In my article of 25 June (https://rizzofarrugia.com/articles/maltas-dividend-league-table/), I had published Malta’s dividend league table showing the five companies that were offering a net dividend yield in excess of 6%. I had given prominence to the dividend yield since income generation remains the principal objective for the majority of Maltese retail investors. In fact, most retail investors nowadays focus predominantly on fixed-income instruments comprising sovereign or corporate bonds listed both on the Malta Stock Exchange (MSE) as well as across other international bourses.

However, shareholders ought to look at both the dividend contribution from an equity investment and also any price movements. Essentially, the total shareholder return combines the two ways in which an equity rewards investors, namely the movement in the share price as well as the dividends received on a periodic basis during the time in which the equity is held. A generous yield should offer little consolation if the share price and capital value is eroded over time.

Although many Maltese equity investors have endured a very dismal performance across their portfolio since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, some of the total shareholder returns generated in more recent years should not be overlooked.  I have ranked the equities listed on the Regulated Main Market by their total shareholder return from the end of 2023 until earlier this week totalling almost 32 months. There are a number of companies that generated a double-digit total return during this period while the MSE Equity Total Return Index rose by 22% reaching a new all-time high earlier this week. The price returns for LifeStar Insurance plc and FIMBank plc were excluded due to trivial trading volumes.

BOV as the star performer

Bank of Valletta plc is the outstanding performer by a wide margin from a total return perspective at just over 97.3% although it ranked in 4^th position in the dividend league table published in June. The share price of BOV climbed from a bonus share adjusted value of €1.291 at the end of 2023 to €2.19 earlier this week translating into a price return of 69.6%. Meanwhile, shareholders would have received total dividends of €0.358 per share during the period (including the recently declared dividend of €0.0523 per share being paid tomorrow) representing a dividend contribution of 27.7%. The main drivers behind this very positive performance have been well-documented in the media as the bank benefitted from the upturn in interest rates and performed a remarkable balance sheet restructuring to reduce sensitivity from changes in the interest rate environment.

HSBC Malta ranks in second place, but the return is less than half of that of BOV and the composition of its return is somewhat different. While the share price rose by only 16.4% since the end of 2023, the largest contribution from a total return perspective came from the dividends flows. During the period, HSBC Malta shareholders would have received dividends of €0.372 per share, representing a dividend contribution of 29.1%. As from this year, shareholders are now receiving dividends more regularly (on a quarterly basis) as part of the agreement between the parent company of HSBC Malta and CrediaBank ahead of the planned transaction during the first half of 2027. In fact, following the final dividend in respect of the 2025 financial year paid in May 2026, the first net interim dividend of €0.023 per share was paid on 30 June and the second interim dividend of €0.028 per share will be paid on 23 September.

Other companies with double-digit returns

Apart from the two strongest performers being the banks as a result of the high levels of profitability following the sharp upturn in interest rates as from 2022 coupled with the meaningful dividend payout ratios, there are other companies that generated cumulative double-digit returns.

Plaza Centres plc ranks in third position with a cumulative return of 33.9% as the share price rallied by 23.5% during the period from a level of €0.68 to €0.84. The company continued to distribute semi-annual dividends to shareholders generating a return of 10.4%. Meanwhile, the price had rallied to €0.90 at the end of 2025 in reaction to the off-market transfer of just over 31% of the issued share capital of the company at a price of €0.94 between Mapfre MSV Life plc and Virgata HQ Ltd.

The weak share price performance of Malta International Airport plc has been a major disappointment to many Maltese investors given the sheer growth in the profitability of the company in the past few years on the back of the surge in passenger numbers. Incidentally, earlier this week, the share price climbed to a six-year high of €6.70 albeit still well-below the all-time high of €7.95 registered in the first half of 2019.

Perhaps it may be surprising to many to find Malta Properties Company plc, MaltaPost plc, Computime Holdings plc and MedservRegis plc among the double-digit performers from a total return perspective. In all of these cases, most of the return came out from dividends since each of these shares only posted minimal gains since the end of 2023. Moreover, it is worth highlighting that the review period for Computime is shorter following its listing on the MSE in January 2025.

High dividend yielders fail to feature

An important and interesting observation is that three of the companies that rank among the top dividend yielding equities as indicated in my article of 25 June, namely AX Real Estate plc, BMIT Technologies plc and GO plc, do not feature among the companies that produced double-digit returns over the thirty-two-month period.

Although BMIT paid dividends regularly throughout the review period, the share price slumped by 38% from €0.404 to €0.25 thus resulting in an overall negative shareholder return.

GO plc shareholders also received a positive contribution from a dividend perspective totalling 11.1% during the period (this excludes the recently- declared dividend of €0.07 per share to be paid in October), but the share price lost 18.3%.

Meanwhile, the total return of AX Real Estate plc has recently improved substantially to 7.4% following the upturn in the share price as a result of the share buyback programme. Notwithstanding the recent share price recovery, there was still an overall slight decline in the share price during the review period which was outweighed by the strong dividend of 12.2%.

Equity exposure within portfolios

Despite the very challenging conditions across the Maltese equity market over the past 6 years and the continued disappointment from several companies given the weak and negative returns for shareholders, the data indicates that a few companies delivered the returns generally expected from an equity exposure.

Investment portfolios of many Maltese retail clients remain heavily weighted towards bonds and cash held at banks generating zero or very low returns. Although there is nothing wrong with having a very conservative investment objective, keeping far too much cash sitting idle is truly detrimental especially when considering the reduction in the purchasing power of money over time due to inflation. In fact, portfolios entirely exposed to fixed income instruments and cash do not stand to benefit from the two things that equities offer, namely participation in the compounding growth of the underlying businesses as well as a dividend stream that may rise over time rather than being fixed.

The evidence of the past thirty-two months in Malta is that an exposure to only a few equities delivered the typical rewards that one would expect. Hopefully in due course, several other companies that do not feature in this list will also begin delivering more handsome returns that shareholders would expect.

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This article was produced by Edward Rizzo, Director at Rizzo Farrugia, which is a company licensed to undertake investment services in Malta by the MFSA under the Investment Services Act, Cap. 370 of the Laws of Malta and a member of the Malta Stock Exchange. The company’s registered address is at Airways House, Fourth Floor, High Street, Sliema SLM 1551, Malta.