Stock Brokers Maldives{SBM} which was at Manaam Building was recently moved to 3rd Floor, STO Trade Centre. Just yeterday it has had a very vibrant and colourful Facelift.

If you are looking to buy or sell stocks, feel free to get in touch with them on 3334451. 

Stock Brokers Maldives Pte Ltd was registered in the Maldives in 2006 and goes under the knife in many different aspects of its business only to server better.

First and foremost a company that I am involved has to be passionately run and dynamic in approach. With the right foresight and commitment to deliver, passion and dynamism would come through anyway. Where the stock market is concerned it brings about limitless opportunities and not a single reason to believe Maldivians don’t know it. Who says they don't know it? I have 4 shares of Maldives Transport and Contracting Company since the 1980s. Of course I was a kid then. So who bought it for me? My dad did, and you know what I collected a kilo and half rufiyaa as dividend alone just last month. I could also sell these shares at today’s market value. The first area for knifing is therefore changing the philosophy of the team in office and I sometimes do it by coaching and enlightening and this isn’t a difficult thing to do.

Equities market is great that it brings about opportunities that won’t exist without it. It is a cheap source of funding for businesses and is only second to term deposits for shareholders as investors. Buy in share of good performing companies and pocket the dividends. How good does it sound? Managers in those companies will run the business for you and unless you are elected a board member you really will not have any duties per se - even better isn't it? What about the trading opportunities that comes with investing in the stock market? People make tonnes of money in a short span and forty to fifty per cent return on investment per year is really very possible through active trading. Any doubts - contact me.

During the last few months I have met very sincere and professional people and they include Mrs. Fathimath Shafeega, CEO of Capital Market Development Authority; David Lister, CEO of the Maldives Stock Exchange; Khalil Masood, CEO of SKM Lanka; and Goharulayn Afzal, Country Manager for Standard Chartered Bank. I am grateful for these people for the wonderful opportunity they are handing in for the Maldivian investors to buy equities listed in Colombo Stock Exchange. I am honoured that Stock Brokers Maldives is able to gear up for this - I will try to live up for the partnership. Later this month I will travel to the capital of India to also open a trading window for the Maldivians.

Stock Brokers Maldives (SBM) has just had its logo knifed. The new logo and the name are composed of fresh colours and demonstrate the company’s dynamism and passion. The wire bound logo is constructed from two lines that represent the loss and gain stream and multiplies very quickly showing how quickly one could grow the investment.

SBM now has a brand new website and is accessible at http://www.stockbrokersmaldives.com/. This new site is a definite departure from the single static page that existed before. The site includes a blog called “FEAT” meaning success and a MEDIA section where important documents are catalogued for download.

These changes that have occured are sincere efforts to serve the company’s clients better.

New Logo:



Logo designed by: Ahmed Zahid

About four companies are publicly listed and active in the Maldives and the cumulative market capitalisation is less than three billion local Rufiyaa – quarter billion American dollars. All four companies are government initiatives. The Maldives Transport and Contracting Company Plc, State Trading Organisation Plc, and Bank of Maldives have been successful and in operation for some time but only a minute per cent are offered to the public. The fourth and a more recent initiative by the government is the Maldives Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) in which the government supposedly owns only forty nine per cent. Reports suggest that the government's shares were not paid up and are being adjusted only from dividends. The value proposition for the public is the leasehold for nine uninhabited islands for resort development. MTDC's initial public offering and a further issue of shares were subscribed almost immediately, concluding that the opportunity were taken well. Capital generated helped build Herethera Island Resort in Addu. Most island leases in the company’s asset base including Herethera are now subleased to third parties, apparently by strategy. Steady income from island lease is not bad a strategy and this pays off with a sound cash flow. The company director’s board and shareholders unanimously acknowledged the financial health and approved a ninety per cent return on investment in mare two years. No wonder MTDC’s shares are trading in record numbers these days and the last trade was at Mrf 450 per share. It’s a whopping four and a half fold from face value and anyone out there with these stocks could be selling them.

A hitch worth recognising is that after about two days of disbursement of the declared dividends by MTDC, the Maldives Capital Market Development Authority intervened and temporarily halted the disbursement function. It is about issuing dividends from cash flow and not real profits. Owing to the need to stipulate standards and method of dividend calculation, an investigation was launched. Apparently and as I read from different sources MTDC has resumed handing out the dividends. Many are relieved that they can now collect their due dividends. But the sequence of events experienced this year leaves sufficient room for discussion and questions about the fate of MTDC and its ability to declare future dividends from cash flow alone are dubious than ever, given that regulations are on the way. On the other hand could MTDC and their team turn their business model into a real profit generating model from business activities and operations per se? If so, what should they be doing about it?

Maldives Stock Exchange Index: May 2006 - May 2008
Source:  http://www.maldivesstockexchange.com.mv/

Shares at Maldives Tourism Development Corporation have appreciated to three folds in less than two years from inception. The public hold majority shares in the company and its shareholders can now encash these shares for a huge return. Besides this, the company’s first declared dividends of Mrf 90 per share for the period 2006 to 2008 means the initial investment is being paid back in a very short period. How wonderful isn’t it?

This Initial Public Offering attracted mixed reactions in 2006. Those that bought maximum possible share allotment for themselves and all their relatives can now celebrate the achievement. Others who were more suspicious and conservative in their approach have definitely lost a great opportunity and will require a lot of effort to make up for the mistake. Quite coincidentally I met some friends who are heartbroken to have accepted early advises against this stock. Why worry though? One of the greatest things about the capital market is that the doors are never closed. The secondary market (post initial public offering) offer vary many trading opportunities. Availing the opportunities and assessing the risks rest upon the individual investor.