Estonian securities market in the second quarter of 2011

06.07.2011 TLN

According to the information released by NASDAQ OMX Tallinn, index OMXT fell to 644.09 points (-12.61%) by the end of Q2. The share prices of 13 companies fell over the course of the quarter, for two companies by more than 20%. The largest downturn was experienced by Baltika (-52.97%) and Merko Ehitus (-21.92%). The market capitalization of NASDAQ OMX Tallinn dropped by -14.8% to EUR 1.51 billion. During the quarter, 15,960 securities transactions were made with the total turnover of EUR 43.2 million. The shares of 15 companies are listed on NASDAQ OMX Tallinn and 31 stock exchange members have access to trading.

As at the end of Q2, shareholders’ general meetings of all listed companies have decided to convert their share capital into euros, and nine companies – Tallink Grupp, Premia Foods, Tallinna Kaubamaja, Olympic Entertainment Group, Baltika, Tallinna Vesi, Nordecon and Ekspress Grupp – have successfully completed the conversion process.

Three listed companies (Arco Vara, Baltika and Harju Elekter) decided to increase their share capital in relation to conversion of share capital, at the same time eight companies (Ekspress Grupp, Premia Foods, Silvano Fashion Group, Tallink Grupp, Tallinna Kaubamaja, Trigon Property Development, Tallinna Vesi and Viisnurk) decided to reduce their share capital. Four companies (Järvevana, Merko Ehitus, Nordecon and Olympic Entertainment Group) adopted shares without a nominal value.

Three listed companies – Olympic Entertainment Group, Silvano Fashion Group and Viisnurk – decided to make disbursements in relation to reduction of share capital, and a total of EUR 24.8 million will be paid to shareholders. The listed companies decided to pay a total of approximately EUR 32.5 million as dividends.

Of the 6608 companies registered with the Estonian Central Securities Depository, 18% have converted their capital into euros. Of the 1187 companies, 752 are public limited companies and 435 are private limited companies. Of all companies that have converted their capital, 38 companies decided to adopt shares without a nominal value, and 1149 companies have reduced or increased their capital in order to change their capital into euros.

Although no final deadline has been established for converting capital into euros, a restriction applies according to which, starting from 2012 changes will be entered in the commercial register only if the capital of a company is registered in euros.

Compared to a year-ago period, the number of applications for exchange of funded pension units increased significantly in Q2. While over 9300 exchanges of funded pension units were made in 2010 Q2, the number of exchanges has increased by 3.4 times in 2011 Q2, increasing to over 31,000 applications. On the basis of 49% of applications, less than 500 units were transferred from one fund to another and according to 19% of the applications, less than 100 units were exchanged. Active exchange of pension funds is facilitated by a legal amendment that entered into force at the beginning of the year, which allows for exchange of pension fund units also in the event if less than 500 fund units have been collected. 

The EPI index, which shows the average yield of funded pension units, fell to 143.1 points by the end of Q2, dropping by 0.36% from the beginning of the quarter. The volumes of funded pension funds remained almost the same compared to the beginning of the quarter, increasing by 2.4% to EUR 1.1 billion, which is by over 10% more than in 2010 Q2.

As at the end of Q2, the volume of additional funded pension funds amounted to EUR 89.2 million, remaining approximately at the same level compared to Q1.

As at the end of the quarter, 6608 companies were registered with the Estonian Central Securities Depository, of them 4260 are public limited companies and 2348 are private limited companies.

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