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Today’s Newspaper

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Today’s news in the papers

Maltatoday.com.mt Vodafone embarks on a paperless culture to reduce consumption – Vodafone direct Go awards mobile customers with free SMSs following service outage – Go direct

Timesofmalta.com Vodafone and chamber of Advocates in business collaboration deal – Vodafone direct Positive results for GO plc – Go direct Go offers free services as goodwill gesture for recent power outage – Go direct Italian football on cable TV – Go anti

di-ve.com Vodafone collaborates with Chamber of Advocates – Vodafone direct

Inewsmalta.com Go toffri SMSs wara l-qtugh fis-servizz – Go direct

Today’s news in the papers Independent.com.mt Vodafone Malta Foundation supports LAND organisation – Vodafone direct Go outlines gesture of goodwill in the wake of mobile service outage - Go direct GO’s gesture of goodwill following mobile service outage – Go direct Go plc announces positive interim results – Go direct HSBC employees complete triathlon in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund – HSBC CSR Bank of Valletta supports Migration Museum – BOV CSR

Gozonews.com GO outlines gesture of goodwill for mobile service outage – Go direct Go pledges its full support to the LifeCycle Organisation – GO CSR direct Pre-order for the Apple iPhone 5 available with Melita Mobile – Melita direct

Maltastar.com Go shareholders welcome interim results – Go direct

Vodafone in the news

CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTATODAY.COM DATE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2012

Business Monday 17 September 2012 - 08:32

Vodafone embarks on a paperless culture to reduce consumption Everyone is more aware of the environment, and as a result, more and more people are doing what they can to preserve the natural world around them, even large companies like Vodafone.

As part of its drive to cut down on paper, Vodafone has sent 11 tonnes worth of paper to be

recycled, which results in saving about 187 trees from April 2010 till the present day. In order to

reduce greenhouse gas emissions that can contribute to climate change and to reduce the energy

required to manufacture new paper products, Vodafone makes a special effort to ensure that all

their waste paper is recycled. Recycling paper products saves considerable landfill space and

reduces energy and water consumption.

Recycling also provides greater energy and a reduction of methane emissions caused when

burning waste paper. Miriam Dalli, Corporate Affairs Senior Executive at Vodafone Malta said "In

our quest to further help the environment we are living in, Vodafone Malta seperates all waste

and recycle all paper, whilst making sure that all waste documentation is disposed of in a secure

and eco-friendly manner."

Vodafone is instilling a paperless culture among its employees in order to avoid unnecessary

printing. When Vodafone moves to its new offices in Skyparks, all printing will be centralized in

two rooms per floor. Documents will only be printed if an employee physically goes to the printer

with the identification card to print out the documents sent to be printed. Documents not printed

within a specified time frame, will be deleted off the system.

Vodafone is also currently using an Electronic Document Management System, which helps to

store, retrieve and share documents electronically and is also electronically archiving the

documents that must be kept. These archived documents will then be shared primarily in

electronic format. Vodafone is also encouraging employees to use tablets to further reduce the

usage of paper.

CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTATODAY.COM DATE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2012

"We are moving towards a paperless environment and the current initiatives are just a small part

of the whole picture," said Antoinette Camilleri, Property Manager at Vodafone Malta. "Once we

move to our new offices in Skyparks, we will be providing a detailed report of printing record per

employee. The idea is to follow up these amounts with a percentage target reduction per team.We

have also introduced changes in our culture and mentality and we're moving from a paper based

structure to an electronic structure which makes use of the latest technology."

CLIENT VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Vodafone and Chamber of Advocates in business collaboration deal

Chamber of Advocates president Reuben Balzan and Vodafone marketing executive Carina Borg after signing the agreement. Looking on are Stefan Camilleri (left) and Stevan Pecorella.

In line with its strategy to create long-standing business relationships with different sectors of the Maltese industry, Vodafone Malta has teamed up with the Chamber of Advocates to offer its members tailor-made mobile and internet solutions that cater for the needs of the profession.

Through this agreement, the Chamber’s members will benefit from discounts and preferential tariffs on Vodafone’s range of products and services.

The agreement was signed by Alexandre Froment-Curtil, head of marketing at Vodafone Malta, and Chamber of Advocates president Reuben Balzan.

Both parties expressed their satisfaction at this new working relationship. “Our partnership with Vodafone ensures our members will have access to the latest high-end devices running on fast and cutting-edge technology at advantageous rates,” said Dr Balzan.

Mr Froment-Curtil said: “Vodafone’s collaboration with the Chamber of Advocates strengthens the company’s network of strategic alliances through which Vodafone is committed to continue supporting professional associations within the local community.”

CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 17 SEPTEMBER 2012

Vodafone collaborates with Chamber of Advocates Article By: di-ve.com news [email protected]

In line with its strategy to create longstanding business relationships with different sectors of Maltese industry, Vodafone Malta teamed up with the Chamber of Advocates to offer its members tailor-made mobile and internet solutions that cater for the needs of the profession.

Through this agreement, the Chamber’s members will benefit from discounts and preferential tariffs on Vodafone’s range of products and services. The agreement was signed by Alexandre Froment-Curtil, Head of Marketing at Vodafone Malta, and Chamber of Advocates President Dr Reuben Balzan.

“Our partnership with Vodafone ensures our members will have access to the latest high-end devices running on fast and cutting-edge technology at advantageous rates,” said Dr Reuben Balzan.

Alexandre Froment-Curtil stated that “Vodafone’s collaboration with the Chamber of Advocates strengthens the company’s network of strategic alliances through which Vodafone is committed to continue supporting professional associations within the local community”,

Photo caption: From left: Dr Stefan Camilleri, Dr Reuben Balzan, Carina Borg and Stevan Pecorella

CLIENT: VODAFONE CSR DIRECT SOURCE: INDEPENDENT.COM DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2012

Vodafone Malta Foundation supports LAND organisation Article published on 14 September 2012

The Vodafone Malta Foundation supported a group of people who form part of the Living Ability not Disability (LAND) organisation. The Maltese youths joined another 350 youths from all over the world. The annual Summer Camp was held in August in Balatonfoldvar, Hungary.

“We are very pleased to be supporting such initiatives and it helps in knowing that we are raising much-needed awareness on the LAND organisation,” said Roberta Pace, from Vodafone Malta Foundation. “Through these funds we will endeavour to ensure that more and more youths with disabilities have the opportunity to enjoy the joy and benefits of camps abroad and to be in touch with different people from different cultural backgrounds.”

The fun-filled Summer camp consisted of a full week of activities, sports, games and cultural tours, including beach games, board games, swimming in Lake Balaton, pottery and sweets decorating. Youths were thrilled when taken on excursions, with the first one being a visit to the Formula 1 track in Hungary. Among the activities were an International night, a visit to the Zoo and the Lazar Equestrian Park where youths watched one of the amazing shows and ate various typical Hungarian dishes. The Malta team also took a boat trip to some interesting sightseeing areas and visited the Annagora Aquapark. Every evening a themed disco was organised for the youths and the Summer Camp closed off with a visit to Budapest by night.

Daniela Schembri, President of LAND said: “I must say that we have learnt and grew a lot from these experiences and together we made the camp a successful one. The organisation of the whole event was great and everyone was really helpful. This amazing camp would not have been possible without the help of relatives, assistants and sponsors such as the Vodafone Malta Foundation. This event gave us the possibility to interact with different people from around the world and everyone participated.”

Living Ability Not Disability was established in 2002 with the objectives to educate, enhance the independence of people with a physical disability and promote inclusion through mainstream socialisation. LAND is the only organisation in Malta that embraces people with physical disability and non-disabled people in order to interact together during activities, thus developing friendships whilst creating an awareness of social inclusion in all spheres of life.

Other stories in the news

CLIENT GO DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Positive results for Go plc

Yiannos Michaelides, Go chief executive officer, addressing stockbrokers and the press during the company’s interim financial results news conference.

Yiannos Michaelides, Go’s chief executive officer, has welcomed the company’s “positive and encouraging results” for the first six months of this year, saying despite competitive and regulatory pressure, it has managed to generate healthy cash flows.

“There is no doubt that this is a result of the group’s investment programme which has allowed it to improve the quality of existing services and widen its product portfolio,” he told stockbrokers and the media during the launch of the company’s interim financial results.

Mr Michaelides said while Go experienced a marginal loss in fixed-line voice connections, it returned to growing its broadband and TV client base, while its mobile client base remained stable.

“The group’s ongoing investments in the mobile core and access infrastructures will continue to strengthen the group’s position in this important segment. During the first half of 2012, the group continued to pursue the rightsizing of its operations, and headcount levels are just below 900. These reductions become possible as the group improves business processes which help improve response time to client needs and further contain costs,” he said.

During the first six months of the current financial year, the group registered an operating profit of €11.4 million, an increase of €2.1 million over 2011. Furthermore, Go also recognised a gain of €11.4 million following the sale of property in Qawra.


While the results of 2011 had been negatively impacted by the impairment of the company’s investment in Forthnet through Forgendo, no material impairment was recognised on this investment during the first six months of this year. Go has therefore reported a profit, before tax, of €20.4 million, compared to a loss of €14.1 million in the comparative period of January to June 2011.

The results for the six month period ended June 2012 and the comparative period were both negatively impacted by voluntary retirement costs and pension obligations, items considered to be of an unusual nature, size or incidence whileduring the six month period ending June 30, 2012, Go secured the recovery of a long outstanding receivable not attributable to trading activities.

The removal of the combined impact of these exceptional items resulted in a normalised operating profit of €10.5 million in 2012 compared to €12.4 million registered in the comparative period. The deterioration in the operating performance of the group is substantially due to lower revenues, which were not compensated for by a decrease in costs.

The group’s revenue amounted to €63.6 million, compared to €65.2 million in 2011, representing a decline of 2.4 per cent, which is essentially the result of a combination of lower retail revenues reflecting intense competition across all product lines and lower wholesale revenues attributable to a reduction in mobile termination rates as mandated by the Malta Communications Authority.


Monday, September 17, 2012

Go offers free services as goodwill gesture for recent power outage Go has announced it will be making a gesture of goodwill to all mobile customers following the service outage of the September 6 on its mobile network.

All Go ‘pay as you go’ and ‘pay monthly’ customers will be given 100 SMS free of charge.

For ‘pay as you go’ customers, the free SMS will be valid towards Go mobile numbers and can be used over the weekend of September 29-30.

Go ‘pay monthly’ customers on unlimited tariff plans will, through this gesture, enjoy 100 SMS to any local network for free, while the free SMS to subscribers on any other ‘pay monthly’ tariff plan will be valid towards Go mobile numbers only.

All ‘pay monthly’ customers will be able to benefit from their free SMS throughout the whole month of October.

Go’s mobile network was affected by a disruption on September 6 that the company said was promptly cleared and service was restored by early afternoon of the same day.

In the wake of the service disruption, Go expressed its sincere apologies to customers for the inconvenience caused.

Speaking about the gesture of goodwill, Markus Golder, chief commercial officer at Go, said: “We want to take this opportunity to make it up to those impacted by the outage for the inconvenience and frustration they experienced over the disruption period.

“This further emphasises Go’s commitment to its customers.

“We truly appreciate our customers’ support through such a difficult period last week. Our gesture of goodwill is aimed as a thank-you to all our cust-omers affected by the mobile service outage.”

Go is Malta’s first quadruple play operator, a truly converged and integrated communications and entertainment company with a wide range of services.

The company powers more than 500,000 customer connections and services – making it the largest communications provider in Malta.

Go has been in the business of communications for the past 30 years and its major shareholder is Emirates International Telecommunications LLC (EIT), a joint venture between TECOM Investments and Dubai Investment Group – both part of Dubai Holding. The remaining shares are traded on the Malta and London Stock Exchanges.

CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: GOZONEWS.COM DATE: 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

GO outlines gesture of goodwill for mobile service outage Published on Thursday, 13, September, 2012 at 16:09 in Malta News | No Comments

GO has said this afternoon “that the company will be making a gesture of

goodwill to all mobile customers following the service outage of the 6th September 2012 on its mobile network.

As a result, all GO Pay As You GO and Pay Monthly customers will be given 100 SMS free of charge.”

The company said that “for GO Pay As You GO customers, the free SMS will be valid towards GO mobile

numbers and can be used over the weekend 29-30 September 2012. GO Pay Monthly customers on Unlimited

tariff plans will, through this gesture, enjoy 100 SMS to any local network for free, while the free SMS to

subscribers on any other Pay Monthly tariff plan will be valid towards GO mobile numbers only. All Pay

Monthly customers will be able to benefit from their free SMS throughout the whole month of October 2012.”

GO’s mobile network was affected last week by a disruption that was promptly cleared and service restored by

early afternoon of the same day. In the wake of the service disruption, GO expressed its sincere apologies to

customers for the inconvenience caused.

Speaking about the gesture of goodwill, Markus Golder, Chief Commercial Officer at GO said, “We want to take

this opportunity to make it up to those impacted by the outage for the inconvenience and frustration they

experienced over the disruption period. This further emphasises GO’s commitment to its customers.”

“We truly appreciate our customers’ support through such a difficult period last week. Our gesture of goodwill is

aimed as a thank-you to all our customers affected by the mobile service outage,” he said.

CLIENT: GO CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: GOZONEWS.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

GO pledges its full support to the LifeCycle Organisation Published on Sunday, 16, September, 2012 at 15:45 in Malta News | No Comments

GO has teamed up with LifeCycle organisers once again and has pledged its full support as a platinum sponsor to

the Betfair LifeCycle Challenge 2012. This year’s challenge will see a total of 40 participating cyclists hit the

road in the coming days to cover the gruelling 1900km journey from Brisbane to Melbourne, Australia in just 11

days.

Betfair LifeCycle Challenge is one of the toughest modern-day endurance events. The main contributing factor to

its success is the sheer determination and commitment of the cyclists and their support team. LifeCycle

Organisation has three main aims namely to create awareness to the stark reality of renal disease, to collect funds

for the purchase of cutting-edge equipment necessary to upgrade the Renal Unit at Mater Dei and enhance the

quality of life for patients suffering from end-stage renal disease by allowing them access to the highest and most

sophisticated levels of healthcare.

CLIENT: GO CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: GOZONEWS.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

Speaking about the Betfair LifeCycle Challenge 2012, Michelle Bonnici, Chief Human Resources Officer at GO

said, “We are pleased to be joining forces with the LifeCycle Organisation once again and are proud to have

supported this worthy cause and its ongoing achievements throughout the 14 years of its existence.”

“We have no doubt that the whole team made up of cyclists and the support team will do Malta proud yet again

this year. After long months of gritty training, when the time comes in a few weeks, Betfair LifeCycle Challenge

cyclists will be fully geared to face the gruelling challenge down under.”

“Sponsoring humane initiatives with a strong social implication – such as the LifeCycle Organisation cause –

underpins GO’s corporate social responsibility and further reflects its strong social conscience. GO takes the

opportunity to wish the best of luck to all the team involved in the Betfair LifeCycle Challenge 2012,” she said.

One of the cyclists, who has signed on to the challenge this year and committed himself to take part in the 11-day

venture, is in fact a GO employee – Marcel Saliba. A dedicated volunteer, Marcel Saliba has been an active

participant for six of the challenges and this year will be his seventh Challenge. Since his first participation in

2003, he has always strived to raise awareness to the devastating effect of renal disease without ever looking

back and GO have always supported him in doing this.

“We have high hopes of topping the total amount raised in funds last year to help meet the cost of treatment, life-

saving equipment as well as research to support patients on dialysis,” he said. Marcel took the opportunity of

thanking GO for its continued support over the years and said that the success of LifeCycle largely depends on

the generosity of caring companies like GO and hefty donations from the public. The foundation collected over

€1 million since the first edition of the challenge 14 years ago.

Photo – Marcel Saliba, participant in the LifeCycle Challenge 2012 during one of the cyclists training

sessions.

CLIENT: GO DIRECT SOURCE: INDEPENDENT.COM DATE: 15 SEPTEMBER 2012

GO outlines gesture of goodwill in the wake of mobile service outage

Article published on 15 September 2012

GO is giving all its Pay As You GO and Pay Monthly customers 100 SMS free of charge as a gesture of goodwill to all mobile customers following the 6 September service outage of on its mobile network.

For Pay As You GO customers, the free SMS will be valid towards GO mobile numbers and can be used over the weekend 29-30 September 2012. GO Pay Monthly customers on Unlimited tariff plans will, through this gesture, enjoy 100 SMS to any local network for free, while the free SMS to subscribers on any other Pay Monthly tariff plan will be valid towards GO mobile numbers only. All Pay Monthly customers will be able to benefit from their free SMS throughout the whole month of October 2012.

GO’s mobile network was affected last week by a disruption that was promptly cleared and service restored by early afternoon of the same day.


GO’s gesture of goodwill following mobile service outage


On Thursday, GO informed its customers that the company will be making a gesture of goodwill to all mobile customers following the service outage of 6 September on its mobile network. As a result, all GO Pay As You GO and Pay Monthly customers will be given 100 SMS free of charge.

For GO Pay As You GO customers, the free SMS will be valid for GO mobile numbers and can be used over the weekend of 29-30 September. GO Pay Monthly customers on Unlimited tariff plans will, through this gesture, enjoy 100 SMS to any local network for free, while the free SMS to subscribers on any other Pay Monthly tariff plan will be valid for GO mobile numbers only. All Pay Monthly customers will be able to benefit from their free SMS throughout the whole month of October 2012.

GO’s mobile network was affected last week by a disruption that was promptly cleared and service restored by early afternoon of the same day. In the wake of the service disruption, GO expressed its sincere apologies to customers for the inconvenience caused.

Speaking about the gesture of goodwill, Markus Golder, GO’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “We want to take this opportunity to make it up to those impacted by the outage for the inconvenience and frustration they experienced during the disruption period. This further emphasises GO’s commitment to its customers.”

“We truly appreciate our customers’ support through such a difficult period last week. Our gesture of goodwill is a thank-you to all our customers affected by the mobile service outage,” he said.


GO plc announces positive interim results Article published on 16 September 2012

• Group profit before tax reaches €20.4 million, compared to a loss of €14.1 million in the comparative period in 2011;

• Strong performance also reflects a one-off gain of €11.4 million, following the sale of property in Qawra;

• Successful programme of cost containment underway;

• EBITDA before nonrecurring costs amounts to €24.5 million;

• Healthy level of cash generation.

GO plc delivered a positive performance in the six months ending on 30 June 2012, with the Group returning to profitability.

During the first six months of the current financial year, the Group registered an operating profit of €11.4 million, an increase of €2.1 million over 2011. Furthermore, GO also produced a gain of €11.4 million following the sale of property in Qawra.

While the results of 2011 had been negatively impacted by the impairment of the Company’s investment in Forthnet through Forgendo, no material impairment was recognised on this investment during the first six months of this year. GO has therefore reported a profit, before tax, of €20.4 million, compared to a loss of €14.1 million in the comparative period of January to June 2011.

The results for the six-month period ended June 2012 and the comparative period were both negatively impacted by voluntary retirement costs and pension obligations, items considered to be of an unusual nature, size or incidence, while during the six-month period ending on 30 June 2012, GO secured the recovery of a long outstanding receivable not attributable to trading activities. The removal of the combined impact of these exceptional items resulted in a normalised operating profit of €10.5 million in 2012 compared to €12.4 million registered in the comparative period. The deterioration in the operating performance of the Group is substantially due to lower revenues, which were not compensated for by a decrease in costs.

The Group’s revenue amounted to €63.6 million, compared to €65.2 million in 2011, representing a decline of 2.4 per cent which is essentially the result of a combination of lower retail revenues reflecting intense competition across all product lines and lower wholesale revenues attributable to


a reduction in mobile termination rates as mandated by the Malta Communications Authority.

While the Group retains a strong client base, a substantial portion of which through bundled services, average revenue per user (ARPU) of most products is under pressure, resulting in lower revenues from most products when compared to 2011. It is therefore encouraging to highlight the continued growth in TV services and an ever increasing proportion of clients opting for Homepack, the Group’s highly successful bundle of services aimed at satisfying all telecommunication needs of a household.

Cost of sales and administration costs excluding exceptional costs of an unusual nature, size or incidence amounted to €53.6 million, which represent a marginal increase of €0.3 million over the comparative period. While the Group successfully pursued cost reductions in various areas, it also experienced increased incidence of costs directly related to sales activity and, exceptionally, in the operation of its networks as, throughout the period under review, the Group’s mobile business was migrating to new state-of-the-art technology resulting in a one-time only substantial increase in costs.

The Group’s earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) and before costs of an unusual nature, size or incidence, amounted to €24.5 million, as against €26.1 million for the comparable period. Cash generation remains healthy and, as at 30 June 2012, the Group held cash and cash equivalents of €12.4 million, an increase of €5 million over the level reported as at 31 December 2011.

Yiannos Michaelides, chief executive officer of GO plc, said: “In spite of the challenges faced by the industry, in particular competitive and regulatory pressure, GO has delivered positive and encouraging results and continues to generate healthy cash flows. There is no doubt that this is a result of the Group’s investment programme which has allowed it to improve the quality of existing services and widen its product portfolio.

“While the Group experienced marginal loss in fixed-line voice connections, it has returned to growing its broadband and TV client base, while our mobile client base remains stable. The Group’s ongoing investments in the mobile core and access infrastructures will continue to strengthen the Group’s position in this important segment. During the first half of 2012, the Group continued to pursue the rightsizing of its operations, and headcount levels are just below 900. These reductions become possible as the Group improves business processes which help improve response time to client needs and further contain costs.”

Deepak Padmanabhan, GO’s chairman, commented: “The Group trusts that all shareholders will welcome the positive performance and our return to profitability as reported in the interim results. The Group believes that its stated strategy will allow it to remain the service provider of choice for the majority of customers in Malta, ensuring long term sustainability of its operations in this


market.

“Of course, our investment in Forthnet, through Forgendo, in Greece, also remains on the agenda. As previously stated, the bulk of the Greek investment write-downs have now been taken into account.

“Going forward, we believe that our priority is now to evaluate what is in our shareholders’ best interest with regards to this business. We shall also endeavour to maintain clear lines of communication with all stakeholders on this matter.”

CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: INEWS.COM DATE: 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

GO toffri SMSs wara l-qtugħ fis-servizz 17:25 | 13.09.2012

GO qalet li l-kumpanija se tagħmel ġest ta’ apprezament lill-klijenti kollha tal-mowbajl wara l-qtugħ fis-servizz tan-netwerk tal-mowbajl li seħħ fis-6 ta' Settembru 2012. Bħala riżultat ta’ dan, il-klijenti kollha GO Pay As You GO u Pay Monthly ser jingħataw 100 SMS b'xejn.

Għall-klijenti GO Pay As You GO, l-SMS b’xejn ser ikunu validi lejn in-numri kollha GO mobile u jistgħu jintużaw matul tmiem il-ġimgħa tad-29 u t-30 ta’ Settembru 2012. Klijenti GO Pay Monthly fuq tariffi Unlimited, permezz ta’ dan il-ġest, ser igawdu minn 100 SMS b’xejn validi lejn kwalunkwe netwerk lokali, filwaqt li l-SMS b'xejn għall-abbonati fuq tariffi oħra Pay Monthly ser ikunu validi lejn numri GO mobile biss. Il-klijenti kollha Pay Monthly ser ikunu jistgħu jibbenefikaw mill-SMS b’xejn tagħhom matul ix-xahar ta’ Ottubru 2012.

In-netwerk tal-mowbajl ta’ GO kien affettwat il-ġimgħa li għaddiet minn qtugħ fis-servizz li ġie għan-normal sa kmieni wara nofs in-nhar tal-istess jum. Fid-dawl ta' interruzzjoni fis-servizz, GO esprimiet l-apoloġiji tagħha mal-klijenti għall-inkonvenjenza li ġiet ikkawżata.

CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTASTAR.COM DATE: 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

GO shareholders welcome interim results

Thursday, 13 Sep 2012, 06:52

Recent comments

The return of the telecommunications provider Go plc Group to profit during the first six

months of this year has been welcomed by the investor community, particularly its long-

suffering shareholders. The interim financial results disclosed an operating profit of

€11.4m (+ €2.1m) and a one-off gain of €11.4m from the sale of its Qawra property to the

Government. The Group’s profit before tax was €20.4m, compared to a loss of €14.1m last

year.

Of course, the result was possible only because the Group had already written off most of its

investment in the Greek telecommunications company Forthnet last year. Go still has a

shareholding in the company and needs to evaluate what to do with this, but GO’s Chairman,

Deepak Padmanabhan, has stated that, though GO needs to evaluate how to go forward on this,

“the bulk of the Greek investment write-downs have now been taken into account”.

Though the Group returned to profitability, its normalized profit (after removal of unusual nature)

remains under pressure. In fact, normalized operating profit during the first half of the year was

15.5 percent down to €10.5m. This was due in the main to lower turnover, as revenue declined

CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTASTAR.COM DATE: 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

by 2.4 percent to €63.6m. Revenue was negatively impacted by intense competition in all the

company’s product lines as well as by the lower mobile termination rates mandated by the Malta

Communications Authority.

Competition is expected to continue, if not intensify, in the near future, whereas there is

continuing pressure at EU level for mobile operators to reduce their pricing. GO will therefore

find it difficult to improve its average revenue per user unless it can add enough value to its

products to convince its clients to spend more. Homepack, one of the more successful products

launched by the company, is an example of this. Growth in the broadband and TV client base

helped the company offset marginal losses in fixed-line voice connections.

What will have raised eyebrows among market analysts looking for improved dividends is the

failure of the company to improve its cost base further. Cost of sales and administration, in fact,

increased even if slightly in the first half of the year. This was attributed to higher sales-support

expenditure as well as the migration of the mobile business to new technology. The former could

well continue to increase within the marketing strategy of the company, whilst the latter appears

to be a one-off.

CEO Yiannos Michaelides stated that GO has delivered positive results in spite of many

challenges faced by the company.

CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTATODAY.COM DATE: 13 SEPTEMBER 2012

Business Thursday 13 September 2012 - 16:18

GO awards mobile customers with free SMSes following service outage "As a sign of goodwill", GO will be awarding its mobile customers 100 free SMSes following the 6 September mobile network service outage.

GO will be awarding its mobile customers 100 free SMSes following the 6 September mobile

network service outage "as a sign of goodwill".

GO's mobile network was affected last week by a disruption that was promptly cleared and service

restored by early afternoon of the same day. In the wake of the service disruption, GO expressed

its sincere apologies to customers for the inconvenience caused.

Speaking about the company's gesture, Markus Golder, Chief Commercial Officer at GO, said:

"We want to take this opportunity to make it up to those effected by the outage for the

inconvenience and frustration they experienced over the disruption period. This further

emphasises GO's ongoing commitment towards its customers.

"We truly appreciate our customers' support throughout the company's difficult period last week."

For GO Pay As You GO customers, the free offer will be valid to GO mobile numbers only and can

be used over the weekend between 29 and 30 September 2012. GO Pay Monthly customers on

Unlimited tariff plans will, through this gesture, enjoy 100 SMSes to any local network for free,

while the free SMSes to subscribers on any other Pay Monthly tariff plan will be valid towards GO

mobile numbers only. All Pay Monthly customers will be able to benefit from their free SMSes

throughout the whole month of October 2012.

CLIENT GO ANTI MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 14 SEPTEMBER 2012

Friday, September 14, 2012 by

Anthony Zammit, Birkirkara

Italian football on cable TV On June 2, I sent an e-mail to Go’s customer care where, among other things, I wrote: “Throughout the 2011-12 football season, every Saturday evening, at a certain point, the Sports programme starting at 10.30pm on RAI 2 is interrupted by this station and continued on RAI Sports I or II — digital channels.

“You will agree that it is frustrating not to be able to continue following the filmed highlights or interviews with athletes and coaches. These RAI digital channels are provided by Melita Cable in their basic package. Is it possible for us Go subscribers to be placed at par with Melita Cable subscribers with regard to these two RAI digital sports channels?”

Now, after sending a number of e-mail reminders and after making innumerable telephone calls, Go has informed me verbally that although it took up the matter with RAI, the Italian broadcasting station has failed to provide an answer.

Would readers suggest that the many who follow Italian football change their service provider to Melita Cable, more so in view of the fact that, with the start of the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup, RAI is reserving one of its digital sports channels exclusively for the Azzurri all day long?

CLIENT: MELITA DIRECT MEDIUM: GOZONEWS.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

Pre-order for the Apple iPhone 5 available with Melita Mobile Published on Saturday, 15, September, 2012 at 10:56 in Malta News | No Comments

Melita Mobile said that it is taking pre-orders for the newly released Apple®

iPhone® 5. The new iPhone is expected to be the most sought after presents this Christmas.

The iPhone 5 will be available as part of Melita’s XL Magic pay monthly plan including a mobile internet

bundle. All those who want to register their interest in the new phone as part of this pay monthly plan may do so

simply by clicking here.

The company said that when opting for this pay monthly plan customers would be entitled to unlimited free talk-

time to all other Melita mobile and fixed telephony customers, 300 free minutes of calls to local and EU

networks, 300 SMS to other local networks, free talk-time to your 3 favourite numbers as well as 3 Gigabyte of

free mobile Internet.

Pricing and release dates for Malta are still to be confirmed and will be dependent on Apple’s European

distribution schedules but a spokesperson for Melita said that, “Melita has always offered the most attractive

prices for smartphones bundled with our pay monthly plans and we are committed to do the same with the new

Apple iPhone 5.” The pre-orders will enable Melita to increase the opportunity of bringing the Malta release date

closer to European launch.

Speaking at a San Franciso launch, Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Philip Schiller said,

“iPhone 5 is the most beautiful consumer device that we’ve ever created.”

Melita is the fastest growing mobile operator in Malta and remains the best value offer in Malta.

Customers can click here to register now.

CLIENT: HSBC DIRECT SOURCE: INDEPENDENT.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

HSBC employees complete triathlon in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund


Over 70 HSBC employees ran, swam, cycled, and walked their way across the Maltese islands for the fourth annual HSBC triathlon challenge. Organised by the HSBC Malta Foundation together with the Bank’s Sports and Social Committee, the triathlon raised funds in aid of the Malta Community Chest Fund’s L-Istrina.

The freestyle triathlon took off with a run in Gozo, from Għarb to Ħondoq ir-Rummien, after which participants swam from Ħondoq to Malta through Comino, ran through Ċirkewwa and Marfa, then cycled to Ta’ Qali National Park. A “cool down” walk brought participants to the President’s Residential Palace at San Anton where they were greeted by President George Abela, HSBC’s CEO Mark Watkinson and representatives of the Malta Community Chest Fund.

No hard and fast rules restricted how long a participant chose to swim, cycle, run or walk but the overall distance of 50km was covered collectively as a group. The sum collected from the triathlon was topped up with proceeds donated by employees as part of a Dress Down Day held recently at HSBC and organised specifically in support of L-Istrina.

“L-Istrina is a major charity event and one that is close to the heart for us all at HSBC,” said Mr Watkinson. “Special thanks go out to all those involved in this fund-raising challenge. Their efforts contributed towards a very worthy cause.”

CLIENT: BOV DIRECT SOURCE: INDEPENDENT.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

Bank of Valletta supports Migration Museum Article published on 16 September 2012

Bank of Valletta is supporting the Migration Museum, dedicated to telling the story of emigration from Malta in a fresh and engaging way.

First proposed in the year 2000 at the Convention of Leaders of Associations of Maltese Abroad and of Maltese Origin, the Migration Museum is a collaboration between the Emigrants’ Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The museum, which will be inaugurated in the coming months, will present the thrilling tales, the emotion and the history of emigration and the effect it had on our community. It also explores the ways in which Maltese emigrants integrated in the various countries where they settled and what they contributed there.

The Emigrants’ Commission has been assisting emigrants setting off from Malta for decades and as a result, it has an extensive collection of memorabilia. These include both official and non-official documentation, photos, newspapers from various countries, objects, certificates, personal and general records, stories and letters.

The first phase of the museum focussed on the creation of digital information modules, dealing with various aspects of migration, from maps showing where the Maltese have settled, to the fire which gutted one of the ships carrying emigrants. These touch screens have proved to be very popular – but there is plenty more planned, including the digital multimedia information pods and displays of memorabilia.

A considerable amount of information is being digitally archived by volunteers, creating an invaluable record for anthropologists and historians, as well as for individuals.

Vanessa Macdonald, Head PR and Social Media met Emigrants Commission Director Fr Alfred Vella who described the details of the project.

“There are a number of studies that show that there are more Maltese living abroad than there are living in Malta,” said Fr Vella. “We would like to take this opportunity to invite the public who would like to donate documents or other material related to emigration to come forward and help us enrich our collection that will soon be enjoyed by all those who visit the migration museum.”

“Bank of Valletta has always been associated with Maltese success and we are proud to be part of a project which celebrates the amazing contribution that the Maltese have made abroad. This project reminds us how emigrants – Maltese going abroad and other nationalities coming here – enrich the

CLIENT: BOV DIRECT SOURCE: INDEPENDENT.COM DATE: 16 SEPTEMBER 2012

culture into which they are integrated,” Ms Macdonald explained.

The Migration Museum and Visitors’ Centre is situated at Dar l-Emigrant, the headquarters of the Emigrants’ Commission, near the Upper Barrakka, Valletta.

VODAFONE ONLINE MONITOR, 170912

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