The Business Observer Newspaper 6th October 2016

INTERVIEW

Issue 61

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October 6, 2016

Distributed with Times of Malta

Ruben Abela, the CEO of the recently formed Environment and Resources Authority, is asking the public to wait until it has all its resources in place before they judge its performance, insisting it will achieve its aims. see pages 10 and 11 >

NEWS Malta’s use of cash and cheques is still well above that of many of the 32 countries surveyed in the recent Cap Gemini report on World Global Payments. see page 5 >

Qatari buys Banif to set up private banking Vanessa Macdonald One of the largest private companies in Qatar, Al Faisal Holdings, has bought Banif Portugal group’s 78.6 per cent shareholding in Banif Malta, ending a three-year attempt to find a buyer.

In February 2016, Oitante SA said it had reached an agreement to sell its shareholding for €18.4 million but gave no information about the acquirer – and, since then, Al Faisal’s investment arm has been scrutinised by the Malta Financial Services Authority and the European Central Bank in an intense due diligence exercise.

The other shares are split equally between Mizzi Capital Projects, PG Holdings SAK Ltd

and Virtu Investments, and are not affected by the acquisition.

Established in the 1960s, Al Faisal Holdings has become a worldwide, multimillion dollar enterprise with an extensive range of business activities involved in real estate, commercial and industrial activities undertaken by over 20 companies that operate under the umbrella of Al Faisal Holding.

Michael Collis, the CEO of the holding company’s investment arm, said the first contact with Malta was made through trade missions to the Gulf, which piqued their interest for many reasons, including its EU membership, geography and political stability.

“That was how Malta came into the equation.

The bank was an opportunity we saw around a

year ago and thought it would fit in with what we wanted to do in terms of expanding into financial services,” he said.

Al Faisal Holdings is not completely new to banking as it has an eight per cent stake in a large commercial bank in Qatar as the second largest shareholder.

The plans are to retain Banif Malta’s business model – including its 12 branches – based on a mix of retail and corporate but to expand it to institutional and private banking.

“We believe that there is room in Malta for another strong player and we intend to provide the resources – including capital – for the bank to grow.

Clearly, given where we are from, we will be looking Continued on page 3

NEWS e Council of Europe’s proposed convention would seriously harm sports betting companies in Malta but will the government have the spine to veto it? see page 6 >

CASE STUDY ere are a number of aspects of the Companies Act which need to be reviewed – the most pressing of which are those dealing with insolvency, the managing partner of Ganado Advocates, Louis Cassar Pullicino, argues. see pages 12 and 13 >

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First of many Faisal investments planned Continued from page 1

ENEMALTA CHAIRMAN FREDRICK AZZOPARDI. PHOTO: DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI

Enemalta cuts its service response time by half Enemalta has nearly halved the average time taken for the provision of services from a month in 2013 to just under 17 days.

This applies to both the provision of new services as well as to changes to existing connections, such as addition of load.

The utility company said that the time went down to less than 11 days for the installation of new services in areas already reachable by the existing national electricity grid infrastructure, with many applications for new electricity connections now being serviced within two weeks.

The improvement in the response time was referred to by chairman Fredrick Azzopardi in an interview in the internationally-distributed CEO magazine, although the article did not give specifics.

Explaining what he described as a “paradigm shift” in operations, he stressed that “delivering a quicker service was one of the essential factors in improving customer satisfaction”.

As a result of this focus, Enemalta reviewed the provision of

all its services to reduce turnaround times for services and requests for technical assistance.

This involved an extensive reorganisation of its technical support teams and, in some cases, customers are being provided with appointments on weekends and public holidays to cut delays.

Last year, the company introduced a number of specificallytrained customer response teams including some 40 technicians.

The in-house training covered different technical operations related to the maintenance and development of the electricity network and the provision of services to customers. Some of these employees were formerly working at Enemalta’s older power stations.

The utility company also improved the response with regards to street lighting, most of which has now been devolved to local councils and other national entities. Until last year, local councils had to follow a longer application procedure to install and connect new street lights to the national electricity grid. As from January

2016, this procedure was simplified to speed up the process.

Mr Azzopardi said in the CEO article that, by 2017, the old power plants would all have been shut down and the oldest power plant would be less than five years old – complemented by the interconnector and the new gas-fired plants which should be in operation by then.

Enemalta is also investing €80 million to improve the distribution network and reduce power outages. He noted that 94 per cent of customers were now equipped with ‘smart’ meters.

The company was also expected to register a profit for the first time this year, earlier than the original 2017 target, he said, referring to the promise outlined in its 2014 audited results – the last available.

In 2014, the company registered a loss before tax from existing operations of €53.4 million, down from €100.1 million in 2013.

It also reported a profit from the discontinued operations of its petroleum division of €9.3 million.

at more opportunities going forward.

As a financial services centre, Malta is a good location for private banking business. We think there will be significant interest from our region to invest in Malta and the surrounding region in the next few years. Banif Bank will be a good conduit…”

He said that Islamic finance was naturally of interest and that there were opportunities in Malta and in the region for this – as part of the product range, albeit not a core aspect.

“Islamic finance lends itself to infrastructure and there are various initiatives where this will possibly be of interest,” he said.

Al Faisal managing director Mohamed Shafiek told The Business Observer that Banif would not be the only transaction: “There will be other investments in the future. We are very diversified and are active in real estate, manufacturing, trade services, education and hospitality.

“Our partners are usually the ‘best in class’ and we are currently discussing with them the possibility of having manufacturing here, including pharmaceuticals and hi-tech.

“We would also be interested in a hotel in Malta” “We are also interested in the hospitality sector and would be interested in buying or developing a hotel.

In our group we have a division – Artic – which owns 35 hotels around the world, 15 of which are in Doha, with six in the US and others like the Grand Hyatt in Berlin. We deal with most of the brands, from Marriott to Four Seasons, to W.” The company founder, Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, is the chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association which had hosted a trade mission to Doha from the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry – one of many delega-

tions over the years. “We started with the first investment here but we believe that other Qatari businessmen will follow. Malta can be a model like Singapore as it is actually in a very good position geographically with Europe to the north and Africa to the south. We believe that our investment in the bank will maximise this role,” he told The Business Observer.

The sale, for an undisclosed amount believed to be less than the €18.4 million mentioned 10 months ago, was mandated after the Portuguese bank received a State |bailout, one of the conditions being that it sold its investments abroad, including that in Malta, Brazil and the Cape Verde islands by 2017.

The divestment is similar to the forced sale of Volksbank in Malta after its parent company in Austria received state aid, and similarly has nothing to do with whether the assets being sold are profitable or not.

Indeed, Banif Malta made a pre-tax profit of €253,000 in 2013, which improved to €1.4 million in 2014 and again to €1.5 million in 2015.

Banif Malta CEO Joaquim Silva Pinto said the challenge since the forced sale was announced had been to keep the bank operating and profitable and within regulatory thresholds. The bank reduced its position in the market and increased its margin, and, in spite of the uncertainty, managed to retain most of its 160 staff.

“The main preoccupation is to generate the conditions for it to resume its previous growth, which has been on hold for these few years,” he said.

“The most important factor was the management criteria and we were controlling profits and losses very well and handling decisions in a faster way than usual. We are probably the fastest bank in the market when it comes to credit recuperation and do not take unnecessary risks.”

In the past Banif was hit by some high-profile impairments, but Mr Pinto said they have been handled and provisions had been taken.

“The governance model of the bank has imposed a routine within the bank which made it healthier than expected. And this is a routine that the bank does not want to lose.

You have to control costs all the time.”

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Malta ranked 5th on its use of cash Malta ranked in fifth place out of 32 countries in a study on the use of cash, and was one of only four which actually saw cash transactions increase, rather than decrease.

The Cap |Gemini report looked at non-cash transactions, which include cheques, debit and credit cards, credit transfers and direct debit transactions – so the decrease noted by the study might indicate that cheques usage is finally going down – but there is clearly a long way to go. Malta still only has around 100 non-cash transactions per capita, well below the US, which leads the ranking with some 400 non-cash payments per capita.

The Central Bank of Malta and the Malta Bankers’ Association have both been actively trying to discourage the use of cheques in favour of electronic transactions, while cash has remained entrenched in the Maltese culture. There are some countries which are actively campaigning to remove cash from the societies, with some which have already abolished cheques outright. Globally the use of cheques declined by 10.8 per cent in 2014, after 13 years of falls.

Globally, debit cards are the favourite non-cash way to pay (45.7 per cent), while cards as a whole grew by 11.8 per cent in 2014 – faster than any other non-cash method.

Overall, the report found that non-cash transactions grew by 8.9 per cent and reached 387 billion in 2014, a record growth rate for the past decade since the first Cap Gemini report was first published. The rate is predicted to have continued during 2015, with an estimated growth rate of 10.1 per cent.

The report had disappointing news about mobile devices for corporate payments, saying that adoption has been slow.

“Mobile devices give corporate treasurers anytime and anywhere availability, increased control and reduced costs, and an additional payments channel, particularly in emerging markets.

“Use of mobile devices is, however, limited to approvals, alerts and analytics. As value-added features are developed, the applicability of mobile devices to corporate payments may improve – but their relevance for corporate payments initiation and execution is expected to remain low in the new future,” the report said.

UNITED STATES

MALTA

CHINA

SOURCE: CAP GEMINI

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NEWS

Malta must veto the Council of Europe convention – Bengtsson Malta has no option but to veto a Council of Europe convention on sports betting as this would jeopardise the entire industry in Malta, Ulrik Bengtsson, CEO and president of Betsson Group, has warned.

All member states would need to approve the Convention on the Manipulation of Sports Competitions, but if Malta were to veto it, there could be political ramifications.

Malta was the only country which raised opposition to the convention ratification when it was discussed in the European Parliament – and even this did not go down well, especially with the European People’s Party.

The Malta Gaming Authority executive chairman, Joe Cuschieri, tactfully said that this was “the government’s prerogative” while Mr Bengtsson said: “It is not up to me to judge”.

The convention has come up with a new definition of “illegal sports betting”, saying it is “any sports betting activity whose type or operator is now allowed under the applicable law of the jurisdiction where the consumer is located”.

Dr Cuschieri explained that the definition would effectively render illegal all operators who offer their services via an MGA licence in other European states.

Although not all the remote gaming companies in Malta are involved in sports betting, the number is still substantial enough to matter.

The Council of Europe’s intention was to protect consumers from match fixing but it is just as likely that other member states are protecting their own operators.

“I believe it is a mixture of both,” Dr Cuschieri said. “We are in favour of the convention and its objectives. What we are

against is the definition of illegal sports betting which is beyond the scope of the convention.”

Mr Bengtsson is unconvinced that the convention would achieve the altruistic aim.

“This will have no effect on match fixing as it is designed for. Although the initiative to address match fixing is a good one, the phrase in question, ‘illegal sports betting’, means any sports betting activity whose type or operator is not allowed under the applicable law of the jurisdiction where the consumer is located.

This particular phrase is just tucked in solely for the member states to protect their monopolies and restrict the options and product quality for the consumers,” he said.

If the convention were approved, then the value of a Maltese licence as a way to operate in other states would be greatly diluted, as companies would be forced to get separate

licences for each jurisdiction. “If there already is a local licence in place then we could, of course, operate under that,” Mr Bengtsson said.

At this stage, the timeline and procedure is not clear and Dr Cuschieri said that the MGA was following it closely.

If the convention were to be ratified, what would actually happen? Dr Cuschieri said that it was too early to say because it depends on a number of factors.

“We are hoping that an acceptable solution for all parties involved can be found in the near future. Apart from that, the MGA is undergoing a major revamp of its entire regulatory framework in order to future proof the gaming sector’s continued development. Like that Malta will remain an attractive jurisdiction of choice for the foreseeable future,” he told The Business Observer.

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

Matching expectations of growth e Business Observer asked a few stakeholders what they expect to hear next Monday from Budget 2017 to keep the country’s current momentum going.

KPMG

Tonio Zarb, Senior Partner We’re a week away from Budget Day. Do you have particular expectations for the 2017 budget?

Malta’s economic performance for 2015 has been robust and the economy demonstrated notable resilience in a challenging macroeconomic environment over the last several years.

Bearing in mind that the annual real GDP growth rate registered at 6.3 per cent in 2015, making Malta one of the fastest growing economies in Europe, the expectation is that the government will not adopt any measures that destabilise the status quo or go counter to continued growth. This healthy economic environment should serve as an opportunity to take stock of the situation and take cognisance of the fact that further action needs to be taken to progress towards a sustain-

able public sector and revenue expenditure balance. There is also the need for a clear vision of upcoming opportunities and threats, and an invitation to the private sector to coordinate initiatives with the public sector to address these. Lastly, in a concerted effort with civil society and stakeholders, adopt and implement more initiatives to address inequalities in the country.

sification – flesh out the services sector into a broader-based collection of services and revitalise manufacturing. Also, we should look at building and capitalising more on Brand Malta. This idea may be based on stereotypes but Brand Malta is still underutilised – it should be refined and revived. It carries an immense potential as a go-to-market asset.

Are there any measures that the government can take to sustain the current momentum?

In the short term, Malta’s momentum can be constrained by the saturated utilisation of scarce resources. We are already experiencing tensions in the labour market, and clearly tensions are arising in the utilisation of land and in our transportation and infrastructure.

The economy can regain momentum if tangible initiatives are adopted to relieve the pressure points. We need to consider diver-

Is there any particular measure that the government should introduce to foster more business activity?

Malta’s pro-business approach has already proven to be effective in facilitating and fostering business activity. The business community is thriving as a direct reflection or consequence of a strong economy. Naturally, parallel measures can be adopted to further harness business growth. One such measure could bridge the connectivity gap between the government and the private sector. Direction should flow

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INDUSTRY FOCUS

around the system, not be solely bottom-down. Mundane problems that afflict us all, like traffic, require creativity and flexibility.”

Multigas

Mark Asciak Commercial Manager There is no argument that the Maltese economy is going through a buoyant period. Business sentiment is good and companies and entrepreneurs show this through their willingness to invest in new projects and more value-added services.

Nevertheless, this environment requires nurturing to keep it sustainable among the unstable scenarios going on internationally.

One of the fundamental factors affecting the competitiveness of Maltese businesses is the cost of energy, which despite tariff reductions, remains comparatively high.

Aligning energy rates closer to EU averages would provide a more level playing field for local business on the international scene.

Finding suitable human resources for certain posts has become difficult in recent years, particularly in technical fields. A comprehensive analysis of the skill gaps that have surfaced is needed together with an action plan to amend curricula and provide target training to improve the match between applicants and the posts available.

Finally, we strongly support adequate consultation on any measures affecting businesses and employers well before implementation. A constructive two-way discussion between the government and businesses can only lead to a smoother and more effective launching of new policies for the overall benefit of all stakeholders.

PKF Malta

George Mangion Senior Partner Our expectations on the budget are varied but the main topics include a better and equitable distribution of the national wealth to deserving persons whose family income may be low, hovering close to the level associated with poverty. Poverty can be both absolute and relative.

Of course, absolute poverty is a social evil that needs to be fought by more equitable distribution of taxes

“Finding suitable human resources for certain posts has become difficult particularly in technological fields” and other revenues generated in the current years as reflected in the stellar improvement of Gross National Product. One of the barriers is the incidence of red tape and excessive bureaucracy which eat up millions of euro in the unproductive sectors and which is a hidden form of taxation. As to relative poverty, this is the sign of affluence arising between different classes of society and there is little that a budget minister can do to minimise or rectify such occurrence .

One aspect of a true social conscience is that low income groups and pensioners are not taxed again on their minimum income since inflation – albeit adjusted by the Cola mechanism – is difficult to assess accurately and, in the case of some pensioners, they have to finance the ever increasing costs of medicines which fall outside the free list.

Higher investment in social housing and subsidised rents for low income category is a priority.

The government should be on the lookout for new niches such as higher banking facilities for aviation, attracting more international banks to remove the dependency on one major bank providing corresponding banking facilities, the consolidation of the maritime sector, oil and gas bunkering infrastructure and robust incentives to film industry and, finally, the attraction of international innovation centres to create a centre of excellence in the coveted field Life Sciences industries, oncology studies and nanotechnology.

It is imperative that both parties unite to resist pressure from Brussels to change our fiscal regime which has served us well for the past 30 years.

In view of BEPS and the recommendations of OECD and Group

of 20 to harmonise corporate taxes and introduce a Common Consolidated Tax Code in a onesize-fits all manner, it is important that Malta defends itself against any unwarranted change in its fiscal regime. Of course, it is also important that the government appoints an ad hoc top level committee to study alternative tax incentives which – if push comes to shove– would be an acceptable alternative to the full imputation system.

Alternative Technologies Mario Cachia CEO

My expectations are that the government continues to incentivise work and investment while keeping family- friendly measures in place.

As an engineer, I would say that, to keep an engine running well, you have to keep it maintained well and, as the old saying goes, oiled well.

Hence, the tax credits for companies to reinvest, to retrain and to expand are all welcome as they help companies like ours give a better overall service to our clients as well as to keep abreast of the latest technology in the field.

Malta has to remain attractive for foreign investment. This, however, brings with it also burdens and needs. We need to make sure the workforce is well trained to be able to take up the jobs that are created.

We are already seeing a problem here, especially on technical jobs.

The infrastructure also needs to be able to cope. The electricity supply and distribution, the road and transport network, the communica-

tion and telephony services, accommodation and supplies, will all need to be able to withstand and support this growth.

ARQ Group

David Borg Director The minister has made his objectives very clear when announcing the forthcoming Budget.

I expect it will seek to further consolidate the government’s ambition to continue building on economic growth, reducing the deficit and allowing for a more equitable distribution of wealth, particularly across segments that are most in need.

The government must continue to take all steps necessary to protect what has been achieved so far. It is also important that the government continues to encourage and embrace dialogue with the various stakeholders and also cut down on any excessive red tape and bureaucratic procedures wherever possible while, of course, respecting international standards on due diligence.

The country’s size and the speed with which we can react to economic and business trends in a fairly short period of time remains one of our key competitive advantages but, in order for this to remain effective, we must see better coordination and cooperation across the board.

The international business landscape has changed tremendously over these past few years and will continue to change further.

With the focus more and more on the creation of substance, we must

ensure that our infrastructure and the suite of services available remain valid and up to date.

In this regard we should be looking at new areas and measures for raising corporate finance and for funding new businesses.

EuroBridge Shipping Services Ltd. David Abela Managing Director

I am not the kind of person that gets too excited by Budget Day since most of the policies nowadays get decided during the year and not left for the Budget.

I don’t think there will be huge surprises since this government has always maintained that stability is the main priority, so I expect them to continue implementing probusiness policies while reducing tax evasion as much as possible.

The government must make sure that current growth does not become a bubble which could burst and take us into a recession.

Economic growth must always be sustainable for as long as possible in an ideal scenario, so they must make sure that this growth is felt throughout the whole spectrum of the Maltese economy.

Traffic is becoming such a problem these days that it is the single most issue harming local businesses! It might be too late in this legislature but the government must sit down, discuss a way forward with all concerned and implement a plan – and fast!

Otherwise, reducing bureaucracy has to remain another government priority for this Budget.

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INTERVIEW

Giving teeth to the green giant RUBEN ABELA has come full circle. He was working at the Planning Authority when it absorbed the remit for the environment to become Mepa – and now that planning has hived off, he has been given the helm of the newly formed Environment and Resources Authority. He spoke to Vanessa Macdonald about the challenges of this fledgling agency.

There was a very clear justification for splitting the regulation of planning from that of the environment – but will it work?

Only time will tell. I have always supported the concept of the demerger as I could see how the environment directorate was working within Mepa – until 2006, I was the enforcement manager. Coordination of the planning and environment sides was lacking even then, four years after the merger.

There was always the criticism that planning was given more importance than the environment – and there is an element of truth to that.

Having an authority dedicated to the environment clearly means it has a stronger voice but the public must remember that we are a regulator and not an environmental NGO: we cannot criticise unless our reasoning is backed by policies and by law – including EU directives. E-NGOs, on the other hand, can base their case on different reasons.

The easiest way to avoid criticism would be to say ‘no’ to every development but doing so would freeze progress. Clearly, we must find a balance, if at all possible. Had we taken a rigid stance 30 or 40 years ago, there would be no port facilities, no Freeport, for example.

This is a small island with restricted space…

You brought up the Freeport; it needs more space to cope with economic activity but this was turned down on environmental grounds.

Yes, but my understanding is that the expansion refusal will not hold back its growth as there are other ways in which it can cope.

We do not want to say no to everything but to seek solutions which have the least environment impact – not only to land but also to people. In most cases, there are alternatives.

ERA is no longer in the same building as the PA but surely some coordination is required…

Development and land use policies such as local plans and structure plans will be the sole remit of the PA. However, ERA has two

members on the executive council of the PA – which is where all policy documents are considered.

ERA has a national affairs unit, which – even if not consulted directly – is on the lookout for any legal notices, white papers etc. which may have an environmental cost, so we can prepare our position on it in anticipation of the public consultation. We give feedback on a continuous basis.

Do you have the power to be proactive? For example, could you push for a review of a local plan or structure plan? How can you ensure that the PA does not drag its feet?

We can say that we disagree with a policy and we can make our concerns known at the executive council but it is up to them whether to go ahead or not.

So you have no teeth…

So far, we managed to have our voice heard.

Legislation is not meant to be there for when there is goodwill and cooperation but for when there is not. You are supposed to be the PA’s watchdog…

We did not have any teeth before either. If anything, it was worse as the Environmental Protection Directorate was part of Mepa and could not make its opinions public; there were cases when the EPD was against Mepa policies. At least now, the ERA can make its voice heard as an independent authority.

There were never enough enforcement resources at Mepa. Are you any better off?

The EPD was always concerned that there were so many resources for the planning and development side – while the environmental side could always have done with more. And the former could depend on fees generated by the application process, but the environment had no way of financing itself, and used to get a percentage from the Mepa income. Now we

have our own approved government budget.

However, we have a much smaller staff complement: there were 110-120 at the EPD. We started off here with around 85 people and are up to 130 – but the full complement should be above 200. There is a full recruitment process underway…

We also had to set up our own corporate services, including things like IT which we used to get through Mepa before. People have to remember that this is a completely new set up and that, like a new baby, it must crawl before it can walk.

The Environment Ombudsman David Pace has already attacked the authority as being “toothless”…

That is his opinion and one he is entitled to.

We have replied to him outlining why we disagree with him. There was a protest by eNGOs underway outside our offices at that very time.

We are only ‘toothless’ because we are building up our resources.

If you were at full complement, would you have handled the highrise issue differently?

That was a different case. It was unfortunate that things happened the way they did.

Why wasn’t the PA hearing on Townsquare and Mrieħel postponed since the ERA chairman Victor Axiak could not attend?

It could have been changed at the discretion of the PA board’s chairman.

Did the ERA ask for it to be postponed?

Our chairman did notify the board that he could not attend. It was up to the PA board chairman to change the date.

Going back to the Ombudsman, I think he appreciated that ERA is still building up its resources. We need tools to work. Only then can you see what needs to be done and prioritise.

Let us just take one aspect: development notifications. We are consulted by the PA on 1,000 applications a month (since the demerger they skyrocketed), of which some 400 a month have an environmental impact and require our feedback. And this is not only from one aspect as we cover all the thematic units, like waste management and biodiversity. In some cases, we even have to go on site!

And all this has to be done within 30 days. So far, we have managed to meet the deadlines, more or less, using a simple Excel spreadsheet.

We would dearly like to improve the way in which we give feedback. We need a culture change internally, too, as our people should understand that they can give a much more robust point of view than when they were part of Mepa. At this stage of transition, there are also enforcement delegation rights on environmental issues which are still in

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the hands of the PA, which will come to us in due course.

But things will change. Once a development permit has been issued, it will have environmental conditions imposed – based on our feedback during the consultion phase – which we will look after.

Take fishfarms. Until now the conditions were all under Mepa control. Any that are issued henceforth will have planning obligations – location, size and quantity of cages etc – while we would impose the operational conditions, like environmental monitoring, waste treatment, and so on. These would be on a separate permit – which did not exist before – and we will have the right to enforce then. There will also be a permit from the Fisheries Department on regulatory aspects.

This is where the demerger makes most sense as there are different enforcement regimes. Things will improve.

What will happen to the Malta Resources Authority?

The new environmental legislation will mean that some of the MRA’s remit will fall under ERA but we are not there yet. We need to find our feet first. But talks are underway on the transfer, which should take place in the coming months.

The assessments carried out for Townsquare were very heavily criticised. Will the system change?

It is important to point out that environmental impact assessments – which are a legal obligation and part of the EU directive

But if the application for that same building comes in once the hearing has been concluded, it is too late as the decision had to be based on the facts at hand.

This is why the idea of a masterplan for Paceville is so praiseworthy. It was prompted by the PA because of numerous applications for large developments there, including highrises, and precisely because of the need for a comprehensive regeneration.

We are a stakeholder in that masterplan as we need to assess environmental issues – and although we will not look at parking provisions, we will look at traffic-related pollution, for example.

RUBEN ABELA, ERA CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER PHOTO: MATTHEW MIRABELLI

So why approve a highrise in Sliema and in Mrieħel before those areas have a masterplan?

We cannot answer that. when projects reach a certain threshold – are not an equation into which you plug replies, and get a positive or negative answer. The assessment is there to help decision-makers.

The EIA process identifies issues that could cause a problem, and it could recommend mitigation methods – but it cannot give a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

When a project requires an EIA, there is first a public consultation which determines what the EIA should include. There is a basic template but the comments from the public, NGOs, stakeholders and so on are also used to draw up its terms of reference.

Once the EIA has been done, it is once again submitted to public scrutiny. Unfortunately, while a handful of eNGOs give detailed

feedback at consultation phase, the feedback from the public is very poor. By the time of the actual hearing, it is too late! We are discussing revisions to the legal notice covering EIAs, which will also reflect changes to the EU directive. But even now, we would encourage people to get involved at the earlier stages.

One of the major points made about Townsquare was that it could not take into account applications for sites nearby whose permit process had not yet been kicked off. Who should be taking a holistic and comprehensive view?

There is no crystal ball. Say a new application comes in for another building a few hundred metres away? Then you amend the EIA.

It seems as though you were thrown in at the deep end. Would it be fair to say that you have already lost the public relations battle? How can you win back public confidence? What are your priorities for the year ahead?

Clearly we need to boost our resources – human and management tools. We need to strengthen our consultation process with the PA and give our feedback in a timely manner on applications and policy documents. We also want to emphasize habitat protection and in the few weeks will launch a few campaigns, including Natura 2000 sites, complementing marine areas which were recently scheduled for the first time as Natura 2000 sites, along with their management plans. And we are setting up our public relations office.

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CASE STUDY

Time for Companies Act review The Companies Act is more than 20 years old and needs a revamp – particularly when it comes to insolvency, Louis Cassar Pullicino, the managing partner of Ganado Advocates, believes.

The number of insolvency cases is on the increase and they cut across commercial activity, he explained.

“The moment that a company faces financial difficulties, it inevitably has implications for employees, suppliers, creditors and banks, for example. So the impact is quite widespread,” he stressed, adding that as Malta has been attracting more companies with international shareholders, there is also an impact on foreign jurisdictions.

Dr Cassar Pullicino noted that insolvency should be the last resort for companies in trouble but lamented that the section of the Companies Act related to company reconstruction and company recovery procedure had, for some reason, rarely been picked up by practitioners and corporate entities “It could well be a cultural problem but it is more likely that the particular requirements to qualify for this rescue procedure are too onerous as they require agreement between the creditors who hold more than half of the claims against the company. The possibility of actually engineering a corporate rescue becomes quite a tall order,” he said Another provision which does not ever seem to have been applied is that which enables the disqualification of directors.

“It is a pity as I am sure there are cases where directors should have been disqualified… Clearly in this scenario, there is no disincentive for directors to act appropriately and to cultivate the levels of corporate governance that Malta wants to achieve as a serious jurisdiction,” he said.

Another aspect worrying the law firm is the courts, which require specialised judges

LOUIS CASSAR PULLICINO, THE MANAGING PARTNER OF GANADO ADVOCATES.

“We used to be much more dynamic and innovative as we had to compete.

We are losing our cutting edge”

to deal with the complex cross-border disputes that arise more often as Malta’s economy becomes more international.

There is a specialised division within the Civil Court presided over by two judges which has been working very well for insolvency and maritime cases, and Ganado Advocates would like to see this extended to other economic sectors: “The idea is working very well as it gives them the opportunity to get familiar with the precedents set by case law in these disputes. We need to have more specialised division at both the level of the Court of First Isntance and the Court of Appeal to give incentices to judges already on the bench to specialise in particular fields.”

Apart from specialisation, the attitude of the court towards these cases has also been improved: “Only this summer, we were involved in a dispute which involved foreign maritime parties. We applied to the court to hear the case with urgency since a number of containers with cargo were ‘trapped’ here by the dispute. The court was very receptive

and I am very pleased to report that the court heard the case over 10 days with a judgment five days later.”

The Merchant Shipping Act has been revised periodically to keep Malta competitive and to keep legislation relevant to the players in the sector. In aviation, the firm was also at the forefront of the 2010 Aircraft Registration Act, for which amendments are already in the pipeline. But he is concerned about other legislative innovation and called for the setting up of a permanent law reform commission to promote or recommend new laws and review existing ones – adding that the financial services sector deserves a commission of its own.

“A similar commission some years ago was instrumental in dealing with procedural amendments. Too much of our attention is being taken up by transposing European legislation and, as a result, we have lost momentum. We used to be much more dynamic and innovative as we had to compete. We are losing our cutting edge…”

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CASE STUDY

Law firm to offer services to start-ups Like many other Maltese firms, Ganado Advocates does a considerable amount of corporate social responsibility that you never hear about. However, this year’s initiative needs publicity for the simple reason that it wants to recruit beneficiaries.

Project Anew will offer start-ups the services of this law firm, managing partner Louis Cassar Pullicino explained.

This is by no means the firm’s first foray into corporate social responsibility. Three years ago, however, it put its campaigns on a more structured basis, setting up a committee chaired by one of the firm’s partners to select suitable beneficiaries, allocating a percentage of income – not profits – for worthy causes. These were not tied itself down to particular sectors and the recipients varied over time, with last year’s project having an emphasis on education, for example.

Project Anew is going to take a different approach, combining two different elements: enhancing the firm’s pro bono work, linked with professional legal initiatives that would really help budding entrepreneurs.

“We want to help young and innovative potential entrepreneurs set up – ‘young’ not necessarily in the sense of age but in the sense that we want to help those who have never gone into business before, rather than established ones who want to try something new,” Dr Cassar Pullicino said, adding that these would most likely be involved in sectors like IT, science and finance, mirroring the development of Malta at the moment.

“We are also not excluding the social entrepreneur, so if anyone has an idea which has a social objective – addressing a community problem – we can also help with that.”

The services offered will vary from case to case, tapping into the enthusiastic expertise of Ganado Advocates’ 81 professionals, of which 68 are lawyers.

However, the firm anticipates that the most likely assistance sought will be with preparations for getting finance, setting up the company and its structure, all the way to securing intellectual property rights – such as the registration of a design or of a patent.

“As a member state of the EU, there are various European instruments that can afford protection within the EU – so we can help with trademarks on a pan-European level,” he said.

The firm has left the scheme flexible, not setting any cap on the amount of hours that any beneficiary can enjoy or any cap on the time period over which the services can be offered.

“We were considering a possible scenario where we would give the

“ere are no strings attached”

assistance for a year – but decided not to get bogged down as projects do not always go as planned and we did not feel it would be fair to cut off an initiative just because the clock runs out!”

The assistance Ganado Advocates can offer is not limited to direct services: it can also share its considerable network with the beneficiaries.

“We summarise our offering as international commercial law, meaning that our day-to-day work brings us into regular contact with numerous people and institutions, whether foreigners doing business here or clients in Malta doing business in other jurisdictions.

“We are also the exclusive Maltese member firm in the Lex Mundi professional services

network, which has over 160 member firms – totalling more than 21,000 attorneys. This gives us access to a number of jurisdictions in various continents, including guaranteed initial advice when there is a problem – within 24 hours.”

The firm’s lawyers are excited about the project, seeing it as a great way to get involved in a hands-on way with dynamic start-ups, besides

rounding out their corporate social credentials.

“The point is to do CSR so this is not a soft attempt to advertise our services in any way. I want to reassure any applicants interested in the scheme that there are no strings attached. At the end of the scheme, there will be no binding obligation of them to use our service going forward. On the contrary, we will wish them all the best,” he said.

Ganado Advocates is not stopping there: it is offering one start-up office space within its award- inning premises in Valletta for an initial period of six months.

“We are aware of other initiatives for start-ups – including office space – and will seek to complement them, as we feel that we are in a position to offer particular services which will be another piece of the jigsaw for them,” Dr Cassar Pullicino said.

Those interested should send an e-mail to ProjectAnew@ ganadoadvocates.com.

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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

Publishers Allied Newspapers Ltd. Content House Group Ltd.

Let the bidding commence The government – through the Privatisation Unit – has issued the request for proposals for an international logistics hub at Ħal Far, but the 45,000 square metre site is far more than just a new industrial estate.

The site has been chosen as a free trade zone or customs warehouse, and the intention is to use it as a logistics hub, buzz words that have peppered government’s vision statements for years.

Operators have been clamouring for two things. The first was the removal of the need to use the Customs groupage complex for imports arriving from an EU port, using the argument that freight would already have entered the EU at another border and that its ‘entry’ into Malta was therefore intra-EU and should not be subjected to customs scrutiny as a matter of course.

It is not clear how having the groupage warehouses in a free trade zone or a customs warehouse area would affect that. Would it increase the paperwork for freight coming from EU ports, or make it easier?

There are already 34 operators using the complex and the government has assured them that nothing will change (although they will be given first preference) – which seems disappointing as things could certainly improve. They have clamoured for years to be able to invest the dilapidated area, without success. Perhaps the winning bidder would encourage such investment.

The second request was for warehouse space – but only if that could qualify for the preferential rates applied for factories and other productive investments. Operators over the past years have come up with myriad examples of how they would use that space if only it were available. The idea that ‘warehouses’ would be full of dusty inventory

stored there for months is far from reality. If anything, it is the very speed of inventory turn-over which makes logistics so exciting. Take, for example, goods that are manufactured and shipped in bulk from Asia. These could be brought here to Malta, and broken down into consignments for different destinations. While here they could be labelled, re-packaged and assembled. There are various ways in which value could be added and jobs created.

Apart from space, the logistics hub had to be close to shipment nodes – the ports and the airport – and Ħal Far is certainly ideally located adjacent to the Freeport and the airport, although inconvenient for the Grand Harbour, given the lack of direct, traffic-free routes.

What choices did the government have? It could have used the normal channels of Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks to operate the site, but this would have dumped the financial burden on their shoulders – although it could ostensibly have used the Development Bank for this estimated €80 million infrastructural investment.

Instead it opted for a private sector option, although it is not clear whether the successful bidder will select tenants, and if so on what criteria. Will the operator be more transparent and offer better governance than MIP? Will it have more flexibility? And would the Free Trade Zone Corporation – which its CEO Aaron Farrugia said would be responsible for the zone – be an efficient and strict regulator?

And €80 million is a marvellous sounding headline but even over a 65-year period, is it feasible to recoup from logistics operators?

The request for proposals is a first step and no doubt, there will be considerable scrutiny of its 100-pages by stakeholders. It remains to be seen whether the government, after all this time, has got the elements right.

Advertising Enquiries Tel: 21 320713 Email: info@contenthouse.com.mt Advertising Sales: Matthew Spiteri Head of Sales Kurt Cauchi Brand Sales Manager Rose Caruana Advertising Sales Executive Lindsey Napier Marvic Cutajar Advertising Sales Coordinators Printer Progress Press Ltd.

BUSINESS OPINION

Voluntary audits for microenterprises

Matthew Agius The removal of audit requirements on microenterprise and non-trading companies has been a reasonable and long-standing proposal of the GRTU and the EU has given a clear signal that it looks favourably at such an initiative aimed at promoting the think-small-first principle. GRTU is therefore taken aback by the fact that the Maltese government decided to rob micro companies of this opportunity without consultation.

The EU has very clearly encouraged member states to diminish the burden related to financial statements, most recently through its Directive 2013/34/EU. The directive specifically stipulates that “the annual financial statements of small undertakings should not be covered by this audit obligation, as an audit can be a significant administrative burden for that category of undertaking”.

According to the latest statistics published by the NSO, Malta has 85,673 microenterprises, out of which it is estimated that 45,708 would require an audit

“e obligatory audit on micro companies... is merely a rubberstamp exercise” by law. The basic cost of an audit for a standard micro entity is €1,000.

The main ‘philosophical’ justification of an audit is that the managers of companies have to demonstrate the stewardship of the company to the owners of the company. This is done by the audit carried out by an external auditor. In the case of micro firms, however, the distance between owners and management is practically inexistent: in many cases

the owners are also the managers.

The cost of an audit is therefore harder to justify. The obligatory audit on micro companies does not serve this purpose but is merely a rubberstamp exercise.

In the case of non-trading companies, these are often dormant companies to be potentially reinstated some years down the line to avoid the costs and burdens to set up a new company from scratch.

It is even clearer here that the audit is unneccassary.

The UK has been applying this exemption since 1993 and the country has always sought to improve on this and increase the threshold so that more and more companies could benefit from the exemption. There is no reason why a system that has worked well in the UK for over two decades cannot be applied in Malta. The size and threshold of companies to apply within this exemption can be adapted to the make-up of the Maltese business sector.

What is being proposed is not reinventing the wheel but effectively turning the micro companies’ structure similar to that which is already existing in Malta for business partnerships, which are in fact, exempt.

If the audit were to be made voluntary, it is estimated that 40 per cent of these would opt to benefit from the exemption and not audit their financial statements. Making the audit for financial statements voluntary for micros would in practice mean that micro companies alone will cumulatively save a minimum €18 million in accountancy fees.

This is a tangible example of how small businesses can be given impetus to re-innovate and reinvest into the economy.

Having a voluntary option still gives micro companies the possibility to have their accounts audited. Studies suggest that over half of the companies exempted still decide, by choice or obligation, to have their audits.

The absolute majority of micro companies are not large enough in terms of turnover and their credit rating is not a priority factor within their enterprise to necessitate an audit. Enterprises that see personal value in having their financial statements audited, or are required to do so as part of the requirements established by banks or other, will still carry out audits on a voluntary manner.

Matthew Agius is the chief operating officer of the GRTU – Malta Chamber of SMEs.

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APPOINTMENTS

Quintano Foods appoints business manager

Chairman for Bluhull Group

Sean Portelli has taken over as business manager at Quintano Foods Ltd, a subsidiary of the Farsons Group, reporting to the group head of food business, John Bonello Ghio (right).

Quintano is a leading distributor of branded food products, including Danone, Tropicana, Quaker, Walkers, Bayernland, Ribena, Ocean Spray, Calve’, Cooperlat and Mevgal.

Mr Portelli will be contributing to the strategic development of the business while assuming responsibility for the daily operations of the company. He has worked in sales and marketing, leading business restructuring projects and working with partners both locally and internationally.

Oil and gas firm Bluhull Group has appointed its consultant and board adviser Paul King as the chairman of its board.

Mr King first became involved with the Bluhull Group in 2014. He previously served as managing director for Transocean Offshore Drilling in the North Sea, UK, having spent over 25 years with the firm.

He has also served as chairman of the British Rig Owners Association, chairman of the International Association of Drilling Contractors for the North Sea Chapter and as member of Osprag, reporting on the Macondo Well Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Warrington promotion at AX Holdings Michael Warrington has been promoted from director of finance with AX Holdings to chief executive officer.

Mr Warrington has been with the firm for over 16 years.

Founder Angelo Xuereb will remain the chairman of the group, overseeing new projects. He said that the decision was propelled by the company’s rapid expansion.

Galdes appointed as partner of ARQ Group

MSV Life takes on new chief officer MSV Life plc has appointed Michael Galea as chief officer for business development, which will also make him a member of the executive management committee.

Mr Galea joins MSV Life after a career of 30 years in the banking sector where he has held a number of senior management appointments, the most recent being those of chief officer for operations and chief electronic banking officer at Bank of Valletta.

He also served as chairman of the executive committee of the Malta Bankers’ Association and represented BOV at international organisations, including the European Savings Banks Group and the World Savings Banks Institute.

ARQ Group announced that Manfred Galdes, former director at the Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit, has been appointed CEO and director of its compliance and AML/CFT (anti-money laundering and countering terrorism financing) consulting arm, ARQ Risk and Compliance Ltd. The ARQ Group is a professional services organisation set-up as a joint venture between Capstone Group and law firm Fenech Farrugia Fiott Legal.

Dr Galdes will also be joining the law firm as a partner, heading the law firm’s compliance and AML practice.

Dr Galdes has been involved in the drafting of various laws and lectures on the subject of prevention of money laundering and other areas of law.

Bourguila on GO board Nizar Bouguila has been appointed by GO’s new majority shareholder, Tunisie Telecom, as the chairman, taking over from Tecom-appointed chairman Deepak Padmanabhan.

A number of other non-executive directors relinquished their posts besides Mr Padmanabhan: Norbert Prihoda, Brigitte Zammit, Nikhil Patil and James Kinsella.

They were replaced by Sofiane Antar, Jamel Sakka, Faker Hnid and Philippe Jean Montourcier.

Mr Bouguila is the CEO of Tunisie Telecom and, prior to that, worked with the France

Telecom-Orange Group, Orange Business Services (formerly Equant) and SITA, the leading telecommunication provider for airlines and the travel community.

New CEO at Lufthansa Technik Malta Marcus Motschenbacher, until recently the director for network sales & customer service for Lufthansa Technik AG in Hamburg, is the new CEO of Lufthansa Technik Malta. He replaces Stephan Drewes, who has moved on to head the production network aircraft base maintenance for Lufthansa Technik in Hamburg. Mr Drewes had been CEO of Lufthansa Technik Malta since 2011.

The aircraft overhaul division at Lufthansa Technik is responsible for the overhaul and cabin modification of commercial customers’ Airbus and Boeing aircraft. The division has sites in Germany, Ireland, Malta, Hungary, Bulgaria, Puerto Rico and the Philippines, and carries out more than 600 overhaul operations every year.

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STOCK MARKET REVIEW

A MCDONALD’S OUTLET IIN ROMANIA. PHOTO: PREMIER CAPITAL

Romanian acquisition boosts profitability of Premier Capital

Edward Rizzo Last week’s article reviewed the recent financial performance and developments at PTL Holdings

plc – one of the three bond issuers within the Hili Ventures group of companies.

The other two issuers are Premier Capital plc and Hili Properties plc. Premier Capital plc had issued €25 million worth of bonds in March 2010 at a rate of 6.8 per cent per annum. The bonds were issued for a maximum period of 10 years with an early repayment option after seven years.

As such, Premier Capital may redeem its bonds with effect from March 16, 2017.

Premier Capital is the development licensee for McDonald’s in Malta, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania,

Estonia and, as from January 22, 2016, also Romania.

The purpose of today’s article is to review Premier Capital’s interim financial statements for the first half of 2016, which were published on August 30.

On January 22, 2016, Premier Capital acquired a 90 per cent shareholding in McDonald’s Romania for a total consideration of €63 million. At the time of the acquisition, there were 66 restaurants in operation in 21 cities across Romania and since then a further restaurant has been added to the portfolio. The 2015 annual report of Premier Capital pub-

“Revenue from Romania represents 55 per cent of Premier Capital’s total”

lished on April 29, 2016 stated that the acquisition was financed partly via a bank loan of €40 million and the balance of €23 million via an equity injection by the parent company, Hili Ventures Ltd. The 2016 first half results therefore include the initial contribution resulting from the Romanian investment. During the six-month period to June 30, 2016, Premier Capital plc generated total revenue of €103.2 million. This incorporates all the turnover across the portfolio of restaurants in Malta, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Romania. The more interesting aspect of the June 2016

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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

“It is companies such as Premier Capital that are needed to help the local equity market become a more interesting investment medium” interim financial statements is the contribution from the restaurants across Romania.

The 2016 half-year report shows that the revenue from Romania amounted to €56.9 million. This represents 55 per cent of overall revenue across Premier Capital which is a clear signal of the size and importance of this acquisition to the overall performance of Premier Capital. As such, the contribution from the restaurants in other countries has been diluted significantly. For example, until the acquisition in Romania, the restaurants in Malta contributed roughly just over 20 per cent of overall revenue to Premier Capital. However, given the addition of 67 restaurants to the portfolio of Premier Capital, the importance of the Maltese operation in terms of revenue contribution has been diluted to below nine per cent.

Naturally, the impact on the contribution across other countries was similar.

The performance of Premier Capital plc is therefore now very dependent on the performance of McDonald’s Romania.

More importantly, from a profitability aspect, the contribution from the Romanian operation is even more interesting. The segmental analysis published in the 2016 half-year report reveals that the subsidiary in Romania generated a pre-tax profit of €6.3 million between the date of acquisition on January 22 and June 30, 2016. This represents a pre-tax profit margin of 11.1 per cent, which is far superior to that made in other countries.

From an overall profitability aspect, the restaurants in Romania contributed almost 95 per cent of the profits of Premier Capital during the first half this year.

As such, the acquisition conducted earlier this year was a very important development for Premier Capital since it generated a

very high level of profitability for the group.

In last week’s article, I had mentioned some key highlights of the interim results of PTL Holdings plc and also compared these to the full-year projections prepared by the company. In the case of Premier Capital plc, however, this is not possible. Since Premier Capital launched a bond issue well before the Listing Policies came into effect in March 2013, there is no requirement for the company to publish its projections on an annual basis via the Financial Analysis Summary.

Although there are no detailed projections available for investors, Premier Capital chairman Melo Hili revealed in an interview published in the media on January 31, 2016, that Premier Capital aims to achieve a group turnover of €230 million in 2016. Given the results achieved in the first half of the year with revenue amounting to €103 million, this seems achievable. One must take into account the seasonality aspect of the business in some countries (namely Malta and Greece) as well as the contribution for a full six-month period from Romania as opposed to just over five months in the first half of the financial year. Given the sizeable restaurant portfolio and the strong performance in Romania, the contribution for an additional three weeks is indeed material. In fact, the 2016 halfyear report also indicates that had the acquisition in Romania taken place with effect from January 1, 2016 (instead of January 22), overall group revenues would have increased to €110 million (an additional €6.9 million) and pre-tax profits would have amounted to €4.8 million (an additional €0.7 million). Yet again, this proves how beneficial the acquisition in Romania has been for the group.

The bondholders of Premier Capital should also be comforted

by the improved financial metrics following the acquisition. Although the group took on a further €40 million in debt funding (bringing overall borrowings to €82.5 million), the gearing ratio actually improved to 66 per cent as a result of the shareholders’ injection of €23 million as well as the profits generated during the first six months of 2016. Moreover, the interest cover also improved substantially to over six times in the first half of 2016.

In the same interview published earlier this year, Mr Hili argued

that besides Romania, the other markets which he believes have the greatest potential for further growth are Greece and Lithuania.

Meanwhile, Premier Capital’s directors also reiterated in the 2016 half-year report that “there is significant business expansion opportunity in all the six markets in which it operates”.

They argue that this can be achieved in terms of growth from both new and existing restaurants across various markets.

In the next few months, Premier Capital may avail itself of the option of an early repayment of its €25 million bond issue. Should this early repayment be financed by the issuance of new bonds, Premier Capital may be obliged to prepare financial forecasts which would be a welcome development from a market perspective. Meanwhile, given the recent strong financial performance, Premier Capital may also be one of the many local companies that would qualify for an equity listing in the near future. It is companies such as Premier Capital that are needed to help the local equity market become a more interesting investment medium for the growing number of investors seeking to invest via the Malta Stock Exchange.

Edward Rizzo is a director at Rizzo, Farrugia & Co (Stockbrokers) Ltd.

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BUSINESS UPDATES

Farsons expands its classic brews range

Computime achieves Acumatica gold status Computime Software has achieved gold status as an Acumatica ERP partner, the highest possible status for an Acumatica partner.

It is a positive step for Computime as they expand their cloud ERP portfolio, consulting expertise, and growth of their Acumatica client base.

“As real-time data becomes increasingly necessary for businesses to remain competitive, organisations are exploring more flexible, affordable, and scalable solutions to help them manage their resources, assets, and customer relationships,” says John Wood, CEO of Computime Software.

“We see a high demand in cloud-based applications which allow executives to access important real-time information from anywhere and on any device.

Acumatica’s robust functionality, ease-of-use, and

unique non-user-based licensing model all make it an ideal ERP solution for the Maltese market.”

“At Acumatica, we’re committed to partners like Computime Software, whose innovation and ERP expertise is vital to their local market,” says Jon Roskill, CEO of Acumatica.

“Obtaining Acumatica Gold status is a tribute to Computime’s knowledge of the system, both in terms of business processes and technical functionality.

Acumatica 6, which was recently launched, on September 8, enhances these benefits with substantial technical improvements in performance, mobility, and integration capabilities.”

For more information, visit www.computimesoft ware.com; or phone: 2149 0700. E-mail: info@compu time software.com

The Farsons brewery has recently revamped and extended its classic brews range.

Farsons Blue Label Amber Ale has been improved and enhanced, while two new additions to the range, Farsons India Pale Ale and Farsons Double Red Strong Ale, hark back to the brewery’s origins and launch of Malta’s first local brew, Farsons Pale Ale, in 1928.

A bitter ale brewed with high-quality malt and traditional English hops, with a strong, fresh character and a pleasant hoppy bitterness, Farsons IPA is balanced out by a malty sweetness as well as a rich biscuit taste, with an ABV of 5.7 per cent.

Farsons Double Red is an all-malt and full-bodied strong ale with a deep ruby colour and a pleasant hoppy bitterness, balanced out by a malty and fruity sweetness, with an ABV of 6.8 per cent. The original classic Blue Label has also been enhanced.

The Blue Label Amber Ale is a dark brown, top-fermenting ale, hopped and mixed with a

special type of mild malt which gives it a surprisingly smooth and mild taste.

It has an ABV of 4.7 per cent and will be available on draught in a newly-procured dispense tap, designed to ensure that unique smooth and creamy experience.

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e Business OBSERVER

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BUSINESS UPDATES

HSBC Malta sponsors TransLog for third year in a row HSBC Bank Malta and TransLog events extended their partnership in what the organisers are terming as a landmark year for the transport and logistics sectors.

This renewed commitment provides the industry with the choice of serious discussion platforms such as the recently held 2nd Logistics Manager & Practitioner Forum.

“The extension of this partnership goes back to the conceptual stage of TransLog, as HSBC believes that Malta is perfectly placed to benefit from a strong transport and logistics sector serving the south of Europe and the north of Africa,” said Michel Cordina, head of commercial banking at HSBC Malta.

“Our Malta Trade for Growth initiative, a dedicated internationalisation financing vehicle, has continuously attracted the attention of businesses in this sector since the launch in 2013,” he added.

The forum had an expansive programme, including the progress the industry has made with the realisation of a logistics hub at Ħal Far and the creation of a dedicated business section at the Malta Chamber of Commerce. An educational workshop on October 4 preceded the forum.

The TransLog platform is a concept of Support and Supply Management Group (SSM) and marketing communications agency BPC International Ltd. For more information, call 2123 1015 or send an e-mail to comm@ssmgroup.org.

Myney – e cash app for the Maltese islands

HSBC MALTA WAS THE MAIN SPONSOR OF THE LOGISTICS FORUM. (FROM LEFT) SSM GROUP’S ALEX BORG, ONE OF THE TRANSLOG EVENTS ORGANISERS, AND HSBC MALTA’S HEAD OF COMMERCIAL BANKING MICHEL CORDINA.

Myney is the only cash and payment app that anyone in Malta needs to have on their smartphone.

It offers its customers a payment account with a unique Iban which connects them to the banking world. Customers can use funds to pay in shops, send money to friends or family, transfer money to accounts all over the world and even send a Myney Gift directly to their smartphone.

Furthermore, customers are able to pay bills and top up their mobile phone through the app.

Myney also includes a loyalty programme, account maintenance and personalisation and an optional Personal Finance

Manager system which tracks and compares to user budgets all transactions processed through the app.

Anyone with smartphone running iOS 4s or newer and Android Jelly Bean 4.2 or newer with a 3G or Wi-Fi connection can, in a matter of minutes, download and register to the Myney app. A Myney Business Payment account may be opened by anyone accepting payments from consumers.

Whether you are a doctor or professional, a sole trader, a street hawker, the owner of a small shop or a large chain, or offer food home delivery, a Myney account is the payment option you should offer your customers.