Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/608340
48 Events maltatoday, SUNDAY, 29 NOVEMBER 2015 48 Malta's Best-in-Business Awards - celebrating business excellence, innovation and ethics THE first edition of Malta's Best-in- Business Awards 2015 announced the winners on Friday 13 Novem- ber, during an exclusive awards ceremony held at the majestic Ver- dala Palace, in Buskett. The event focused on outstanding businesses and corporate organisations, cel- ebrating business excellence and exceptional success. The night's gala was the second of two main Business Awards cer- emonies organised successfully this year by MBR Publications Limited. The first ceremony took place in July at the Westin Drago- nara Resort, with over 600 guests, honouring winners for Malta's Best Entrepreneur of the Year. Malta's Best-in-Business Awards 2015 honours an all-inclusive spec- trum of Maltese business organi- zations – from SMEs, emerging start-ups, major public companies and government agencies, to fash- ion design houses, product devel- opers, ICT and web development teams. More than 450 top-level execu- tives attended the awards banquet, hosted by radio personality Colin Fitz, together with Monique Cham- bers. Entertainment was provided by the Spiteri Lucas Band, singer YADA Dance Company, Fireplay- Malta, comedian Malcolm Galea, and singer Neville Refalo. A spec- tacular outdoor tent set-up against the majestic Verdala backdrop pro- vided a unique setting. Banquet tables were lit up with specially designed candles, MBR tent cards and a twelve-page programme for each distinguished guest. VIP guests included President of Malta Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, minister of finance Edward Sciclu- na, ambassadors from the Russian Federation, and members of the Russian Royal House of Romanov. Winners of Malta's Best-in-Busi- ness Awards 2015, which were determined by a panel of judges following qualification for nomi- nation, were announced during the gala evening dinner, with a video presentation of each company be- ing displayed on the large screen on stage, with several sky beams projecting light rays into the night sky. More than 36 nominees made it through to the final night and more than 50 companies participated in this year's Malta's Best-in-Business Awards 2015. Sponsors and partners of Malta's Best-in-Business Awards included Western Union, Ta Frenc Restau- rant, DHL, Talocan, MAPFRE Middle Sea, Design Hub, The Malta Business Weekly, Agenzija Zghazagh, Gozo Cottage, Cleland & Souchet, Nilara and Catermax. Central Bank issues economic update for November Economic activity in Malta contin- ued to expand robustly in the sec- ond quarter of 2015, with real gross domestic product (GDP) increasing by 5.2% on a year earlier. Growth was driven by domestic demand. Indicators for manufactur- ing and tourism point to further ex- pansion in the third quarter of 2015. Buoyant economic activity is being reflected in the labour market, with employ- ment expanding and the unemployment rate remaining at historically low levels. Price pressures are mildly increas- ing. The annual rate of inflation, based on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), stood at 1.6% in October. Maltese residents' deposits continued to expand at a rapid annual rate in September, while the annual rate of growth of credit to residents accelerated fur- ther. As regards fiscal developments, the general government deficit nar- rowed in the sec- ond quarter of 2015, while the deficit on the Con- solidated Fund also decreased dur- ing the first nine months of the year. On the external side, the current account of the balance of payments remained in surplus in the second quarter of 2015. Economic activity in Malta contin- ued to grow strongly during the sec- ond quarter of 2015, with real GDP rising at an annual rate of 5.2%. This represents an acceleration from an upwardly-revised rate of 4.9% in the previous quarter. During the quarter under review, growth was driven by domestic de- mand, which rose by 6.9% on a year earlier, almost double the increase in the previous quarter. The main driver was a rise in gross fixed capi- tal formation, which grew sharply when compared with the second quarter of 2014. The other major components of final domestic de- mand also expanded. As a result, domes- tic demand contributed 6.5 percentage points to real GDP growth. Gross fixed capital formation rose by 24.3% on a year earlier. This sharp rise in investment followed the slowdown registered in the pre- vious quarter. Most of the increase in investment can be attributed to higher spending on machinery & equipment, although investment on dwellings and transport equipment also rose. Conversely, non-dwelling construction investment declined. Overall, investment contributed 4.3 percentage points to real GDP growth. In addition, government con- sumption rose at an annual rate of 5.0%, after having eased in the pre- vious quarter, and contributed 1.1 percentage points to GDP growth. Both compensation of employees and, to a lesser extent, intermediate consumption rose on their year-ago levels. Homes of Quality holds property and residence seminars at the Malta High Commission in London RIDING on this positive wave and strengths of the local economy and increasing international interest in our islands, Homes of Quality has recently held a series of seminars at the Malta High Commission in London, in collaboration with Blevins Franks and John Huber & Associates. The oversubscribed seminars were a striking success, affirming Malta and Gozo as a key invest- ment location among the UK's High net worth private individuals and business investors. Thanks to a number of incentives introduced by local authorities over the last twelve months, as well as Malta's positioning on the interna- tional scene, both have had a very favourable effect on the property market. Tangible proof of this is the number of foreign companies that have chosen Malta to conduct business from, as well as foreign nationals relocating to Malta for economic reasons. A key ripple effect of this is the exponential growth of the rental market in 2014 and 2015, with cur- rent demand for quality properties exceeding supply. These factors, along with other Malta attributes and the various residence pro- grammes that the island is offering were the main topic of the Malta seminars, hosted by Malta's High Commissioner in London Norman Hamilton. The seminars follow a number of other initiatives taken by the Frank Salt Real Estate Group - of which Homes of Quality is part of – to pro- mote the Maltese property product in the UK, including an aggressive online marketing campaign, con- tributions to the UK's major news- papers and participation in several exhibitions in London, Birming- ham and Manchester. "Malta has so much to offer. An exceptional lifestyle and a vibrant economy make us a favourite des- tination for anyone planning to move or invest outside his or her own country," stated Grahame Salt, Managing Director for Homes of Quality. "The scope of these seminars was simply to explain why this is so and provide key information to help those interested in making the best of their move or investment in Malta. The current standing of the British Sterling against the Euro, also make now a very good time to invest or buy in Euro, since UK na- tionals will get more Euros for their money." "Malta is not new to British na- tionals. There are many British people who have already made the move and are now residing in Mal- ta. Others perhaps have been con- sidering moving their families to a more secure destination but have not taken the plunge yet so these seminars help in answering all their questions. With the various incen- tives that Malta has to offer, we can offer them this and much more." HSBC Water Programme to save half a million disposable water bottles a year HUNDREDS of thousands of plastic bottles will be saved from being ditched into Malta's two landfill sites thanks to a new initiative by the HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop to replace disposable water bottles of school-going children with re- usable ones. To date, the campaign has dis- tributed a total of 2,070 high- quality reusable bottles at five schools, which is expected to generate a saving of 382,950 bot- tles in a year. This is calculated as each student bringing a dis- posable water bottle to school five days a week, for 37 scholastic weeks in a year. The latest school to receive bottles is St Benedict College – Kirkop Secondary, where the HS- BC Water Programme – Catch the Drop distributed a total of 800. All bottles being donated by HSBC are of the highest quality and are BPA (bisphenol A.) free, making them safe for children to reuse. They also reduce the weight of the school bags if users refill them at school. And as good waste management begins with prevention, the HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop campaign is launching an- other initiative, which will allow HSBC Malta staff to install a do- mestic reverse osmosis (RO) plant at their homes. The Bank will be subsidising the cost of each RO plant by 25% of its cost and up to a total subsidy of €15,000. Under this initiative, a mini- mum of 150 staff and their fami- lies are expected to stop using plastic bottled water, avoiding the production and disposal of 135,000 bottles per year. Further complementing the campaign's wide-ranging con- servation efforts is a new waste separation initiative, where the Bank will be distributing a total of 20,800 biodegradable recy- cling bags to various schools. HSBC Malta CEO Andrew Beane said: "The key thing we are trying to achieve is to build awareness amongst students that the resources that we have here in Malta are really precious and we have a responsibility to look after those resources and use them re- sponsibly and to preserve them in a way that will support the future generations." The Verdala Palace in Buskett was the ideal venue for the Best-in-Business Awards 2015 HSBC Malta CEO Andrew Beane presents a re-usable plastic bottle to a student, with Education Minister Evarist Bartolo looking on