Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/630594
44 Events maltatoday, Sunday, 24 January 2016 Banif staff dress down for charity Continuing to build on the fantastic results of their Casual Fridays initiative, Banif Bank staff have collected over €2,000 for different causes in the second half of 2015. the Casual Fridays initiative was conceived with the idea of giving employees a hands-on ap- proach to charity whilst promot- ing a more positive workplace. on the last Friday of every month, Banif staff trade their ties and heels for tees and trainers, and make a small donation towards the cause chosen for that month. Causes are often suggested by employees themselves, as was the case with Dar Pirotta, which hosts a number of persons with special needs who require con- stant care. Banif pitched in to buy them a washing machine, which will help take some of the load off the staff. next up was kellimni.com, a website that provides free, anon- ymous support to young people, born out of a partnership be- tween Appoġġ, the Salesians of Don Bosco, Aġenzija Żgħażagħ and SoS Malta. Banif 's contri- bution helped with the launch of a new and improved site with smart messaging, which will be better equipped to help today's youths. Another staff member, who is a member of Fgura united FC, sug- gested that a month's collections go towards the club's fundraising activities in aid of Puttinu Cares, and as always when such worthy causes are involved, the Bank and its employees duly obliged. october saw the Bank doing its part and getting directly in- volved in promoting breast can- cer awareness. together with a number of educational and sup- portive initiatives carried out during the month, october's Casual Friday collections were al- located to Europa Donna, a local Breast Cancer Support group. Lastly, the Banif team got into the Christmas giving spirit by helping to pay for a Christmas meal organised by Ċentru Leap! for individuals who didn't have anyone to spend the festive sea- son with. "obviously it is good fun to be able to come into the office in casuals every now and then but what is really great about Casual Fridays is that we, the employees, get to choose exactly who our collections will be helping that month," said Ann Marie Fenech, Relationship officer at the Bank's Corporate Banking unit. "i have suggested a few causes myself in the past and they were always taken up. this helps us feel that we are actually mak- ing a difference, no matter how small." Emirates and Boeing launch 'View from Above' EMiRAtES and Boeing have partnered together to sponsor 'View from Above', one of the largest aerial filming projects ever conducted using unmanned aerial vehicles (uAVs), commonly known as drones. Filming was conducted in 18 destinations on five continents including Emir- ates' hub in Dubai and Boeing Commercial Airplanes' home, Seattle. Footage for Dubai was provided by Dubai Film. Boutros Boutros, Emirates' Di- visional Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications, Marketing and Brand said: "the beautifully crafted films pro- duced for this project not only feature destinations within our network in a stunning new light, but also utilise innovative tech- nologies in creative ways to pro- duce dramatic footage. our aim is to always connect with our au- diences around the world, and we hope that people are inspired by these unique films." "Partnering with Emirates for this project was a tremen- dously exciting venture," said Jerry Verghese, Vice President, global Brand Marketing for Boeing Commercial Airplanes. "the combination of technol- ogy, art and innovation to bring about these fabulous vignettes of Emirates' destinations around the world is remarkable. We are proud that the Boeing 777 is an integral part of Emirates' f leet taking people to all these amaz- ing destinations." Keeping safety at the forefront, the aerial capabilities of the drones meant the project team could produce previously unseen aerial imagery and perspectives with incredible precision and ac- curacy, even when operating in tighter spaces, in destinations like Vietnam where drones grazed rice fields, norway in between mountain crevices, and over lily pads in the Seychelles, to name a few. the drones were also able to reach locations that would have been challenging with traditional helicopter and fixed wing aerials, like deep caves and beneath jun- gle foliage. once such example is Japan, where drones were used to film in between the branches of cherry blossom trees and closely hover over steep waterfalls. in Rio, drones were able to vertical- ly f loat above Maracanã Stadium producing a fresh new take on the iconic football arena. Justin thomas ostensen from Shotwell media, who piloted the drone to shoot the Seattle film, commented on the exten- sive preparation involved in the filming process: "Safety really comes down to the individuals and companies f lying drones to be responsible, cautious, follow common sense rules and oper- ate within a strict set of pre- f light and post-f light procedures. Drones are very safe with failsafe features that create high levels of reliability and stability. However, extensive experience is required to operate drones for aerial film- ing. A blend of technical knowl- edge and creativity are a pre- requisite to achieving cinematic aerial imagery." over 13 qualified drone pilots from around the world worked on the filming project, which was produced and directed by MoFiLM. All of the films can be viewed on viewfromabove.emirates.com, enabling visitors to spin the globe to one of the 18 destinations, and be taken straight to their desired video. GO to acquire majority shareholding in Cablenet in Cyprus go plc, Malta's leading quad play telecommunications company, is to acquire a majority sharehold- ing in the Cypriot 'triple play' telecommunications company Cablenet Communications Sys- tems Limited, in which it previ- ously held a minority stake. in September 2014, in line with its strategy to pursue growth op- portunities wherever it was logi- cal to do so, go had acquired 25% of the issued share capital of Cablenet in Cyprus. go had also extended Cablenet a loan of €12,000,000 which was convert- ible into equity and, moreover, obtained an option to acquire majority control should it wish to do so. go's Board have now agreed to proceed with converting the loan to equity. As a result of this, go's stake will increase from 25% to 45% of the issued share capital of Cablenet. go is also exercising the option, included in the original Share Purchase Agreement, to acquire a further 6% of the issued share capital, bringing its total stake to 51%, and thereby acquiring majority control. Cablenet is a privately owned business, which began opera- tions in 2003 as a cable tV pro- vider in Cyprus. Since then the company has consistently ex- panded its network and its op- erations. today, Cablenet is the leading privately owned broad- band provider and offers pack- ages which include broadband internet access, fixed telephony and digital HD tV to an increas- ing number of subscribers. Yiannos Michaelides, CEo at go, said, "Apart from bring- ing us access to a larger mar- ket, and new income streams, our increased stake in Cablenet will enable us to leverage clear synergies between go and Ca- blenet. Certainly, we will be able to share winning strategies and best practices in a number of areas and we see potential for further growth in a market that, although with its own character- istics, has many similarities to Malta.'' Commented Deepak Padmana- bhan, go's Chairman, ''go firmly believes in the Maltese market, as evidenced by our group's recent acquisition of a controlling interest in an it so- lutions entity. Committed as it is to Malta, go also has a broader, regional vision and Cyprus fits in well with this. Since our ac- quisition of a minority stake in Cablenet in 2014, this company continues to perform strongly, delivering steady, double-digit growth in both revenue and EBitDA over recent years. We are therefore encouraged by the significant potential, which this asset continues to offer us. the fact that go is a position to embark on such strategic invest- ments, at this point in its history, makes amply clear go is a well- capitalised and dynamic entity with a clear forward-looking vi- sion that encompasses not only its core domestic market but fur- ther afield. i believe this is good news for all stakeholders. '' ECB retains interest rates At today's meeting the gov- erning Council of the ECB decided that the interest rate on the main refinancing op- erations and the interest rates on the marginal lending facil- ity and the deposit facility will remain unchanged at 0.05%, 0.30% and -0.30% respective- ly. Banif Bank staff raise money for worthy causes