Record trading of Maltacom shares

by Franco Aloisio

Maltacom's shares have soared following a story published in last week's issue of The Malta Independent on Sunday regarding the possible interest of the Swedish telecoms firm Ericsson in Maltacom, business sources said yesterday.

LM Ericsson is reported to be the present front-runner in the race for Maltacom's search for a strategic partner. Other companies which are reporting interest in Maltacom's privatisation plans are Britain's Cable and Wireless, and the US firms Bell and AT&T.

Ericsson, which is the world leader in mobile telephony and the third largest telephony technology organisation in the world, recently set up its regional office in Malta.

On Monday, the number of deals in Maltacom shares on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to a record high of 96. The price of the shares increased by 20c between Friday and Monday reaching the average price of Lm1.72.

On Tuesday, the average Maltacom share price went up further to Lm1.79, while 63 deals were carried out. Yesterday the share price went down by 3c.

Maltacom's financial results for the first nine months of 1999 will be announced next Monday, Budget day.