Farons shares surge 6% as record H1 profit sparks ‘Cisk effect’ across Malta

# Farsons shares pop 6% after record H1 profit: ‘The beer that built Malta’ is back at the bar

Valletta – Simonds Farsons Cisk shares jumped more than six percent in brisk trading on the Malta Stock Exchange yesterday after the Birkirkara brewer posted a 19% surge in first-half profits, reassuring islanders that the company whose lager has christened weddings, festas and football victories for nine decades is fizzing again.

Profit after tax for the six months to 31 July climbed to €6.4 million, driven by higher beer and beverage volumes, tighter cost control and the first full summer season free of pandemic curbs since 2019. Turnover rose 14% to €52 million, prompting the board to declare an interim dividend of €0.03 per share—small change in Frankfurt or Paris, but here it matters.

“Farsons is not just a stock, it’s a family heirloom,” said 72-year-old retiree Ċensu Galea, queuing outside the MSE building in Castille Place to collect his dividend cheque. “My father bought 100 shares in 1950 so he could drink Cisk at the workers’ club for half a penny less. I still have the paper certificates. Yesterday’s jump paid for my grandson’s festa band uniform.”

The rally—shares closed at €9.10, their highest since 2018—added €18 million to the company’s market value in a single session, a windfall that rippled through portfolios from Gozo’s citrus farms to Sliema sea-front flats. Roughly one in eight Maltese households owns Farsons stock, either directly or through pension funds, making the brewer the closest thing the island has to a national equity.

## From wartime ale to craft IPA

Founded in 1928 by the Farsons family and merged with Simonds of Reading during the Blitz to keep British troops supplied with ale, the company survived Luftwaffe bombs, import shortages and 1970s price controls. Its iconic red-and-white Cisk label—first sketched on a napkin at the old Malta Railway bar—has become shorthand for Maltese identity abroad, shipped to 35 countries and served at Eurovision after-parties from Liverpool to Tel Aviv.

CEO Norman Aquilina told analysts yesterday that export volumes rose 12%, helped by new alcohol-free lines aimed at Middle Eastern markets and a hoppy craft IPA aimed at millennials who “want to drink Maltese, not just think Maltese”. The company’s new €20 million distribution centre in Mrieħel, powered entirely by rooftop photovoltaics, also came online in March, cutting delivery times to Sicilian supermarkets to 48 hours.

But the real story is local. Bars in village cores that had swapped Cisk taps for multinational lagers during the lean years are switching back. “People want to be seen supporting Maltese,” said Ramon Mifsud, third-generation landlord of the Queen’s Arms in Żebbuġ, where Farsons delivered an extra 50 crates last week ahead of the village festa. “When the share price rises, customers toast with Cisk. It’s psychological.”

## Jobs, philanthropy and a football club

The results also bode well for employment. Farsons employs 420 people full-time, plus 250 seasonal workers who bottle Kinnie and craft lemonade through July and August. Each permanent job supports an estimated 2.3 additional posts in transport, hospitality and agriculture, according to a 2022 study by the Malta Chamber of Commerce.

Then there is the philanthropy. The Farsons Foundation donates roughly €250,000 annually to local arts and sport, including the national water-polo league and the Malta Jazz Festival. Youths training with Birkirkara FC—owned by the brewer since 1991—wore shirts emblazoned “Invest in Maltese Talent” during yesterday’s training session, a nod to the share-price surge.

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana welcomed the figures, noting that dividend income will boost domestic consumption heading into the Christmas season. “When Farsons does well, Malta feels it,” he tweeted. “From barley farmers in Għarb to glass-bottle makers in Ħal Far, the supply chain is proudly Maltese.”

## What next?

Analysts warn input costs—especially aluminium cans and European malt—remain volatile, and a proposed EU deposit-return scheme could add logistics headaches. Yet investors shrugged off the caution. “We’ve weathered worse,” said 83-year-old shareholder Mary Farrugia, clutching a 1965 annual report. “As long as there’s a festa, a football win or a wedding, we’ll raise a Cisk. And the shares will follow.”

By press time, the after-party had moved to the Upper Barrakka Gardens, where bartenders poured complimentary Cisk Chill to anyone flashing a Farsons share certificate. As the sun set over the Grand Harbour, the consensus was clear: Malta’s pint-sized powerhouse is once again the toast of the nation.