The Business Observer Newspaper, 25th February Issue

INTERVIEW

Issue 45

|

February 25, 2016

Distributed with Times of Malta

Valletta Cruise Port is forecasting another record year for 2016, with 740,000 passengers. But its new shareholders, Global Ports, could bring even more opportunities for growth in years to come, CEO Stephen Xuereb explains. see pages 10 and 11 >

NEWS The Malta Stock Exchange has come up with an exciting new product for SMEs that want to raise up to €5 million – but all eyes are now on the Finance Ministry as fiscal incentives could make or break it. see page 3 >

BOV gets lion’s share of SME funding Bank of Valletta will be getting €50 million out of the €61 million available for it to give as SME funding under a new EU programme, with another bank currently in discussion for the balance.

Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg had announced over a year ago that Malta would be taking part in the SME Initiative, a new EU financial instrument taking over from the hugely successful Jeremie, a pilot risk-sharing programme which BOV had administered exclusively for Malta between 2011 and 2014.

He told The Business Observer that three banks applied for the new instrument through a competitive bid and that one was eliminated. Bank of Valletta put forward what he described as “the best offer” in the eyes of the European Investment Bank, which adjudicated the bids. It is the seventh bank in the EU to be approved, with the previous six all in Spain.

However, the government had already made it clear that it hoped that there would be more

than one provider to ensure an element of competition. The remaining bank was now undergoing due diligence, Dr Borg said, without revealing who it was.

The European Commission has learned from the Jeremie experience – which put €62 million into the economy and helped 650 SMEs in Malta – and expanded on it.

This BOV programme, Jaime (Joint Assistance Initiative for Maltese Enterprises), will be backed up by a €37.5 million guarantee (covering 75 per cent of the total ) funded from ERDF funds, Horizon 2020 and European Investment Bank resources.

As with Jeremie, Jaime will use the guarantee to cut down on the interest rate resulting in a final interest rate of 3.5 per cent p.a., representing a discount of more than two per cent compared to normal business loan rates.

BOV chief executive officer Mario Mallia said the collateral that the bank would request on the whole portfolio would be reduced by 75 per cent – although all loans will

be subject to the same due diligence and credit procedures.

The SME will be expected to put forward 20 per cent of the expenditure and the loans have to be repaid within a maximum of 10 years.

BOV anticipates that it will be able to help 715 of the 850 SMEs that the government hopes to fund from the total €61 million, offering an average of €70,000 to each.

The product is open to all sectors except agriculture and fisheries, gaming and pure real estate development, and should be used for capital expenditure aimed at growth.

Alfred Attard, BOV’s chief officer for SME finance, stressed that this product was unique in the way it blends three EU funding sources making up the guarantee.

Dr Borg confirmed that should all the funds be taken up, the government would – as with Jeremie – consider topping it up.

He also said that the government was considering different products specifically for business in the energy sector.

NEWS Medserv’s exciting €46 million acquisition of Middle Eastern group METS will enable it to tap an oil and gas service industry in a region where extraction costs are comparatively low. see pages 5 and 6 >

OPINION Fintech is the latest buzzword and other jurisdictions – notably London – are looking at ways to tap this innovative sector. Mark Scicluna Bartoli of Bank of Valletta warns that Malta needs to be among the front-runners. see page 15 >

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

3

NEWS

Prospects mostly aimed at international market –Practitioners warn of failure without fiscal incentives Malta Stock Exchange chairman Joseph Portelli expects that its new SME financing product, Prospects, will get more interest from overseas than from Malta, but practitioners are concerned since, unlike current listings, secondary trading of Prospects listings would not benefit from fiscal incentives.

Practitioners asked following an information session last week whether secondary trading would benefit from the waiver of capital gains, among other things – but the MSE delegation was only able to say that this was the remit of Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, who – put on the spot – was only able to make a vague acknowledgement and say he was “ready to consult”.

“e onus for due diligence will be placed on a corporate adviser, who would follow the process through from before the listing to afterwards” “Without the tax advantages, it would be a non-starter,” Louis Degabriele and Conrad Portanier agreed.

Prospects is the result of almost 18 months of work, which started with a survey of local SMEs to determine demand, MSE head of business and product development Cliff Pace explained. As a result the Exchange came up with a cost-effective framework aimed at companies that want to raise up to €5 million, with around €1 million being the lower end at which it will still be feasible.

The listings will not be approved or regulated by the Malta Financial Services Authority, but rather by the Malta Stock Exchange, and the onus for due diligence will be placed on a corporate adviser, who would follow the process through from before the listing to afterwards. The corporate adviser can be either an individual or legal person, but will be required to offer taxation, legal, accounting and brokering service, either in-house or outsourced.

Mr Portelli said that the MSE would only charge €5,000 for listing through Prospects – compared to around €115,000 on the main market. Mr Pace added that it was anticipated that the adviser would charge between €25,000 and €35,000, something that was met with scepticism by practitioners who said the liability alone would deter them from taking clients on for that fee.

Mr Portelli, however, was hardly sympathetic saying that the practitioners would make enough money out of the service, particularly if they were able to get multiple clients.

“If we can keep the listing costs to €50,000, Malta will be less expensive than Ireland – but more expensive than Poland. This is a competitive market. We have to compete if we want to attract international companies,” he said, adding that they anticipated more demand from overseas than from local companies, given the size of the local market.

Given the responsibility that will have to be borne by the corporate advisers in a sector which rarely requires much governance, getting the right people or companies on the approved list of advisers will be paramount.

The MSE is setting up a Prospects Admissions Committee and will publish a list of approved advisers, who can be in Malta or overseas, depending on where the SME itself is based.

The listing will also be much quicker, with the Exchange aiming for one month from start to finish.

Companies will only need to present a business plan, rather than

a full-blown prospectus, and there are numerous other advantages with regards to capital requirements, for example. The rules for Prospects run to over 100 pages, which include clear

guidelines for protection of investors in this riskier market.

A new website for Prospects, smeprospects.com, is being launched, while the MSE will be updating its own website with the

tagline ‘Gateway to Europe’.

Prospects requires a change in legislation to allow the MSE to regulate the listings, which will be passed through Parliament soon, Minister Scicluna confirmed.

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

5

NEWS

An eye on Iran Vanessa Macdonald Sharjah, UAE The raising of sanctions in Iran has already generated considerable interest in the oil and gas sector – and METS (Middle East Tubular Services) will be working with its new owner, Medserv, to tap into this country, seeing it as a major goal with top priority.

The $45 million acquisition contract was signed last Tuesday after a year of preparation but both companies have been working to be in position to leverage their complementary strengths. But while the long-term strategy of what METS can offer Medserv and vice versa is already in place, there is little time to waste in Iran – where the first mover advantage could make an enormous difference.

Paul Hayward, the founder of METS who will be staying on as its chairman, has already visited Iran, and identified a site for new operations in a free trade zone.

“We believe that even with the price of oil the way it is, the country has considerable infrastructure to catch up on and it will go ahead with that investment in spite of market considerations.

“The free trade zone is a model that we favour, one we use in Sharjah, Iraq and Oman. It means that you are operating in a legal structure which is well known and with tax structures that would be known before we started – for example, we would get a tax holiday there just as in our other bases.

“Free trade zones are very important for our line of business as they enable us to store and feed the supply chains for our clients, without their having to pay duty on the pipes,” he said.

Iran would be an exciting opportunity for Medserv but METS will also offer the Malta base the opportunity to offer inspection

METS WORKSHOP IN SHARJAH. INSET: METS CHAIRMAN PAUL HAYWARD.

“Free trade zones are very important for our line of business” services to complement the storage it currently offers.

“We could set up a service there using our inspectors very quickly,” Mr Hayward said.

“And if we were to open a machine shop and get a VAM licence, it would clearly be of great interest to companies operating in Libya and the rest of the Mediterranean.

“Half the world’s proven oil reserves are in the Middle East. The market may be depressed at the moment but like Medserv chairman Anthony Diacono, we take the longterm view.”

METS made a net profit of $2.7 million in 2015, and has no bank borrowings or long-term debt, having relied all this time on retained profits.

“Thanks to the acquisition investment, there is no reason we could

not set up three or four sites simultaneously. This is a great time to expand the METS brand, which is already internationally recognised by mills around the world, oil companies, and trading companies.”

The move from a private company to a listed one will also be fairly smooth, he believes, as the stringent protocols mandated by METS’s clients meant that there are already robust structures in place.

“Over the past 10 years, METS grew because it had a strong team, with Gareth McMurray as regional director, and Peter Howes as construction and project manager. The acquisition means that we can grow much faster. It will be much easier for them to do than it would have been for me as an individual,” he said.

See more on page 6

timeline 1974

medserv was set up as a joint venture between the government and Albert Abela Group. in 1997, the group bought the government’s 65 per cent shareholding.

1997

medserv signed a 48-year lease for base at malta Freeport. in 2012, this was extended to 2060. the footprint was also extended in 2014 through a €5.6 million investment.

2006

medserv plc as created by AD Holdings, which bought out Albert Abela Group in 2001-2003. it sold 25 per cent of the shareholding to the public.

2007

the company set up a base in misurata, libya, in collaboration with the misurata Free Zone Authority.

2012

medserv (Cyprus) won a licence to operate oil and gas logistics base in limassol. A year later, it also won a licence for larnaca. in 2014, it won a contract for the support of eni Cyprus’s drilling programme, which involved a €5.2 million investment.

2015

A port facility was opening in Astakos, Greece.

6

e Business OBSERVER | February 25, 2016

NEWS

A ‘boring’ proposition Vanessa Macdonald Sharjah, UAE You might think that – if you excuse the pun – a pipe storage facility would be boring.

In fact, it might cross your mind that it is a rather strange investment for Medserv to make. And not just any investment but a $45 million one, doubling its size overnight.

It turns out, however, to be a very smart move indeed. Middle East Tubular Services was founded in 2006 and like the entrepreneurial spirit of Medserv’s executives, its founder Paul Hayward, with Peter Howes, saw opportunity and went for it.

METS has pipe storage yards in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, since 2010 at Basra in Iraq and since 2012 in the Sohar Free Zone in Oman, just 4.5 kilometres from a port on the Indian Ocean, employing around 160 people overall.

Drilling requires hundreds of metres of pipe, which has to withstand enormous pressures and temperatures, and sometimes even corrosive environments.

There is simply no room for failures that could prove costly and dangerous. But it is also very expensive – and bulky to have in stock on the rig. So oil companies buy pipe from various mills around the world, and send it to storage yards from where it is dispatched as required.

What METS does is not just store the pipe but also inspect it, refurbish it, and repair it – a combination of services which is unique in the area, and which makes it an exciting acquisition for Medserv.

The 82,000-square-metre yard that it took over on a 25-year lease as the first tenant of the Sohar Free Zone is already full, with some 50,000 tons of pipe of various grades and diameters

there, worth several dozen millions of dollars. Much of the pipe was previously stored in Sharjah and the extra space freed up there is being groomed to store decommissioned land rigs and steel plate for profiling, in an effort to maximise and diversify revenue streams during this current period of low activity.

On the average day, around 40 trucks of pipe come and go from each yard, and its staff lay them out, check them for damage during shipment and approve them, doing visual inspections of the exterior as well as checks through the bore. Pipes can be dipped into phosphate baths to coat the exterior and even scrubbed of external oxidisation. One of their pipe manufacturers is also hoping to extend METS’s service so that they would handle the pipe all the way to the rig, making stock management more efficient for the oil companies.

The real value-added, however, comes from rethreading the pipes, done according to one of the most sought-after certifications in the industry, known as VAM. “In Sharjah and Basra we have machine shops with lathes that thread pipes,” METS regional manager Gareth McMurray explained.

“As the volumes build up in Oman, a machine shop there would be a natural next step for us.”

METS has two of only 180 VAM licences in the world and must pass an onerous annual inspection, part of the quality assurance required when dealing with tolerances of only a few thousandths of an inch.

The pipes in the yards are stacked with wooden spacers in between, lined up with near military precision to make their accessibility by crane and forklift as efficient as possible, swinging silently from site to trailer bed in the searing heat.

THE YARD IN SHARJAH CAN HANDLE STORAGE, INSPECTION, MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR OF PIPES.

“While Medserv concentrates on the offshore oil and gas industry, METS tends to support the onshore counterparts” METS, which had revenues of $21.5 million in 2015, is a group with considerable potential for growth – also known as ‘risk’ for the more faint-hearted – but with bold moves come big returns.

Being in Iraq right now means that METS is in the ideal place once the big oilfields get going again – particularly Basra where 90 per cent of the country’s oil is produced.

And with Iran set to start pumping oil again soon, METS facilities will be in great demand, especially given their location just across the Straits of Hormuz. A number of preparations are already in hand to get the ‘first mover advantage’ there, with a site already earmarked, and a VAM licence already being considered.

This activity as well as potential in the future fit perfectly into the

Medserv strategy of geographical diversification – it is looking at the Central Mediterranean, Egypt, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago and East Africa, at the moment. But the two companies also complement each other. While Medserv concentrates on the offshore oil and gas industry, METS tends to support the onshore counterparts.

And the manufacture of drilling fluids is a core competence of Medserv, but a service not currently provided by METS. And then, of course, there is Libya, where oil companies would eventually be very interested in having a machine shop in Malta with a VAM licence, which Medserv believes is possible within 18 months.

The timing of the acquisition may not seem intuitive with oil

at around $30 a barrel and METS’s operations are dependent on having a turnover of pipe which is directly linked to the number of wells being drilled.

But the reality is that oil-producing countries and companies still need to generate as much revenue as possible, so they are focusing on the easier wells in places where extraction is cheapest – in other words, the Gulf has a clear advantage over deep sea rigs in the North Sea, and is hurting much less.

And the more investment there is in the yards’ services and diversification, the more it is able to balance out the impact of oil activity, something Medserv in Malta has already done successfully in spite of the discontinuation of operations in Misurata.

8

e Business OBSERVER | February 25, 2016

INDUSTRY FOCUS

INVESTING IN THE RIGHT INFRASTRUCTURE IS KEY FOR THE SUCCESS OF FREE TRADE ZONES. PHOTO: HXDYL/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

Operators champing at the bit The government has been promising a logistics policy for over a year and is now tying it in to the establishment of one or more free trade zones. But operators are getting frustrated, seeing the opportunities that this sector holds out and anxious to get on with it.

Free trade zones are enclaves in which exporters and traders receive tax and regulatory incentives with the main objective of generating more trade and boost jobs in

the respective country. But Peter Bonavia, the general manager of shipper Carmelo Caruana, warned that this could be a double-edged sword, creating unintended consequences unless it was done right.

“Usually the implementation of such zones creates distortions within the local economy, resulting mainly from the loss of revenue for the government.

Therefore, if not implemented

“If not implemented with the right approach, the benefits [of free trade zones] for the local economy would be minimal”

with the right approach, the benefits for the local economy would be minimal,” he explained.

Clearly, investing in the right infrastructure is key for the success of such zones. Mr Bonavia ticked off the main requirements: they should be located close to main port hubs and airports and have direct and adequate links to such areas. A highly-trained and flexible workforce is also necessary as one of the prime objectives on the

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

9

INDUSTRY FOCUS

zones would be to provide valueadded services to intermediate goods or components with the final product being exported to final destinations without the burden of additional taxes, he added.

“The benefits of a free trade zone can only be achieved if the system is not loaded with bureaucracy and extra red tape which will not only hinder the whole operation but may also result in the zones being a means for graft,” he stressed.

As long as the government gets this right, then the opportunities are varied. Kevin Filletti, the sales manager of freight company Attrans, sees these coming from both Malta’s EU membership and its strategic position in the Mediterranean.

“The logistics sector can be one of the island’s main industries and would definitely create new job opportunities. We could attract various commodities as the free trade zone eliminates bureaucratic requirements such as customs tariffs and quotas.

“We could use our sea connectivity from the Far East to warehouse goods in Malta under FTZ and then despatch by sea, road or air to mainland EU or North Africa. A typical activity carried out in a free trade zone area is the Onward Supply Relief (OSR). This is a VAT exemption on importing goods to Malta from a non-EU country. Once despatch is done, duty is paid in Malta and cargo can travel freely in the EU under free circulation,” he enthused.

“Considering the imbalance of trade between importation and exportation, free trade zones would help trailer operators like us decreasing our costs on northbound routes. This can close the gap between import/export.”

With all these opportunities, it is no wonder that there is growing frustration, only made worse by the fact that a policy has been promised but has failed to materialise.

Joe Gerada, the managing director of shipping and freight company Thomas Smith, explained that businesses needed to plan ahead.

WHILE MALTA HAS A VERY GOOD STRATEGIC LOCATION AS A HUB FOR SHIPPING LOGISTICS, IT IS NOT THE ONLY ONE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.

“e logistics sector can be one of the island’s main industries and would definitely create new job opportunities. We could attract various commodities as the free trade zone eliminates bureaucratic requirements such as customs tariffs and quotes” “In the absence of a government policy, business just adapts itself to the market and develops – expecting conditions not to change in the short term – and tries to interpret the long term. If the government defines a policy then the picture is clearer and the market should perform better.

“But given an announcement of a policy, entrepreneurs tend to hold back from taking risks and commitments until the policy is actually defined. So announcing an imminent policy and delaying it will most likely have the effect of stalling entrepreneurs from taking

on new ventures. The negative effect of that is obvious.

“In the meantime, further delay can have various other repercussions. Different people may have different opinions about the future policy and start working in different directions.

“Some may try to tap inside information – not necessarily in a fair way with regards to the rest of the market. There may be other influential players who would try to tweak policy in a way that suits them. The effect is to confuse the market and stall investment. It makes it difficult for businesses to

take their own direction and define their own strategy,” he emphasised.

Mr Gerada also warned that the negative impact of further delays also had a wider impact than just on Malta.

“In shipping, which is by definition an international business, it starts sending confusing messages to foreign partners who might be interested to look at Malta for their strategic options. Logistic projects cannot wait for suppliers to define time scales. Their time scales are defined by the clients and the clients of clients.

“Given that Malta tends not to be the ultimate customer of the logistic projects but a hub, base or strategic location supporting the client country, we could easily miss the bus as, while we have a very good strategic location, we are not the only one in the Mediterranean.

There are others who describe themselves as we do, an ideal central hub for logistics,” he pointed out.

Mr Gerada had a final warning: “If the delay is a long one, it tends to weaken credibility – which is also very significant.”

10

e Business OBSERVER | February 25, 2016

INTERVIEW

PHOTO: STEVE ZAMMIT LUPI

Stringing together ports of call Vanessa Macdonald It is clear to see why Valletta Cruise Port was an attractive acquisition for Turkish group Global Ports. After all, the terminal had a record-breaking year – 668,000 passenger movements in 2015 – and is forecasting yet another record 740,000 for this year, according to CEO Stephen Xuereb.

What is perhaps not so clear is what is in it for the local concessionaire.

The story of the acquisition started last autumn when three shareholders – Malta International Airport, Farsons and Bank of Valletta – said they wanted to sell their shares. But the process was somewhat convoluted as the existing shareholders had pre-emption rights which they exercised.

The 30.79 per cent held by the three was first shared out between the remaining shareholders and then two of them – Perquisite and M. Demajo – sold their shares to Global Ports. The end result is that

Global Ports holds 55 per cent of the shareholding, while AX Holdings has 36.37 per cent and Grand Hotel Excelsior owner Stuart Elliott holds eight per cent.

The first indications from the privately-owned Turkish firm were very reassuring: Joe Zammit Tabona was retained as chairman and Mr Xuereb as CEO. Mr Xuereb explained that Malta fitted into the Turkish group’s ambitious expansion plans.

“Until three years ago, they only had three ports in Turkey: Kusadasi, Antalya and Bodrum. Since then, they acquired other port operations – sometimes only for cruise but in others full port operations – including Barcelona, Malaga, Lisbon, Bar in Montenegro, Singapore and now Dubrovnik.

“We were the missing link as they had ports in the east and west of the Mediterranean but nothing in between,” he said.

The acquisition means that Valletta Cruise Port is now part of a much bigger game rather than a sole player, all set to reap the gains of Global Ports’ ongoing expansion.

“Once they have more ports in the Mediterranean then they can discuss a whole itinerary with a cruise company, based around their ports.

“There are many synergies. We will be in a stronger negotiating position with cruise lines and we are sharing knowledge with other ports and collaborating – rather than competing – with them.

“That is the value-added of this collaboration. I have to say that it is very exciting to be part of a global dimension, rather than just a local player,” he said.

Apart from being a commercially successful company with good cruise statistics and steady noncruise revenue from office and food and beverage rentals, Valletta Cruise Port had one other ace up its sleeve: its as-yet undeveloped potential.

“The first thing we are doing is finalising a master plan for the project, looking at the existing property and whether it is being properly utilised or not.

“We are also looking at other pockets of land we have,” he said.

Valletta Cruise Port got a permit for the old power house two years ago for mixed use development and is now considering the various options, with no shortage of ideas being submitted to it from interested parties.

The Atrium is now just a car park but Valletta Cruise Port has a permit to develop the ground floor into commercial space with three or four levels of parking above it.

“When there are no ships at a quay, there is ample parking – but on operational days it could be quite busy. We would prefer to have guaranteed parking for patrons.

That would benefit the Valletta Waterfront destination,” he said.

Another important infrastructural project is the seaward extension of quays Pinto 4 and 5, for which an application to Mepa should be filed soon.

“We are issuing the tender document in parallel so that as soon as the permit is in hand, works can start – as early as November this year to be completed in time for the 2017 season,” he confirmed.

Pinto 4 and 5 extend along the Customs House, where there are rocks jutting out into the sea. This means that vessels longer than 250 metres need to be moved off the quay using spacer barges, to avoid the rocks.

“We cannot remove the rocks as it would affect the building and make it structurally unsafe. So we are widening the quay which will cost around €6 million. We are currently looking at the funding

“It is very exciting to be part of a global dimension, rather than just a local player”

options, which could be a bond or recapitalisation of reserves, money from the shareholders or even a bank loan.”

The Pinto Terminal, a back-up terminal to the main Forni one, now has a tenant and Valletta Cruise Port plans to extend the top floor as part of the building is currently only one storey high. It wants to develop the upper terrace as a “small maritime hub, maybe attracting three or four clients involved in the maritime sector”, he said.

It also owns the triangle of land between Pinto Terminal and the end of the food and beverage outlets, and already has an outline permit for offices on what is already being called – appropriately enough – the Wedge building.

On the cruise front, there is always something new to report. This year, for example, it will have a maiden call from Carnival Vista, operating under the Carnival brand, rather than of its sub-brands.

“In the cruise world, you have a lot of customer loyalty to the brand or to the actual ship itself. It is quite amazing. This is why cruise lines rotate cruise ships around various destinations, such as the Mediterranean and the Caribbean, to offer those customers something new.

“There are only a few players in the industry and while we get volume from the big names like MSC and Costa, Tui, etc, you also have other cruise lines which do not have regular itineraries,” he said, noting that these were also very important to attract.

Apart from attracting new ships, another way to boost revenue is to keep them in Malta longer and the possibility of keeping their casinos open while in Maltese waters – legislated last summer – should have an impact, he said, adding that it would take time before itineraries changed to accommodate longer stays.

“We do not benefit from the ships being able to open their casinos in port. But it gets them to stay in Malta longer and we are now actively pursuing the promotion of nightlife in Malta. In the peak summer months, they would actually enjoy going out in the balmy

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

11

INTERVIEW

evenings more than they would during the heat of the day.

“It is the perfect opportunity as there are things we take for granted which passengers would find extraordinary, like village festas with bands and fireworks, or the packed cultural calendar in Valletta. In fact, we just got the V18 calendar to promote it at the Miami Cruise Convention (being held in Fort Lauderdale this year).

“We will still have our own stand, even though Global Ports has its own strong presence. And you know we do not only promote Valletta Cruise Port but also Malta.”

Mr Xuereb and other delegations from Malta will be working for 2018,

with this year’s itineraries long set.

But that does not mean nothing can change. Last year, for example, the bomb and shootings in Tunisia resulted in all cruise stops in Tunis being cancelled and they have still not resumed.

“Malta was already on many of the itineraries that passed through Tunisia so leaving out the Tunis stop did not have much impact – a few dozen thousand at most. I would say that Palermo was the port that benefitted most.

“All I can say is that we would really benefit if North Africa opened up as we would then attract many more ships to the southern Mediterranean.”

“Apart from attracting new ships, another way to boost revenue is to keep them in Malta longer”

VALLETTA CRUISE PORT CEO STEPHEN XUEREB. PHOTO: MATTHEW MIRABELLI

12

e Business OBSERVER | February 25, 2016

CASE STUDY

A new ‘front’ in the quest for captive insurance The need for insurance risk within the EU to be ‘fronted’ by an EUbased company provides Malta with myriad opportunities, which audit and consultancy firm PKF Malta will be promoting in New York next month.

“Companies outside Europe – such as Canada, the US, South America and Central America – which have business in Europe now face a completely new situation,” PKF Malta senior partner George Mangion “Take for example a Canadian company building a bridge in Spain: the risk in the past was, to some extent, not regulated. But now, the Canadian company has to appoint a ‘fronter’ – a Europeanregistered company who would represent them and conduct the insurance on their behalf.”

He explained that this so-called ‘redomiciliation’ results from Solvency II, a comprehensive piece of legislation for the insurance sector, which was developed over the past seven years and finally came into force on January 1, 2016.

Whereas Solvency I looked at historic trends, Solvency II looks at current risk, which requires expensive analytical tools, which are beyond the reach of small insurance companies.

“This legislation will clearly push insurers to be more aware of policyholders and it mandates more disclosure to the public

THE NEW YORK BAR ASSOCIATION. PHOTO: WIKICOMMONS

about the way in which risk is assessed,” he explained.

Redomiciliation will be an obvious opportunity for Malta, which has been marginally successful in attracting captive insurance companies, but which is still well behind the ‘big boys’.

“We have good regulation and qualified professionals, a banking framework and prices which are as much as 60 per cent cheaper than many other jurisdictions. “How-

“Malta offers structures not offered by Dublin.

Attracting captives is only part of the story”

ever, we are starting from a lower numbers base: Bermuda has 800 to 900 captive insurance companies, while we have around 20. There is obviously room for growth.

“In Malta, we have attracted top managers from Marsh, Aon, Willis and JLT, but they also have offices in other competing jurisdictions.

It is all a matter of scale: in Bermuda, Marsh handles hundreds of captives, but here they handle a smaller amount.”

Solvency II gives a fresh impetus as it places Malta shoulder to shoulder with jurisdictions like Dublin, which attract most of American business, leveraging historical ties.

But Mr Mangion stressed that Malta can complement rather than compete and in fact PKF’s conference in New York is being done separately from Ireland as Malta offers structures not offered by Dublin, such as protected cell companies and incorporated cell

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

13

CASE STUDY

companies, as well as reinsurance special vehicles and securitisation cell companies.

Attracting captives is only part of the story. Captives reinsure the risks, but while some retain this work, 10-15 per cent find it is too hot and pass it on to reinsurers, he explained.

“This is where we would like to go because the big money is in reinsurance, but Malta only has two so far – in spite of having the infrastructure ready to take on more.”

Different jurisdictions have adopted different strategies to cope with the redomiciliation exigencies of Solvency II. Bermuda and the Cayman Islands, for example, changed their laws to be ‘equivalent’ to Solvency II for reinsurance. But they are not bothered with equivalence on captives, which Mr Mangion’s daughter Danielle Hermansen believes is a window of opportunity for Malta.

“Malta has a very good redomiciliation proposal as a company would be able to passport the risk here, subject to due diligence.

This has, in fact, already happened and we have companies that moved from Ireland to Malta and which are operating from here without any problems.”

If Malta were to target redomiciliation for captives, its main competitor in Europe would be Guernsey – which has 369 captives. However, it appears that this Channel Island jurisdiction decided not to go for equivalence – which means Malta could cooperate with it to offer ‘fronter’ services for its clients.

“Guernsey was one of the first jurisdictions to introduce PCC, ICC and other structures. Our legislation closely mirrors what it has done, which means we are in step with them,” she said.

Malta could also offer an alternative to Barbados, which has considerable links with Canada.

Ms Hermansen pointed out that the lower tax rates charged by countries like Barbados and Bermuda did not tell the whole story as although they were more competitive on this point, there

Investment banks’ trading revenue declined 9% in 2015

DANIELLE HERMANSEN

“If Malta were to target redomiciliation for captives, its main competitor in Europe would be Guernsey – which has 369 captives” were other charges to be taken into account which narrowed the overall gap.

Unfortunately, all these advantages and opportunities are not widely known in the US, which is why PKF is spending a considerable investment to organise the captive insurance summit at the prestigious New York Bar Associ-

ation. It used the two PKF offices in the US to contact law firms and engaged well-known keynote speakers to explain the tax benefits and pitfalls, especially the onerous FATCA rules.

It anticipates an attendance of around 60, including captive owners, professionals and even operators from Caribbean islands.

Revenue at the world’s 12 largest investment banks from trading fixed income, currencies and commodities, known as FICC, fell nine per cent in 2015 compared with a year before, a survey showed on Monday, dragged down by regulatory changes and retrenchment.

Eight years after the global financial crash, banks are still struggling to adjust to reforms compelling them to hold more capital and liquidity, while litigation costs and market volatility have forced them to restructure, shed staff and exit some business lines.

Such trends have reduced the FICC activities which had been their most profitable business.

FICC trading revenue at 12 of the world’s biggest banks was $69.9 billion last year, down from $109.1 billion five years before, according to the survey by industry analytics firm Coalition, based on its analysis of their public disclosures and independent research.

Coalition tracks Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Societe Generale and UBS. Poor trading results and low client activity in the second half of 2015 contributed to an overall three per cent decline compared to a year ago in investment banking revenue across the world’s major banks, to $160.2 billion, the data showed.

In commodities, revenues dropped by 18 per cent, mainly due to slow business in metals and investor products, and also reflecting a return to more

normal turnover in the power and gas markets after last year’s surge. Revenue earned by leading banks from commodity trading, selling derivatives to investors and other activities in the sector fell to $4.6 billion from $5.6 billion in 2014, it said.

“A normalisation of the US power and gas markets and weakness in metals and investor products drove the overall decline,” Coalition said.

“In contrast, oil revenues improved as corporate client activity increased.”

In 2014, a cold winter in North America had created volatility and boosted activity in power and gas, while trading surged in the oil sector last year due to a sharp fall and then partial recovery in prices. Banks’ equity businesses, including cash equities, equity derivatives, prime services (serving hedge funds) and futures and options, were bright spots. Revenue rose 10 per cent to $49.8 billion year-on-year.

Elsewhere, investment banking divisions (IBD), which advise on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) and equity and debt underwriting, saw a five per cent fall in revenue to $40.5 billion, as a surge in M&A activity was offset by declines in equity and debt capital markets activity.

Headcount at the top banks fell two per cent from a year before.

Cuts were felt in FICC, where there was a four per cent decline in staffing levels.

Return on equity (RoE) declined slightly to 9.2 per cent from 9.3 per cent, due to both increased capital requirements and weak performance, Coalition said. (Reuters)

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

15

e Business Observer is Malta’s leading business newspaper distributed with Times of Malta every fortnight.

Editorial Vanessa Macdonald, Assistant editor, Times of Malta.

EDITORIAL

Retailers should listen to consumers Here we go again: in the annual GRTU survey on enterprises, retailers expressed concern about online competitors and lack of parking.

The lament has become a predictable outcome of the GRTU survey, one of several that analyses trends in the retail market with consistent results.

What is worrying is that while the loss of some market to online purchases is inevitable, some local retailers are clearly burying their heads in the sand.

The shopping experience has changed as a result of significant changes in society, from the increase in women working to the prevalence of internet – not to mention internet shopping (including in the wider sense of buying online and having the goods shipped here).

People are more aware of their consumer choices, more demanding of value for money, and much more protective of their free time.

Consumer choice is to a great extent no longer an issue. EU membership has opened our borders and given us access to brands we only dreamed of. But the size of the local market is what it is and retailers cannot be expected to stock the full range of each product. Consumers find this frustrating and that spills over into negative – if unfair – perceptions of retailers.

The issue of price is another oft-repeated complaint that defies any attempt to justify. The consumer simply does not want to hear about transport costs or overheads spread across a smaller client base, no matter whether the product is a medicine, a book or a garment.

And finally the issue of free time. The concept of shopping for pleasure has been irreversibly tarnished by time pressures weighing down on us all. If you have less time to shop for something, you have even less time to shop around and the quicker and less painless the

experience, the better. Hence the advantages offered by malls rather than high street shops (apart from the opportunistic sales potential).

So what are the solutions? The food sector faced all these issues and took some painful decisions. It realised that as more women started to work (and drive), the less time they would have to visit butchers, bakers and greengrocers and thus the advantage that a supermarket had over individual outlets.

The supermarket gave way to chains, leveraging economies of scale to bring in more international brands, while larger outlets offered more shelf space and catered for more clients to spread the overheads. And they acknowledged that parking is an issue, so they started looking for locations where families could stop, buy groceries for a week at a time, and load them into the boot of the car.

It is utterly pointless to lament the loss of personal service we enjoyed from village grocers and the changing values of family life. Other retail sectors need to adapt or die.

What are they up against? More than half of Malta’s population made at least one online purchase last year – 83 per cent of those between 16 and 24 years and 79 per cent among the 25-34 year cohort. The Business Observer calculated in June 2014 that €40 million a year was being spent online.

And yet, local retailers seem to have given up and 1.4 per cent fewer enterprises were selling online last year when compared to 2014, according to the National Statistics Office.

Retailers need to attract shoppers, offer them choice at a better price, and make it easier for them to do so, whether this means moving to a better location, merging or making deliveries. The writing is on the wall: customers will not go out of their way out of misplaced sentimentality.

Publishers Allied Newspapers Ltd. Content House Group Ltd.

Allied

N E W S PA P E R S

A M E M B E R O F T H E A L L I E D G R O U P O F C O M PA N I E S

Advertising Enquiries Tel: 21 320713 E-mail: info@contenthouse.com.mt Advertising sales Petra Urso Publications sales manager Kurt Cauchi Advertising sales executive Lindsey Napier Marvic Cutajar Advertising sales coordinators Printer Progress Press Ltd.

Progress PRESS

A M E M B E R O F T H E A L L I E D G R O U P O F C O M PA N I E S

BUSINESS OPINION

Can fintech become a new niche?

Mark Scicluna Bartoli Fortune could not have missed noticing that the latest buzzword in financial services and technology is fintech, short for financial technology.

A fintech firm focuses on a specific area of the financial services industry, improves the process via data analytics using big data and then offers the innovative financial product to a global audience via the internet.

Examples of fintech companies in different areas of the financial services industry include peer-to-peer lending via crowdfunding platforms such as Zopa, money transfer solutions such as Transfer Wise and online wealth management services like Wealthfront.

The business models behind these fintech organisations is attracting a number of investors in view of their commercialisation potential. The global investment into venture-backed fintech companies hit a record $4.85bn in Q3 of 2015, according to CB Insights.

This growth is taking place both in Europe and the US. However, the US

“If we want fintech to become a new niche for Malta, we cannot afford to lose precious time” is the more attractive jurisdiction for the larger, follow on funding rounds.

EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill highlighted that “Fintech firms in Silicon Valley have trebled the investment they attracted compared to the previous year”. One of the objectives of Commissioner Hill’s Capital Markets Union is an attempt by Europe to emulate the US in this area.

What about regulation? EU and US financial regulators have their hands full with various legislative texts regulating different areas of the existing financial industry, and fintech business models do not seem as yet to be on the regulators rule book.

On December 10, 2015, the EU Commission published its green paper on retail financial services, which is seen as an attempt by the EU to take a more holistic view of the fintech sector.

In this paper the EU Commission is exploring how fintech companies can address cross border take-up of financial services and financial inclusion.

Some member states are not waiting for the EU Commission.

The UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for example, has created a regulatory framework in close collaboration with operators allowing fintech firms to set up in

a UK-regulated environment. This has been done through the creation of an Innovation Hub which engages with fintech start-ups to help them understand financial regulation and how it could apply to their business model.

The Innovation Hub provides them with non-binding guidance on their position, whether they need to apply for regulatory approval and how to go about it.

Another positive initiative which the FCA will launch in early 2016 is the creation of a “sand box” which is being defined as a safe space where fintech start-ups can test innovative financial products

and business models in the market. These initiatives are providing the FCA with insights on how to tweak their regulatory framework in line with market developments, making the UK an attractive jurisdiction for fintech firms.

This was evidenced during the Innovation in Financial Services session held during the Commonwealth Business Forum.

Should Malta be developing a regulatory regime to attract fintechs? There could be a number of valuable synergies if one takes a closer look.

The fintech revolution may be an opportunity to attune parts of our reputable financial services regulatory framework to the fast-paced realities of the digital world.

A fintech ecosystem in Malta could create valuable synergies with the growing ICT and financial service providers, and Malta could be used as a pilot test bed (i.e. the UK “sand box” model) for a fintech ecosystem prior to launching into the global market.

In developing a regulatory framework to attract fintechs to Malta, the UK is showing us that it needs to be done fast and in close collaboration with these new players in the financial services market.

If we want fintech to become a new niche for Malta, we cannot afford to lose precious time.

Mark Scicluna Bartoli is head of EU and institutional affairs at Bank of Valletta and is also responsible for Bank of Valletta’s EU Representative Office in Brussels.

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

17

APPOINTMENTS

COO at HSBC Bank Malta HSBC Bank Malta has appointed Nikolaos Fertakis as chief operating officer at a date still to be determined, subject to regulatory approval. He will be replacing Decca Fung-Chu Fan who will be moving to a new senior position within HSBC Group.

Mr Fertakis has over 20 years of experience in the banking sector with specialisation in

information systems and operations. In 2011, he joined HSBC in Greece, initially assuming the duties of the IT director, and two years later was promoted to the role of head of IT Operations International Europe. Since early 2014, he has been the chief operating officer for the HSBC’s operations in Greece.

Changes at Med. Bank A number of changes have been announced at Mediterranean Bank with the chairman stepping down and the CEO taking a temporary leave of absence.

The bank said in a company announcement that chairman Francis Vassallo would not be seeking re-election since he intends to devote more of his time to philanthropic work in Malta and overseas. He will be staying on until the bank’s financials for the year ended March 31 are approved.

Mark Watson, the CEO, is taking leave to address a medical issue and the board has appointed Dominic Wallace, an executive director and chief risk officer as acting CEO. However, Dr Wallace has also communicated to the board that he will retire as chief risk officer in summer but agreed to stay on as a non-executive director.

MARVIN TONNA

Controller for Elektra Elektra has appointed Marvin Tonna as the new financial controller.

With a career spanning over nine years, Mr Tonna previously held the position of group financial controller to one of Malta’s leading travel agency groups.

18

e Business OBSERVER | February 25, 2016

STOCK MARKET REVIEW

HSBC Malta share price at its lowest level in almost 12 years Edward Rizzo Last week, the share price of HSBC Bank Malta plc dropped below the €1.60 level for the first time in almost 12 years. More precisely, the equity had not traded at these levels since July 2004.

Many investors may not be aware of this fact and may also be wondering what caused the equity to drop to this multi-year low. Today’s article aims to shed light on some of the factors that may have contributed to the decline in the share price of HSBC Malta in recent years.

HSBC acquired Mid-Med Bank plc in June 1999 and the bank’s profitability increased steadily on a yearly basis from €32.4 million in 2000 to a record of €114.6 million in 2007, equivalent to an average annual increase of 31 per cent. This extraordinary increase in profits led to the return on equity (a key measure for investors calculated by dividing profits after tax with average shareholders’ funds) to rise from 13.9 per cent in 2000 to a high of 26.7 per cent in 2007.

During this eight-year period, the bank adopted a very aggressive dividend policy with the payout ratio increasing from 25 per cent in 2000 to 50 per cent in 2003 and 2004 and increasing further to 75 per cent in the following three years until 2007. Besides this steep rise in ordinary payments to shareholders, HSBC also distributed elevated special dividends between 2004 and 2007, totalling €0.317 per share net of tax during the four-year period.

It is therefore not surprising that the steady growth in profits coupled with the very handsome dividend distributions led to a steep rise in the share price of HSBC

PHOTO: DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI

“Equity markets generally tend to undershoot in times of fear and pessimism and overshoot in times of euphoria and very bullish investor sentiment” Malta. The equity had rallied from an adjusted price of €0.639 in April 1999 at the time of the news of the planned takeover by HSBC to a high of €1.793 in January 2000 (also adjusted to take account of all share splits and bonus shares issues since then).

This was also a time when the Maltese market experienced its first bull market. A widespread price correction took place across the Maltese equity market in 2001 and 2002 and this also coincided with the international bear market following the dot.com bubble and the September 2001 terrorist attacks in the US. The equity of HSBC Malta declined from a high of €1.793 in January 2000 to a low of €0.816 in 2002. However, following the

strong growth in profits and the extraordinary dividends to shareholders between 2003 and 2005, the equity staged its second strong upswing and jumped to a high of €5.642 in April 2006.

Apart from the profitability growth and the very generous dividend distributions, another factor that may have contributed to the bullish investor sentiment surrounding HSBC Malta were the share splits and bonus share issues. In fact, in March 2005, HSBC’s equity was split on a two-for-one basis and the following year, there was a three-for-one bonus share issue. These corporate actions may have also unduly influenced investor expectations across the local equity market.

The share price had started to correct well before the 2007 record financial results were disclosed to the market in February 2008. In fact, between the equity’s all-time high of €5.642 in April 2006 and the publication of the 2007 results in February 2008, the equity had suffered a correction of 34 per cent.

After eight consecutive years of remarkable profitability growth between 2000 and 2007, HSBC Malta reported its first decline in profits in 2008. Concurrently, the policy of distributing excess reserves via special dividends also stopped and, moreover, the ordinary payout ratio eased from 75 per cent to 65 per cent. The combination of these important factors

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

19

STOCK MARKET REVIEW

Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Ltd (RFC) is a member of the Malta Stock Exchange and licensed by the Malta Financial Services Authority. This report has been prepared in accordance with legal requirements. It has not been disclosed to the company/s herein mentioned before its publication. It is based on public information only and is published solely for informational purposes and is not to be construed as a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any securities or related financial instruments. The author and other relevant persons may not trade in the securities to which this report relates (other than executing unsolicited client orders) until such time as the recipients of this report have had a reasonable opportunity to act thereon. RFC, its directors, the author of this report, other employees or RFC on behalf of its clients, have holdings in the securities herein mentioned and may at any time make purchases and/or sales in them as principal or agent, and may also have other business relationships with the company/s. Stock markets are volatile and subject to fluctuations which cannot be reasonably foreseen. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. Neither RFC, nor any of its directors or employees accept any liability for any loss or damage arising out of the use of all or any part thereof and no representation or warranty is provided in respect of the reliability of the information contained in this report. © 2016 Rizzo, Farrugia & Co. (Stockbrokers) Ltd. All rights reserved

together with the start of the international financial crisis, which culminated in the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in September 2008, led to bearish sentiment across the Maltese and international equity markets with share prices dropping heavily.

The equity of HSBC Malta declined to a low of €1.685 in April 2009 but then staged a remarkable recovery to above the €3 level in January 2010.

Notwithstanding that pre-tax profits at HSBC Malta recovered consistently from a ‘low’ of €71.2 million in 2009 to €95.3 million in 2012, the share price edged lower amid bouts of brief spikes around the time of the publication of their semiannual financial results. The further reduction in the dividend payout ratio to between 50 per cent and 55 per cent between 2010 and 2012 was possibly the main reason behind the continued downward trend in the share price.

In fact, profits increased considerably between 2009 and 2012 but the return on equity was largely unchanged at 16 per cent as the bank held on to additional retained earnings in the light of a changing regulatory landscape.

The increased regulation across the banking industry both across the EU and also in Malta also led to additional restrictions on dividend distributions. In December 2013, the Malta Financial Services Authority revised Banking Rule 09, requiring banks to hold additional reserves against non-performing loans by holding back on dividend distributions.

Dividends to shareholders halved in 2014 to a mere €0.04 per share net of tax (a far cry from the dividends of between €0.195 per share and €0.265 per share in each of the years between 2005 and 2007).

The lower dividend distribution was a major factor leading to the continued underperformance of HSBC’s equity at a time when bullish investor sentiment prevailed and other local equities strongly outperformed global equity markets.

Coupled with the reduction in dividends, HSBC’s de-risking strategy led to a closure of a number of business units starting off with the sale of the card management business in late 2010 to the winding down of the fund administration/custody business as well as the trust business in early 2014. In late 2015, HSBC Malta also started the process of exiting

the custody business for retail and corporate customers and the closure of their investment/stockbroking services.

While this has led to a decline in noninterest income in recent years, the full impact will be evident in the 2016 financial year. Concurrently, the increase in costs over the years is also very evident, with the cost base rising from just below €70 million shortly after the takeover in 2000 to above €90 million.

HSBC Malta’s chairman Sonny Portelli made specific reference to the cost challenges in the 2014 Annual Report where he singled out “the substantial rise in regulatory costs”. In fact, in 2014 alone, HSBC Malta incurred an additional €5 million in costs mainly related to the EU wide asset quality review.

The increase in costs was again evident in the 2015 financial statements published last Monday morning. Even when excluding the one-off costs of €14 million related to the early voluntary retirement scheme, operating costs still grew by six per cent due to additional compliance and regulatory costs.

On a more positive note, net interest income improved by over €4 million and impairment provisions declined, leading to

an adjusted pre-tax profit (excluding the impact of the non-recurring voluntary retirement cost of €14 million) of €61.4 million (+18 per cent). The major surprise was probably the increase in the dividend payout ratio to 65 per cent which helped the final gross dividend increase by 11 per cent over last year’s final dividend.

Equity markets generally tend to undershoot in times of fear and pessimism and overshoot in times of euphoria and very bullish investor sentiment. However, as the legendary value investors Benjamin Graham and Warren Buffet claim: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”

This is very true in the case of HSBC Malta. This analysis indicates that the decline in the share price to an almost 12year low reflects a decline in profits to levels last seen in 2002.

Hopefully, the incoming CEO, Andrew Beane, will manage to restore growth and achieve higher profitability levels in the years ahead. However, investors must remain cognisant of the fact that the very attractive shareholder returns achieved by the bank in the past (measured by the return on equity) are unlikely to be repeated given the more challenging conditions (the negative interest rate environment and weak loan growth) and especially the tighter regulatory landscape.

e Business OBSERVER

|

February 25, 2016

21

BUSINESS UPDATE

Bank introduces HSBC Select range of funds to Malta HSBC Malta has introduced HSBC Select in Malta, a portfolio of five funds designed for investors who wish to benefit from the recognised expertise of the HSBC Group as well as regular monitoring of their financial wealth by the fund management team.

Previously only available to HSBC Group’s Private Banking clients, the HSBC Select range of funds opens up the bank’s renowned expertise in asset management to its Premier customers through a dedicated management team, drawing on HSBC’s international scope and presence in the principal financial centres around the world.

“HSBC Select is a new investment opportunity for our Premier customers who will benefit from large diversification, and thanks to the five portfolios available, should have access to an investment solution suitable for their individual profile,” said Paul Steel, head of retail banking and wealth management, HSBC Bank Malta.

As an introductory offer, HSBC Malta is discounting the initial fees for HSBC Select to one per cent for applications received before March 31, 2016.

HSBC Premier customers can get more information on HSBC Select by calling HSBC Premier Direct on 2148 9100 or by speaking to their HSBC Premier Relationship Manager.

“HSBC Select is a new investment opportunity for our Premier customers” THE SELECT FUNDS UNLOCK A NEW WORLD OF ASSET MANAGEMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR INVESTORS

22

e Business OBSERVER | February 25, 2016

BUSINESS UPDATE

Maltapost alters archiving system of businesses With the inflation of property prices and the demands of new resources, companies need to utilise alternative strategies to reduce costs and improve their efficiency to stay competitive in Malta’s ever-growing economy. Well aware of the challenges faced by businesses today, Maltapost has diversified its service offerings in order to meet such demands.

Maltapost’s comprehensive list of document management solutions are designed to allow businesses to focus on their core competences and business priorities by providing for all archival, retrieval, digitisation and, where required, destruction of paper records. By utilising Maltapost’s secure archiving facilities, businesses are putting their valuable office space to better use, while

having the peace of mind that their physical documents, record and media are secured in state-ofthe-art facilities.

Maltapost’s document management storage facilities are equipped with 24-hour CCTV monitoring, controlled access and fire detection alarms, as well as temperature, humidity and vermin controls.

They are also equipped with the latest technology to accurately track all documents from the initial collection to their final disposal. Should a client require any physical document in hand, Maltapost will retrieve it, and deliver it to their office on the same day through its efficient courier services.

For more information, visit www.maltapost.com/ business

DHL perspective on ‘fair and responsible logistics’ DHL, the world’s leading logistics company, has issued a new study titled Fair and Responsible Logistics, reporting on a trend that is transforming the way businesses operate by ensuring profits grow hand in hand with sustainability, and value creation is shared by all stakeholders.

“We see a growing demand for fair and responsible business practices from all stakeholders, and we believe logistics can accelerate the adoption of this trend,” explained Markus Kückelhaus, vice president of Innovation & Trend Research.

“Logistics is a network business with a global reach that can play a key role in helping businesses to ‘go fair’ and in improving transparency across the entire supply chain. Logistics providers for example, can establish recycling-friendly warehouses and trucks that provide the infrastructure for both logistics and

recycling to increase recycling volumes and reduce waste.”

“With our GoGreen solutions we already meet the increasing demand for responsible logistics and create a shared value for our customers, our business and the environment”, said Katharina Tomoff, vice president Shared Value, Deutsche Post DHL Group.

DHL Global Forwarding is exclusively represented in Malta by BAS LTD.

“We believe logistics can accelerate the adoption of this trend”