Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/578491
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 30 SEPTEMBER 2015 11 Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Alec Mizzi has been appointed to succeed his late father Albert as chairman of the Midi Group, which is developing Tigné Point and the Manoel Island fort. Albert Mizzi passed away on 10 September. The board of directors elected Dr Alec Mizzi as the new chairman. Mizzi is a lawyer who has been working for the Alf Mizzi & Sons Group since 1980. He has been managing director of Alf Mizzi & Sons (Marketing) Ltd. since 1986 and was appointed CEO in 1993. He is non-executive director of a number of Alf. Mizzi & Sons subsidiary and associated companies, including Intercomp Ltd., Consolidated Biscuit Co Ltd., Macpherson Mediterranean Ltd., Homemate Ltd, Kitchen Concepts Ltd, Inspirations Ltd., LandOverseas Fund Sicav p.l.c, Supermarkets (1960) Ltd., as well as various overseas subsidiaries. He holds the post of chairman in Tigné Mall Ltd and in Solutions and Infrastructure Services Ltd. Mizzi has been a non-executive chairman of Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks, a director of the Water Services Corporation, Malta External Trade Corp (METCO), Malta Venture Capital plc, and the Grand Harbour Rehabilitation Project. He has also served as Director of HSBC Fund Management Ltd, and is a director of First Gemini plc and EC Holdings. Alec Mizzi takes father's mantle as Midi chairman The late Albert Mizzi (left) has been succeeded by his son Alec as chairman of the Midi Group Forestals launches risk assessment service, Assess IT In today's fast-paced business en- vironment, companies and organi- sations spend considerable time researching and reviewing their IT strategy. Performance issues or unex- pected downtime are inevitably expe- rienced due to increasing demand and ever-developing needs. There is also the concern over security and loss of data, which could raesult in significant exposure for any business. In view of this, FGL IT (a subsidiary of the Forestals Group of Companies) has just launched a new service, Assess IT. The main aim of Assess IT is to help businesses understand where such risks lie and make suggestions on where any changes or improvements need to be made. A "Current Situation Assessment" is carried out, providing an overview of a company's existing IT systems, technology and support infrastructure. When launching this new initiative, Gordon Dimech, Chief Operations Officer at Forestals explained that, "The primary goal and benefit of such an exercise is to reduce both cost and complexity through an open and objective assessment of a business' IT environment as well as supporting services. The assessment will be carried out by certified engineers and would typically consist of discovery and audit of current IT infrastructure and Office Printing. With the implementation of managed print services, businesses are able to reduce costs by up to 30%." he concluded. More information about the new Assess IT service can be obtained from Forestals - FGL Information Technology on 2343 6000 or via email on sales@fglit.com Money Market Report for the week ending September 25, 2015 ECB Monetary Operations On Monday, September 21, the European Central Bank (ECB) announced its weekly main refinancing operation (MRO). The auction was conducted on Tuesday, September 22, and attracted bids from euro area eligible counterparties of €71.08 billion, €0.41 billion higher than the bid amount of the previous week. The amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing MRO rate of 0.05%, in accordance with current ECB policy. On Wednesday, September 23, the ECB conducted a seven- day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve. This operation attracted bids of $0.14 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.64%. On Thursday, September 24, the ECB conducted the fifth Targeted Longer Term Refinancing Operation, as announced in the press release of Thursday, June 5, 2014. This operation attracted bids of €15.55 billion, which was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 0.05%. Domestic Treasury Bill Market In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 90-days maturing on December 24, 2015. Bids of €40.00 million were submitted for the 90-day bills, with the Treasury accepting €18.00 million. Since €21.50 million worth of bills matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills decreased by €3.50 million, to stand at €252.60 million. The yield from the 90-day bill auction was -0.001%, down by 0.3 basis point from bids with a similar tenor issued on September 18, 2015, representing a bid price of 100.0003 per 100 nominal. During the week under review, there was no trading on the Malta Stock Exchange. On Tuesday the Treasury invited tenders for 28-day and 91-day bills maturing on October 29, and December 31, 2015, respectively. Miner Glencore faces 'severe problems' Mining fi rm Glencore could face "severe problems" if it does not cut its debt and commodity prices do not recover, analysts have said. Investec senior investment director Laura Lambie told the BBC that the whole mining sector was under pressure. Glencore's shares price dived 30% on Monday after Investec warned that weak commodity prices could lead to the firm's equity value being "eliminated". But analysts at Citigroup said the sell-off in Glencore had been overdone. Citigroup said that there was still value in the business, and that Glencore should even consider going private via a management buyout if the market rout continued. "In the event the equity market continues to express its unwillingness to value the business fairly, the company management should take the company private, whereby restructuring measures can be taken easily and quickly," it said. Glencore's stock has fallen by more than 85% since the company went public in 2011 at a price of £5.30 a share. Nigel Wilson, the chief executive for Legal and General, which is a shareholder in Glencore, said the mining company was facing a "quasi-Lehman moment", referring to the collapse of the US investment bank during the 2008 financial crisis. Wilson called on Glencore's management to clarify information about the company's viability to stem further falls in its stock. "There's a lot of noise and there's not enough signalling. That lack of information causes a huge amount of uncertainty at Glencore which is having a massive contagion effect across the world," Wilson said. In Hong Kong on Tuesday, Glencore shares fell 27% - echoing the falls seen in London on Monday. However, its shares enjoyed a rebound as trading got under way in London, rising between 9-10%