MMH forecasts turnaround but no cash to settle €15 million bond yet

The Mediterranean Maritime Hub (MMH), the concessionaire of the former Malta Shipyards site in Marsa, is claiming a return to profitability in 2025, just a few weeks after its auditors warned that “significant doubt” remains over its ability to repay a €15 million bond maturing in October.

A newly published financial analysis summary prepared by financial intermediaries Calamatta Cuschieri, in line with listing rules, indicates that the company registered a profit after tax of €432,000 in 2025.

The results, still to be confirmed,  mark a reversal of the losses recorded in 2024 and the preceding year.

However, the analysis, which is explicitly based on unaudited management information, projections and forecasts,  has done little to reassure hundreds of bondholders who financed the redevelopment of the strategically located Grand Harbour site nearly a decade ago.

MMH’s 2025 financial statements have yet to be audited or formally published.

More significantly, the company currently has no confirmed funds available to settle the €15 million bond when it falls due in a few months.

In its audit of MMH’s long-delayed 2024 financial statements, published in December, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) issued a stark warning over the company’s financial sustainability.

“Based on our assessment, a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the MMH Group to continue as a going concern,” the auditors stated.

PwC highlighted the group’s lack of available cash to meet debt obligations and indicated that, without fresh capital, MMH may be unable to honour its repayment commitments, potentially facing insolvency.

The outstanding bond was issued in 2016 to fund the transformation of the former shipyards into a maritime services hub targeting the oil and gas industry. Nearly a decade on, the project remains burdened by accumulated liabilities running into several million euros.

The company, majority owned by former Gozo Channel chairman Paul Abela, reported a loss of almost €200,000 in 2024,  an improvement of approximately €100,000 from the previous year, as it attempted to increase revenues from servicing offshore energy operations. Yet the improvement has not translated into meaningful liquidity.

MMH is now forecasting a stronger performance in 2026, projecting profits of €1.6 million and insisting it will be in a position to repay bondholders. But that outcome hinges on a long-promised capital injection that has yet to materialise.

According to the latest accounts, two external investors, tuna-farming entrepreneur Salvu Ellul and MJK Crane Hire and Logistics, have committed to acquire a combined 49 per cent minority stake, subject to the completion of legal and financial due diligence.

The MMH insists that the transaction is expected to be finalised no earlier than the end of April.

This is MMH’s fourth attempt to secure new investors.

Previous negotiations, including discussions over a potential government reacquisition of the concession, collapsed following disagreements over compensation and negative findings during due diligence processes.

The concession itself, awarded in 2015 under the Labour administration of  disgraced former prime minister Joseph Muscat, covers one of the most strategically significant sections of Malta’s Grand Harbour.