Heading into the fourth quarter

As the fourth quarter of the year commences next week, it is worth looking ahead at the developments that ought to shape the outcome of the final three months of the year across the Maltese equity market.

There are no upcoming regulatory reporting obligations for most companies having their equity listed on the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) as most issuers have a December year-end. These companies published their interim financial statements within their August deadline and are next obliged to report their annual financial statements by April.  However, among the six largest equity issuers, quarterly announcements are now being published by four companies which would be the main focal point for the investing community.

Quarterly updates from banks

The third-quarter announcements due during the final week of October by the three largest retail banks, namely Bank of Valletta plc, HSBC Bank Malta plc and APS Bank plc, will be very important for the equity market.

The interim results published in summer confirmed BOV’s dominance across the banking sector and the continued strengthening of the key performance indicators of APS. Tracking the growth in loans and deposits throughout the summer months across the three banks will continue to be a key area to monitor following the important revelations during the first half of the year.

Moreover, comments on the interest rate sensitivity across the three banks is highly topical following the two interest rate hikes by the European Central Bank during the summer and further monetary policy tightening expected in the months ahead. Investors should focus on which of the banks stand to benefit the most from a strengthening in their net interest income.

Naturally, another key development ought to be the regulatory approval for CrediaBank S.A. in the context of their planned majority acquisition of HSBC Malta. Incidentally, CrediaBank delivered a presentation to institutional investors last week and confirmed that the timeline for their various acquisitions are on track. They expect to obtain regulatory approval for HSBC Malta by the end of 2026 and to complete the acquisition during the second quarter of 2027 including the tender offer for the minority investors.

MIA’s winter schedule

Malta International Airport plc has also been publishing its financial statements on a quarterly basis. Without understating the importance of the upcoming announcement, the more interesting observation would be a review of the seat capacity across the winter season once the final schedule is officially published. A comparison of the upcoming capacity to the winter schedule for 2025/26 would be necessary to understand the changes in seat capacity in the light of the recent warning by Ryanair regarding elevated jet fuel prices. This could impinge on investor sentiment in the near-term following the jump in the share price in the summer months.

Consolidation in telecoms sector

The most significant industry development in recent weeks came from the telecoms sector after it was announced that Melita Limited agreed to acquire Epic Communications Limited. This is of high importance for the thousands of shareholders of GO plc.

The proposed business combination between Melita and Epic is still subject to various regulatory approvals. Should this be approved, it would reduce the number of telecom providers from three operators to two. It is worth highlighting that Melita and Epic, which had different shareholders at the time, had also attempted to bring the same businesses together in 2017.

Based on the latest figures for Q1 2026 by the Malta Communications Authority, Epic had a market share of 42.5 per cent of mobile telephony subscriptions followed by GO at 36.0 per cent and Melita at 21.5 per cent. In the broadband segment, GO holds the highest market share at 47.7 per cent, followed by Melita at 44.8 per cent and Epic at 7.3 per cent.

For the various stakeholders of GO plc across the capital markets, it would be important to try to understand the eventual impact of this consolidation on GO’s competitive position. Moreover, once the value of the acquisition is revealed, seasoned investors and financial analysts can surely use this to draw conclusions on GO’s share price.

The case for Investor Days

In one of my recent articles, I argued that a wider group of companies should report on a quarterly basis given the length of time between the publication of the interim results and the annual financial statements. A complementary initiative would be for companies to organise an Investor Day or Capital Markets Day – a practice that is now widespread across Europe. Such events allow management teams to detail their long-term strategic priorities, update the market on a number of key performance indicators as well as any multi-year investment plans being planned. There is an evident improvement in investor sentiment across some specific Maltese companies this year which offers an ideal backdrop for companies to engage more actively with the investing community.

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