Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/976374
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 2 MAY 2018 12 Business Today Market Summary as at 30/04/2018 Equity Official List Session State ................................................................... Market Closed Trading Date .................................................................... 30-Apr-2018 Number of Trades ............................................................. 99 Turnover .......................................................................... €669,119.56 MSE TRX Index ................................................................. 8,421.971 (Change: 0.594%) Bank of Valletta plc ........................ 1.730 1.17% Mapfre Middlesea plc .................... 1.900 0.00% FIMBank plc .................................. 0.530 0.00% MIDI plc ........................................ 0.354 0.00% GlobalCapital plc ........................... 0.330 0.00% Plaza Centres plc ........................... 1.040 -1.89% GO plc ........................................... 3.440 0.00% RS2 Software plc............................ 1.270 0.00% Grand Harbour Marina plc ............. 0.750 0.00% Simonds Farsons Cisk plc ............... 6.700 0.00% HSBC Bank Malta plc ..................... 1.730 0.58% Tigné Mall plc ................................ 0.950 0.00% International Hotel Investments plc 0.620 3.33% Pefaco International plc ................. 2.240 0.00% Lombard Bank Malta plc ................ 2.360 0.00% Santumas Shareholdings plc ......... 1.500 0.00% Malita Investments plc ................... 0.830 0.00% Malta Properties Company plc ........ 0.468 -0.43% Malta International Airport plc ....... 4.840 -0.41% PG plc ........................................... 1.300 0.00% MaltaPost plc ................................. 1.800 0.00% Trident Estates plc ......................... 1.610 0.00% Medserv plc .................................. 1.100 0.00% MSE Index Regular market closed –30/04/2018 Symbol Code Volume Traded Value Traded Trades High Price Low Price Open Price Close Price Change s BOV 24,861 42,705.60 13 1.730 1.710 1.720 1.730 0.020 s HSB 11,060 19,030.70 6 1.730 1.720 1.730 1.730 0.010 s IHI 22,066 13,582.23 5 0.620 0.615 0.615 0.620 0.020 t MIA 3,115 15,169.20 4 4.880 4.840 4.880 4.840 -0.020 l MLT 11,929 9,901.07 1 0.830 0.830 0.830 0.830 0.000 l MMS 500 950.00 1 1.900 1.900 1.900 1.900 0.000 t MPC 6,970 3,261.96 1 0.468 0.468 0.468 0.468 -0.002 t PZC 10,000 10,400.00 1 1.040 1.040 1.040 1.040 -0.020 l RS2 11,042 13,986.94 5 1.280 1.260 1.280 1.270 0.000 s G21A 50,092 58,056.63 6 115.900 115.900 115.900 115.900 0.020 s G22B 30,000 34,950.00 2 116.500 116.500 116.500 116.500 0.020 t G28A 20,000 26,896.00 1 134.480 134.480 134.480 134.480 -0.020 t G29B 50,000 54,850.00 1 109.700 109.700 109.700 109.700 -0.090 t G30A 10,200 14,506.44 2 142.220 142.220 142.220 142.220 -0.080 s G32B 9,000 12,105.00 1 134.500 134.500 134.500 134.500 0.420 s G33A 2,000 2,654.80 1 132.740 132.740 132.740 132.740 0.440 s G39A 22,600 22,986.46 2 101.710 101.710 101.710 101.710 0.070 s G40A 11,800 13,889.78 1 117.710 117.710 117.710 117.710 0.350 l 1923A 9,700 10,092.85 2 104.050 104.050 104.050 104.050 0.000 s AX24A 3,000 3,346.50 1 111.550 111.550 111.550 111.550 0.550 l BV19A 3,000 3,054.00 2 101.800 101.800 101.800 101.800 0.000 s BV30A 25,000 25,252.50 1 101.010 101.010 101.010 101.010 0.010 l DF26A 12,000 12,600.00 1 105.000 105.000 105.000 105.000 0.000 s GC21A 35,000 34,905.50 2 99.730 99.730 99.730 99.730 2.730 s HM24A 10,000 10,600.00 1 106.000 106.000 106.000 106.000 0.750 l HP25A 4,500 4,747.50 2 105.500 105.500 105.500 105.500 0.000 s IH24A 12,100 13,189.00 1 109.000 109.000 109.000 109.000 1.500 s MD26A 12,000 12,477.04 2 104.000 103.960 103.960 104.000 0.300 s MI21A 6,300 6,583.50 1 104.500 104.500 104.500 104.500 0.400 s PC26A 20,000 20,813.20 5 104.300 104.000 104.000 104.300 0.200 t PG22A 2,000 2,190.20 1 109.510 109.510 109.510 109.510 -0.010 l SD27A 36,000 37,620.00 5 104.500 104.500 104.500 104.500 0.000 s ST27A 46,000 48,021.74 6 104.400 104.390 104.390 104.400 0.010 t TI27A 11,100 11,548.70 4 104.050 104.000 104.050 104.000 -1.000 s VH24A 2,000 2,002.00 1 100.100 100.100 100.100 100.100 0.050 s VR27A 39,000 40,192.52 7 103.250 102.990 102.990 103.250 0.260 Court stops HSBC from selling on €16 million Jerma Hotel debt HSBC Bank has been prohibited from assigning a €16 million debt owed to it by the owners of the Jerma Hotel to a third party which was not a credit institution. In 2008 JefPet Ltd had been granted a loan facility of €9,320,000 to buy the land where the Jerma Hotel stood. Another loan for the same amount was granted by Lombard Bank plc. JefPet had been unable to honour its contractual obligations and entered into a constitution of debt with HSBC for €9,800,000 in 2010, which was rendered executive by a judicial letter sent in April 2011. In a second constitution of debt entered into in April 2014, JefPet had acknowledged itself a debtor of the bank to the tune of €13,991,000. In the meantime, the bank had started proceedings for a judicial sale by auction of the Jerma Palace premises which were still pending due to a series of court applications filed by JefPet. It had also filed a case against the bank alleging shortcomings in the judicial sale by auction, which it lost and is presently awaiting appeal. HSBC had entered into negotiations with a third party by means of a promise of assignment of credit, in which it bound itself to assign the €16,103,000 debt owed by JefPet to the third party. JefPet argued that if HSBC were to be allowed to do so, the credit would legally cease to exist as a loan account, because only licensed credit institutions could do so and that this would cause "irreparable harm" to the rights of the plaintiff. Amongst the arguments raised by the bank was that once JefPet had signed a constitution of debt on the loan facility, the law did not stipulate any restrictions on who it could enter into an agreement of assignment of credit with. "In other words, does a constitution of debt of a bank loan change the nature of the debt from one protected by strict banking laws into a simple debt that could be passed on to anyone else – even the debtor's competitors – thereby freeing the bank from its obligations?" asked the court. In her decision on the matter, Judge Jacqueline Padovani Grima said that a constitution of debt did not denature the principal obligations between the contracting parties – the bank and the debtor – because the obligation remained a banking one, to which the entire suite of banking laws and regulations applied. The assignment of a banking credit was part and parcel of the business of banking, said the court, noting however that Article 5 of the Banking Act stipulated that no business of banking should be transacted in or from Malta except by a company licensed to do so. Moreover, any company wanting to operate in the banking sector would have to apply to the MFSA before commencing any business. "It is therefore evident that the defendant bank has every right to enter into a promise or final contract of assignment of banking debt, but could only do this with another bank or licensed credit institution…" The court explained that banks had to be heavily regulated to maintain public trust. The absence of a regulated banking industry would leave the citizen vulnerable to abuse by those who give them money on credit. "That is why the citizen goes to borrow money from banks and not private individuals and the public interest is rooted in the protection of the citizen and trader from persons or entities who are not regulated. This is the raison d'etre of banking legislation." The court said it was of the opinion that banks could not be allowed to sell their loans to third parties who are not bound by the same onerous obligations that bind credit institutions as this would run contrary to the central tenets of banking legislation. The court upheld the injunction and prohibited the transfer of the debt.