ICT firm celebrates fifth anniversary of listing on MSE

"6PM has not only managed to list itself on the Malta Stock Exchange but has also managed to issue shares in order to help expand the company further and all this has been achieved through the sterling work of the company's chief executive Ivan Bartolo and his team."

Communications minister Austin Gatt was addressing 6PM's team and members of the press during an event held at Paranga, St Julian's to celebrate 6PM's fifth anniversary of listing on the stock exchange.

During today's event, 6PM also launched Quick Contribute - a project that continues to build the bridge between industry and academia.

"At the foundation of this bridge lies an applied knowledge base where real-life experiences are published online - a project not about 6PM but about industry experts who agreed to come together to document their experience and making it available for the younger generation to digest," a 6PM spokesman said.

6PM is an established IT and software solutions group that today employs over 100 technology consultants. The principal activities of the group consist in providing a range of IT-based solutions and services which enable organisations and individuals alike to enhance and optimise efficiency.

While company headquarters are based in Malta, 6PM also has offices in the UK and Macedonia. 

6PM was founded in 1996 by Maltese entrepreneur and Agile specialist, Ivan Bartolo. Ten years later Management Consultancy (UK) Ltd, a company incorporated in the United Kingdom was created. This was established by Alan West Robinson and Steve Wightman in 2006. In 2007, a year later, 6PM Holdings plc was formed to bring together the two pre-existing companies - 6PM Ltd and 6PM Management Consultancy (UK) Ltd, while also marking the beginning of the company's listing on the MSE.

Bartolo explained how listing on the MSE was "no walk in the park" as this brought along with it a number of responsibilities and challenges. However, it also brought with it "accountability translated into a fighting spirit that has made the last five years highly interesting".

Meanwhile, Gatt said that government's "eco social approach" - where people were encouraged to set up shop while being left to go about their business without any interference and assisted by government in the process - "has helped the ICT industry, among other industries in Malta grow".

Gatt added that while there was a global economic storm, the Maltese government brought about sunshine.

Finance minister Tonio Fenech meanwhile described 6PM as a flag-bearer of the Maltese ICT industry - a company that reflected the transformation that our economy has managed to make over the past 20 years.

"6PM embodies many of the elements that have made the Maltese economy successful - an innovative and flexible approach to business, investment in the quality of human resources while also anticipating market requirements.

"6PM is also a major contributor to job creation, noting that the company today employed practically 100 technology professionals," Fenech said.

Fenech also noted that 6PM had participated in initiatives such as the Jeremie Financing Programme for micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

"Government looks at ICT as an industry that plays a major role in helping strengthen our economy, and the participation in such initiatives, like the Jeremie Financing Package, assists companies to expand further while also contributing to job creation."

The Jeremie framework is an initiative launched by the European Commission, in collaboration with Bank of Valletta plc, to promote increased access to finance for micro, small- and medium-sized enterprises. Eligible to benefit from this scheme are local SMEs employing less than 250 employees and of which turnover does not exceed €50 million.

6PM has benefited from this scheme and today can boast of being responsible for a variety of health-related software solutions such as StrokePad and Climate-HIV - two solutions conceived through extensive surveys by the National Health Service (NHS).

StrokePad is driven by three main business objectives, namely improved patient care, reduced cost to the NHS and an enhanced probability for a better quality of life for patients who suffer a stroke. StrokePad, which has been designed by clinicians for clinicians, focuses on the most critical few hours when a patient experiences initial symptoms of a stroke or are indeed having a stroke.

Seconds make a difference in such situations and StrokePad is designed to very quickly capture critical patient data as part of the patient care pathway. It will assist clinicians to make more informed decisions at a very delicate stage.

Meanwhile, Climate HIV has three main stakeholders, the NHS, the pharmaceutical companies and of course the patient. The cost of HIV drugs is extremely expensive and better understanding of patient reactions to the various drugs that they would be taking is fundamental. The system is intended to provide invaluable data to clinicians about patient reactions to treatment, while data captured will be analysed by pharmaceutical companies to establish how drugs can be further improved and in some cases potentially avoid the expensive process of creating new drugs, enhancing patient care while also reducing the cost to the NHS.