taken by customers in settling their invoic- es due to their suppliers. is Ratio is composed of two variables, the Debt- ors Amount and the Sales Turnover which are expressed in collection days. ere exist a number of external fac- tors that may influence the DSO Ra- tio figure. erefore, it is advisable to benchmark the DSO figure with that of the same sector or industry. By benchmarking the DSO figure of a business with that of the same in- dustry, one would be able to measure the 'Debtors' - Accounts Receivables (A/R) performance against one's own credit terms and those of the compet- itors within the same industry. MACM notes that the aim of good credit management is to contribute directly to profitable sales growth. erefore, sales and revenue should not suffer at the expense of reducing DSO. When using DSO as a tool to meas- ure the effectiveness of the credit function, one needs to also evaluate other relevant financial ratios that take into consideration not only the 'Sales' figure but also the 'Profit' – the bottom line. e DSO alone does not account for customer retention, nor does it meas- ure customer satisfaction, which is re- quired to sustain long-term customer relationship, hence maintaining com- petitive advantage on the market. 84.6 days payment collection period average in 2021