Increases were recorded in the energy (4.7%), capital goods (3.7%) and consumer goods (0.25) sectors, as compared to the preceding quarter. However, a drop of 0.4% was recorded in the sector of intermediate goods.  

Seasonally-adjusted industrial employment decreased by 0.5%, working hours saw a drop of 0.3% and seasonally-adjusted industrial gross wages and salaries decreased by 0.9%. 

Nevertheless, working-day adjusted industrial turnover grew by 2% compared to the corresponding quarter of 2018. 

Increases were recorded in the energy (8.5%), intermediate goods (2.6%) and capital goods (1.2%) sectors when compared to the same period a year earlier. However, a decrease of 1% was recorded in the consumer goods sector. 

In addition, the year-on-year unadjusted industrial employment reported a drop of 1.2% and working-day adjusted industrial working hours decreased by 2.2%. Working-day adjusted industrial gross wages and salaries saw a growth of 1.3%.

The complete report with charts and figures is available for download at the website of NSO.   

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The year-on-year growth was due to a rise of 2.68% in intermediate goods, 1.95% in capital goods and 1.43% in consumer goods. No price changes were registered in the energy sector.

Industrial producer prices for the domestic market went up by 0.98%. Price rises were recorded in capital goods (2.97%), consumer goods (1.51%) and intermediate goods (1.14%). No price changes took place in the energy sector. 

Non-domestic prices increased by 2.28% due to a rise of 2.71% within the non-euro area and 1.49% within the euro area.

In a month-on-month comparison, the producer price index decrease was due to a drop of 1.13% in intermediate goods while no changes were registered in the other sectors.

Prices within the domestic market dropped by 0.20% due to a decrease of 0.88% in the intermediate goods sector. 

Non-domestic prices declined also by 0.64% due to a drop of 0.82% within the non-euro area and 0.29% within the euro area. 

The full and complete report with charts and tables is available for download at the website of NSO. 

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The largest share of the increase was registered by public libraries in the Western district, which had a year-on-year increase of 36.6%. 

The public libraries of Ħad-Dingli, Ħ’Attard, and Mtarfa reported the main growths at the rates of 74.3%, 52%, and 48.3%, respectively while the public libraries of Senglea, Ta’ Kerċem and Kalkara registered the highest drops in book loans with 48.2%, 27.9%, and 18.4%, respectively. 

In addition, book acquisitions dropped by 20.9% (36,369) when compared to 2017. Book donations and book purchases to public libraries were also down by 28.5% and 11.9%, respectively. Nevertheless, the acquisition of ebooks grew.

The number of new members in public libraries was up by 22.4% to 6,266, chiefly boosted by people under the age of 18, which age group was represented by 65.5%. 

Furthermore, the number of books and periodicals received by the National Library of Malta under legal deposit increased by 29.9% over the previous year. The share of periodicals accounted for 70.9% of these deposits.

Both imports and exports of printed book material and periodicals declined during 2018 and stood at €12 and €4.7m, respectively. 

In 2018, The value of imports went down by 9.8% while exports fell by 13.5%. Moreover, the private final consumption expenditure on printed material reported a decrease of 0.1 percentage point.

The complete report with charts and graphs is available to download at the NSO website.  

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The largest share of guest nights was reported in four-star hotels, accounting for over 1.3m nights, some 48.3% of the total. 

The average length of stay went down to 4.8 nights from the average of 5 nights registered during the same quarter of 2018. The net use of bed-places stood at 73.6%, down by 1.3 percentage points.

In addition, there were 206 active collective accommodation establishments in June 2019 with a net capacity of 18,155 bedrooms and 41,680 bed-places on a national level. 

Gozo and Comino see drops

On a regional level, total guests in Malta numbered 547,084, up by 3.4% over the second quarter of 2018. However, a decrease of 1% was recorded in the number of nights spent. Total guests and nights spent in Gozo and Comino decreased by 0.7% and 9.5%, to 28,191 and 89,728 respectively.

The average length of stay went down by 0.2 night to 4.9 nights in Malta, while in Gozo and Comino it also decreased by 0.3 night to 3.2 nights, when compared with the same quarter of the previous year. The net occupancy rate in Malta decreased by 1pp to 74.9%, in Gozo and Comino it decreased by 5.9pp to 48.5%.

Total guests dropped to 947,485 during January-June, with a decrease of 0.8% over the same period in the previous year. Total nights spent went down by 4%, reaching nearly 4.5m. The net use of bed-places declined by 3.1 pp to 61%. 

The full and detailed report is available for download at the website of NSO.

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Total nights spent by outbound tourists increased by 5% to 990,045 nights. The majority of guest nights (55.4%) were spent in rented accommodation establishments.

Total estimated outlay by outbound tourists increased by 11.4% to €131.7m, over the same quarter of the previous year, which equals to circa €833 per trip.

Italy and the United Kingdom remained the most popular destinations, with a joint share of 52% of total trips. 

Figures improve in H1

The number of outbound tourist trips was up by 7.4% to 305,001 in the first half of the year, as compared to the same period a year earlier.

Total nights spent by outbound tourists went up by 2.4% reaching more than 1.8m nights.

Moreover, total estimated outlay by resident tourists increased by 10.4% to €244.6m, compared to the same period in 2018.

The full report with charts and tables is available for download at the website of the NSO.

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Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) was €15.1m, compared to €15m of Q2 2018, corresponding to an EBITDA margin of 16% which was 17.2% during the same period of the previous year.

“We reiterate our ambitious financial targets to achieve €600m in revenue and EBITDA of €100m by 2021. We want to clarify that the targets are based primarily on organic growth, but also include revenue from potential future acquisitions,” said Gustaf Hagman, CEO of LeoVegas group.

The number of depositing customers increased by 8%, from 309,961 to 334,961 and the number of returning depositing custmers also grew by 12%, from 175,500 to 196,203, compared to Q2 2018. Earnings per share were €0.07 before and after dilution, with no change reported.

‘Balanced’ revenue mix

“Compared to a year ago, LeoVegas has a more balanced geographic revenue mix. This means that we are not as sensitive to challenges that may arise in a specific market, which in turn means that we have lower business risk in the Group,” said Mr Hagman. 

“This work is helping to create necessary economies of scale and is countering the effect of that we are paying more gambling taxes. As previously communicated, our marketing investments also decreased compared with the first quarter of the year,” Mr Hagman added. “A contributing factor to this is more restrained marketing in Sweden during the quarter. In addition, the postponement of a few campaigns from the second to the third quarter has affected costs and contributed to operating profit, which will have a reverse effect during the third quarter.”

Furthermore, LeoVegas obtained a gaming licence in Spain and two weeks after the company launched its business in Spain, according to the press release sent to BM.

“This shows the strength and speed of LeoVegas and further demonstrates that our experience from regulated markets benefits us. Spain is a step in our continued expansion, and we have also recently carried out launches in other Spanish-speaking countries, such as Chile and Peru, as well as in Brazil,” continued Mr Hagman.

Moreover, Sweden has now been a regulated market for more than six months, and the development is beginning to indicate what kind of market the group will have over the long term. Leovegas also launched GoGoCasino and Pixel.bet.

“The investments made in 2018 and efficiency improvement work carried out thus far in 2019 are beginning to generate returns in the form of greater scalability of operations,” concluded Mr Hagman. 

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The Board of Directors will not recommend an interim dividend for the period under review, the press statement says.

Total consolidated assets dropped by 5% to US$1.77b (approximately €1.5b) on 30 June 2019, compared to US$1.87b (approximately €1.6b) at end of 2018. The total consolidated liabilities were also down by 7% to US$1.48b (approximately €1.3b), compared to US$1.59b (approximately €1.4b) reported at the end of the previous year. Nevertheless, deposits from corporate and retail clients increased by US$65m (approximately €58m).

During the period under review, the group’s net operating income saw a marginal decrease of 2% during January-June, going up from US$28.3m (approximately €25.2m) to US$27.8m (approximately €24.8m). 

The net interest income increased by 19% to US$16m (approximately €14.2m), as improvements in the liability structure of the group offset the reduction in interest income resulting from lower asset levels, the press statement explains.

Net impairment charges for the first six months of 2019 amounted to US$0.6m (approximately €535,980), compared to the US$2.1m (approximately €1.8m) charged in 2018 due to the group maintaining adequate coverage on non-performing exposures identified last year. In 2019, net impairments are inclusive of the successful recovery of a fully provided exposure, amounting to US$3m (approximately €2.6m), the press statement adds.

Transformation of ‘critical’ importance

“The group has successfully completed a derisking exercise of its main portfolios, aimed at strengthening its varied exposures across the different products and geographical presences, thereby reducing concentrations, and ensuring sustained growth in the years to come. This has led to a short-term reduction in the size of the balance sheet, as key portfolios have readjusted their client and market profile, refining structuring and increasing risk mitigation,” said Murali Subramanian, CEO of FIMBank Group.  

Group Chairman John C. Grech tagged FIMBank’s performance as “positive”, which he says now extended into its fourth year, and comes in the context of a “critically important transformation of the underlying portfolios of the group during this period, the result of which places FIMBank in a position of strength, as it makes its business model fundamentals even more attractive.” 

Moreover, Mr Grech added that FIMBank’s expertise in structuring transactions across the trade-related product portfolio, together with the ability of its people to pursue and maintain the building of business partnerships with the bank’s diverse client base, stayed key to FIMBank’s reputation.

“We will remain vigilant on risk, controls and governance in order to ensure that the expansion of the business is executed in a sustainable way. FIMBank has sufficient business pipeline, funding, and resource structures in place to support this path,” said Mr Grech.

“Under the leadership of CEO Murali Subramanian and his management team, with the right mix of talent and focus on client delivery, and operating within a risk-balanced approach, we are confident of FIMBank’s ability to generate higher value and returns for the benefit of all stakeholders,” Mr Grech added. 

The aforementioned figures have been approved at a meeting of the group’s Board of Directors on 8 August 2019.

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The average gross household income for 2017 as derived from European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2018 was estimated at €33,573, while the average disposable household income stood at €27,830.

The severe material deprivation rate (SMD) among individuals living in households was 3% in 2018. This figure is 0.3pp less than the same rate estimated on the basis of EU-SILC 2017. The two most influential variables contributing to this decrease were the ability of households to spend one week’s annual holiday away from home and the ability of households to face unexpected financial expenses. 

Furthermore, the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (AROPE) decreased by 0.3pp to 19% in 2018, when compared to EU-SILC 2017. AROPE provides the share of people who are either at-risk-of-poverty, severely materially deprived or residing in a household with low work intensity (applicable only for people aged 0-59).

The EU-SILC survey is an annual enquiry conducted by the NSO among persons residing in private households in Malta and Gozo.

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A total of 251,747 trips were carried out for holiday purposes while 15,545 were for business purposes.

The number of tourists from non-EU countries went up by 17.1% when compared to the corresponding month in 2018. Most inbound tourists were aged between 25 and 44 (42.2%), followed by those within the 45-64 age bracket (29.2%). 

The number of nights spent in Malta went up by 5.1% when compared to June 2018, surpassing 1.9 million. The largest share of guest nights (53.4%) was spent in collective accommodation establishments. 

Growth seen in H1, too

In the first half of the year, inbound tourist trips amounted to 1,208,068, up by 3.9% over the same period of 2018. Total nights spent also went up by 2.4%, reaching nearly 7.9m nights in H1.

In addition, expenditure was estimated at €883.5m, 5.1% higher than in the same half of 2018. Total expenditure per capita stood at €731, an increase of 1.1% when compared to the previous year. 

The report with charts, tables and numbers is available for download at the website of NSO. 

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In a year-on-year comparison, increases were registered in the production of energy (15.7%) and capital goods (2.3%) while the production of intermediate goods and consumer goods decreased by 2.3% and 1.6%, respectively.  

In a month-on-month comparison, increases were registered in the production of energy (4.7%), consumer goods (4.55) and capital goods (2.5%) while the production of intermediate goods saw a decrease of 2.6%.

The full report with charts and figures is available for download at the official website of NSO. 

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