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3 NEWS 6.10.2022 According to the Retail Price Index, Malta has witnessed rapid price growth over the first six months of 2022, with prices rising by an average of 5.1 per cent from January to June. The two main components driving the RPI growth rate in the first half of the year are food and housing. Food is contributing 1.9 percentage points while the housing contribution is at 0.9 percentage points. The next highest contributors are transport and communication at 0.6 percentage points, recreation and culture at 0.4 percentage points, and household equipment and household maintenance costs at 0.3 percentage points. retail price index db Group revenue topped €40m in March, down from €60m in 2020 FROM PAGE 1 e Group's new CEO, Robert Debono, will drive DB's robust business and investment strategy to consolidate financial success on all fronts. Lawyer David Debono, will be chief legal officer, overseeing all legal matters as well as HR; Alan Debono will be chief procurment and accounring officer, tak- ing charge of financial and purchasing policy and execution; Victoria Debono is now Brands Manager, and will nur- ture and expand the group's Maltese and global brand portfolio. Silvio Debono remains chairman of the board. "My wife and I gave our chil- dren the freedom to choose their indi- vidual paths in life. ey took different ones which, as luck would have it, are converging at this very moment. I am convinced that they will continue to expand and deepen our Group's vision and prudently execute it." Debono said he will be overseeing the DB transformation, "ensuring our strong financial standing is sustained and to see that our excellent track re- cord extends to the future." "I started this business from scratch. As a 14-year-old I used to collect dis- carded soft drink bottles from Għadira to redeem them for cents. Still a teen- ager, from being a barman I took the plunge and took over the bar where I worked," he told Business Today. "en I managed to scrape enough funds to run a tiny guest house and from there we never looked back. Today, we have around 4,500 people working with us." He said that with the Group's struc- tures and processes solidly in place, he decided to pass the baton to his chil- dren and their colleagues and staff. "Having seen them perform so well and with so much passion in their dif- ferent roles emboldened me to make the move," he said. If he could give one piece of advice to the new CEO, Debono said it is imper- ative to always stay close to one's staff and listen, really listen, to what they have to say. en decide. "Also, you should always be prepared not only to forgive but also to forget," he said. Asked whether he regretting anything in his business life, Debono said he had always been inspired and driven by suc- cess. "I love making a success of things as much as I love seeing other people do- ing the same, even competitors," he said. "What I regret is that there's a dark streak in certain people which leads them to denigrate and put down the success of others." Post-pandemic recovery In March 2022, db's revenue stood at €40 million, just €20 million less over the same period in 2020, with EBITDA at €24 million, down €3.5 million from 2020, and post-tax profits of €10.5m (2020: €12m), with €8 million in capital spending. "is is an exciting and humbling challenge for my siblings and myself," CEO Robert Debono said. "e Board is trusting us to sustain and enhance the success of a group of companies on which the livelihood of 4,500 fami- lies and individuals depends. It is also happening as the tourism industry and the economy are expected to get a post-pandemic reboot. e future looks bright and we are ready for it." e db Group's post-pandemic re- covery exceeded forecasts in March 2022, recovering to pre-pandemic lev- els when Malta had registered a record tourism year. "e Group continued to invest even during the darkest pandemic months," Debono said of the company's new Starbucks outlets and restaurants LOA and Sonora, inagurated after March 2022. e hotels and restaurants group has also completed an extensive rebranding and modernisation programme. "What I regret is that there's a dark streak in certain people which leads them to denigrate and put down the success of others." Silvio Debono THE OPEC+ alliance on Wednes- day agreed to cut oil output by as much as 2 million barrels per day — a figure that could push oil and gas prices higher after weeks of downtrends. e move comes despite calls from the US to boost output to help with ease inflation and boost the global economy and repre- sents a reversal in the alliance's production policy. OPEC+ slashed output by a re- cord 10 million barrels per day in early 2020 when demand col- lapsed due to the COVID-19 pan- demic. e group has since gradu- ally lifted record production cuts, even as several OPEC+ countries struggle to meet their quotas. However, in the US, White House national security spokes- man John Kirby downplayed the new OPEC+ deal. "In some ways, the cuts announced this time are really just bringing them back into line with actual production," he said. JPMorgan analysts expected Washington DC to put in place counter measures by releasing more oil stocks. Goldman Sachs analysts said they estimated the real produc- tion cuts would therefore amount to 400,000-600,000 b/d mainly by Gulf OPEC producers such as Sau- di Arabia, Iraq, UAE, and Kuwait. OPEC+ to cut oil supply by 2 million barrels per day, aiming for higher oil prices

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