Malita Investments shares slump 25% as cash crisis deepens

Malita Investments has shed a quarter of its market value after disclosures of a mounting liquidity crisis, placing pressure on both the Malta-listed company and the government, its largest shareholder.

The stock fell to €0.342 on Tuesday, a 52-week low and nearly €0.11 below its level on 6 November, when The Shift first revealed severe funding shortfalls.

Housing Minister Roderick Galdes, who oversees the state-backed entity, has yet to outline a plan to stabilise the situation. He has declined to comment publicly despite mounting questions in parliament, repeatedly deferring requests for details on unpaid bills and the company’s financial position.

Contractors working on Malita’s €44 million social housing development in Ħal-Farruġ, Luqa, halted work several weeks ago after the company failed to settle outstanding payments.

Malita is understood to owe millions of euro to multiple suppliers, including contractors Rock Cut, Vella Falzon Building Supplies and Calibre Industries, leaving some of the businesses themselves under financial strain.

The European Investment Bank (EIB), which lent €22 million to support the Ħal-Farruġ project, has pressed the government for a resolution as concerns grow that the company could edge towards insolvency without the Finance Ministry’s intervention.

Responsibility for Malita was transferred from the Finance Ministry to Galdes’s portfolio last year. Since then, tensions between the minister and Malita’s then chair, former Labour MEP Marlene Mizzi, contributed to the replacement of the project manager for Ħal-Farruġ by a state entity under Galdes’s control.

Malita’s chief executive and chief financial officer subsequently resigned.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana seems to be resisting pressure for a fresh capital injection, warning that such a move could breach EU state-aid rules. Instead, the government has commissioned an independent audit to determine the full extent of Malita’s financial difficulties.

Malita sources said its finances remained stable until last year, before rapidly deteriorating under the new governance arrangements implemented by Minister Galdes.