Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/954081
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 14 MARCH 2018 12 Business Today The pledge comes as Emma- nuel Macron has promised to lift defence spending to 2% of gross domestic product, from 1.7% last year. The budget is set to rise by €1.7bn annually until 2022 and €3bn thereafter. The government has already announced a 5.6% increase in spending, to €34.4bn, for this year. Macron said last month that his new 'universal national service' would include an obligatory period of between three and six months for all young people. The compulsory service was scrapped nearly two decades ago. The government has said it wants to trial the scheme from 2019. Between 600,000 and 800,000 young people would face military training for a year and spend a month with the armed forces. But how this will be funded has not been announced. According to the Economist, recent estimates suggested that the cost of building 18 regional centres across the country, to take in 4,500 young people for a month at a time, would cost about €3.6bn. The spending announcement comes in the midst of tension in the Middle East and pressure on NATO members from President Donald Trump to put more money into their armed forced. By 2025, it is expected that about 6,000 jobs will be added to the military, including 3,000 in cyber security and intelligence services, according to the French government. About 60,000 jobs were cut between 2005 and 2015 after Islamist extremists began to target France with a number of terror attacks. Market Summary as at 13/03/2018 Equity Official List Session State ................................................................... Market Closed Number of trades ........................................................... 108 Volume Traded ................................................................. 1,287,394 Value of € denominated securities .................................... 1,619,160.02 Value of US$ denominated securities ................................ 0.00 Value of GBP£ denomi nated securities .............................. 0.00 Current Index ................................................................... - Previous Index ................................................................. - Change in Index (%) ......................................................... - Bank of Valletta plc ........................ 1.830 0.00% Mapfre Middlesea plc .................... 1.900 3.26% FIMBank plc .................................. 0.605 0.00% MIDI plc ........................................ 0.346 3.59% GlobalCapital plc ........................... 0.380 0.00% Plaza Centres plc ........................... 1.020 0.00% GO plc ........................................... 3.600 0.00% RS2 Software plc............................ 1.300 0.00% Grand Harbour Marina plc ............. 0.730 0.00% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ............... 6.950 0.00% HSBC Bank Malta plc ..................... 1.840 -5.15% Tigné Mall plc ................................ 1.000 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.580 -6.45% Pefaco International plc ................. 2.240 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ................ 2.400 0.00% Santumas Shareholdings plc ......... 1.500 0.00% Malita Investments plc ................... 0.860 0.58% Malta Properties Company plc ........ 0.498 0.00% Malta International Airport plc ....... 4.940 0.00% PG plc ........................................... 1.350 0.00% MaltaPost plc ................................. 1.900 0.00% Trident Estates plc ......................... 1.820 0.00% Medserv plc .................................. 1.160 0.87% MSE Index Regular market closed –13/03/2018 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change t BOV 112,657 205,053.24 20 1.830 1.820 1.830 1.820 -0.010 l HSB 55,511 101,507.94 6 1.840 1.820 1.830 1.840 0.000 l MIA 10,500 51,870.00 3 4.940 4.940 4.940 4.940 0.000 t ML 22,500 18,600.00 3 0.855 0.820 0.855 0.820 -0.040 l MMS 2,500 4,750.00 2 1.900 1.900 1.900 1.900 0.000 l MTP 3,029 5,755.10 1 1.900 1.900 1.900 1.900 0.000 s RS2 53,009 69,044.53 6 1.310 1.290 1.290 1.310 0.010 s G19A 12,113 13,263.74 1 109.500 109.500 109.500 109.500 0.030 l G20B 40,000 43,780.00 1 109.450 109.450 109.450 109.450 0.000 s G21A 11,648 13,562.93 2 116.440 116.440 116.440 116.440 0.050 l G22A 3,727 4,532.03 1 121.600 121.600 121.600 121.600 0.000 s G22B 53,000 62,052.40 4 117.080 117.080 117.080 117.080 0.080 l G29B 8,000 8,716.80 1 108.960 108.960 108.960 108.960 0.000 s G30A 2,600 3,670.42 1 141.170 141.170 141.170 141.170 0.170 s G32A 39,000 53,160.90 2 136.310 136.310 136.310 136.310 0.050 t G32B 121,000 161,406.70 2 133.570 133.270 133.570 133.270 -0.250 s G33A 19,000 25,226.30 2 132.770 132.770 132.770 132.770 0.090 s G34A 43,000 56,476.20 1 131.340 131.340 131.340 131.340 0.190 t G35A 100,000 104,260.00 1 104.260 104.260 104.260 104.260 -0.100 s G36A 95,300 103,572.04 1 108.680 108.680 108.680 108.680 0.180 t G39A 50,000 50,925.00 1 101.850 101.850 101.850 101.850 -0.150 s G40A 71,900 84,508.90 5 117.640 117.460 117.460 117.640 0.420 t G41A 135,000 143,773.50 4 106.500 106.470 106.470 106.500 0.030 l 1923A 10,000 10,500.00 3 105.000 105.000 105.000 105.000 0.500 t BX27A 1,000 1,029.00 1 102.900 102.900 102.900 102.900 -0.100 l EF27A 3,000 3,120.00 1 104.000 104.000 104.000 104.000 0.000 l GC21A 10,000 9,600.00 1 96.000 96.000 96.000 96.000 0.000 t GH27A 4,000 4,180.40 2 104.510 104.510 104.510 104.510 -2.490 s GP23 11,000 11,415.00 3 104.000 103.750 103.750 104.000 0.250 l HM24A 5,900 6,224.50 2 105.500 105.500 105.500 105.500 0.000 l HP25A 10,400 10,920.00 2 105.000 105.000 105.000 105.000 0.000 l MI22A 10,000 10,400.00 2 104.000 104.000 104.000 104.000 0.000 l PC26A 2,000 2,081.00 1 104.050 104.050 104.050 104.050 0.000 l SD27A 60,000 62,550.00 3 104.250 104.250 104.250 104.250 0.000 t SF27A 4,200 4,370.10 1 104.050 104.050 104.050 104.050 -1.930 t ST27A 31,000 32,070.80 5 104.000 103.000 103.990 103.000 -0.990 s TI27A 22,900 23,852.25 5 104.180 104.150 104.150 104.170 0.050 t VH24A 17,000 16,779.30 3 98.990 98.500 98.990 98.500 -0.500 l VR27A 20,000 20,599.00 2 103.000 102.990 102.990 103.000 0.000 Macron increases defence spending and vows to bring back military service The French President has reversed a decade of defence budget cuts by approving nearly €300bn in military spending by 2025, as he pushes for military service to be compulsory. A French Army logistics team sustains the fight during JMRC's Allied Spirit VI exer- cise