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5 NEWS 2.2.2023 MALTESE workers spend the most time using email every day, a study on European employees' email usage habits has found. According to the study, carried out by the productivity software DeskTime, European workers spend an average of 18.42 minutes per workday using email. Workers in Malta, however, spend an average of 55.02 min- utes using email each workday, the highest recorded in the study. The Maltese are followed by Spaniards who spend 38.35 min- utes a day on email. Greeks conclude the ranking's top three with 36.82 minutes of daily email use at work. The data reveals that employees from the Benelux countries, Aus- tria, and Switzerland spend the least time using email. DeskTime examined the time spent on email apps and URLs by more than 11,000 users from 30 European countries during No- vember 2022. Europe's average of 18.42 min- utes of work email time is 33% less than the average daily email time for workers in the USA. According to DeskTime data, Americans spend 27.23 minutes of their workday on email. This notable difference points out possible diversity in work- place communication, culture, and email usage habits among employ- ees from the two regions. Moreover, in 2019, software company Adobe reported that em- ployees in the US spend more than five hours on email daily. 2022's significant decrease in email usage in the US and the rel- atively small amount of time Eu- ropean workers spend using email could be a result of the remote work-induced implementation of communication tools such as Slack and Microsoft Teams. According to Microsoft, Teams was used by 270 million users in 2022, seeing considerable growth since its launch in 2017, when the tool had two million users. "Due to the global adoption of re- mote and hybrid work principles, enterprises have implemented various communication tools and apps into their daily routines," Ar- tis Rozentals, CEO at DeskTime, said. "Thus, if previously our main communication tool was email, now it's shifted to more efficient tools both for internal and exter- nal communication, lowering the time spent managing one's inbox. My team has also successfully im- plemented several communication apps, and now there are only a few reasons remaining to open my email during the workday." DeskTime is a time tracking and productivity software company with more than 380,000 users worldwide. The company regular- ly studies productivity and work habits, with its most significant study resulting in the viral 52/17 rule. THE Malta Financial Services Author- ity (MFSA) on Wednesday published a strategic statement, outlining the ob- jectives that will guide its mission and contribute towards securing Malta's fu- ture as a resilient and efficient financial services jurisdiction. is statement sets out the Authority's long-term objectives and more imme- diate strategic priorities in the context of the current economic environment. It takes into account the unprecedent- ed challenges and uncertain global out- look impacting the financial sector and points out the opportunities that can be leveraged by resilient, effectively regu- lated jurisdictions. e document also sets out 27 strate- gic priorities that the Authority will fo- cus on over the next three years in line with this direction. ese are grouped under five pillars: Delivering agile and proactive regulation; Sustaining a resil- ient, internationally networked finan- cial sector; Promoting good governance and compliance; Embracing innovation; and Engagement with the public. e strategic statement also recognises the importance of continued investment in the Authority's people and in the digi- talisation of internal processes. "e MFSA Strategic Statement sets out a clear direction for the Authority as we navigate the continuously chang- ing landscape in the financial services industry," said outgoing Chairman Prof. John Mamo." Malta's size and agility as a jurisdiction should enable it to adapt to this changing scenario and ensure that all stakeholders can rely on and contrib- ute towards its flexibility, resilience and soundness as a jurisdiction." MFSA's Acting CEO and Chief Of- ficer Enforcement Dr Michelle Mizzi Buontempo added that "e Authority has a strong and renewed commitment towards increasing efficiency, effective- ness and versatility, both as an organisa- tion and in its interaction with its wider stakeholder base. is strategy is a re- sult of contributions from the MFSA staff as well as our consultations with industry and consumer associations and other regulatory bodies. We will continue to cultivate a healthy and open dialogue with our peers, market opera- tors, consumers and the general public to keep our focus relevant, timely, and trained on achieving the outcomes that fulfill our statutory mandate." e MFSA's Strategic Statement is available for download on the Author- ity's website. MFSA outlines five strategic pillars in newly launched strategic statement FROM PAGE 1 "The Convenience Shop Group embraces a philosophy which places a strong empha- sis on corporate and social responsibility through financial and other support to vari- ous NGOs and vulnerable people. One of the first initiatives in this regard was the opening of 'The Convenience Shop for Puttinu Cares' outlet in Qormi in 2019, which operates for the sole benefit of the Puttinu Cares Founda- tion," the group said in a company statement. Share issue The share issue is of 7,700,000 shares (rep- resenting 25% of the company's issued share capital post-IPO), of which 1,000,000 ordi- nary shares will be issued by the company (new shares), while 6,700,000 ordinary shares will be offered for sale by the selling share- holders. The shares are being offered at €0.97 per share. However, employees and franchisees of the Group as at 27 January 2023 will have the opportunity to subscribe for up to 1,052,631 shares at a price of €0.945 per share. Addi- tionally, specific discounts will be granted to applicants subscribing for sizeable amounts. The net proceeds from the new shares offer, expected to amount to up to €970,000 will be used for the general corporate funding pur- poses of the Group. The sale of shares by the selling sharehold- ers represents a partial realisation of their in- vestment in the Company. The Board of Directors intends to distribute 55% of the recurring free cash flow on an an- nual basis, subject to statutory requirements and availability of profits. The net dividend yield is projected to increase from 5.0% in 2023 to 5.8% in 2025, based on the IPO price of €0.97 per share. The shares of The Convenience Shop (Hold- ing) plc are expected to be admitted to the Official List of the Malta Stock Exchange on 3 April 2023 and trading is expected to com- mence on 4 April 2023. THE CONVENIENCE SHOP IPO Shares to be offered at €0.97 Maltese workers spend most time on email in Europe

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