April was a month of annual meetings of shareholders – they were held in 34 companies. For that reason trading in the securities of these companies was temporarily halted on the Exchange, which resulted in a slight fall in the interest of investors.
In April the demand for shares was falling more rapidly than the supply, therefore the demand/supply ratio went up to 3.9 and was the same as during the last quarter of the previous year. However, the trading volume of shares on the central market, albeit lower than in the previous months, remained quite substantial (EUR 13.6 million), because of the active trading in shares of the companies Apranga AB, Vilniaus Vingis AB, Lietuvos Telekomas AB, Mazeikiu Nafta AB, Zemaitijos Pienas AB. In April the values of the Exchange indices LITIN and LITIN-10 went slightly down. The index LITIN-G retained the value of the end of March.
April can be singled out as the month of the lowest turnover of T-bills in the last few years, which amounted to only as much as EUR 23.6 million, while share trading generated EUR 60.3 million, or 71% of the total turnover. It was the largest turnover this year and one of the largest monthly turnovers in the last few years. The lion’s share, 66% of this volume, fell to the execution of the tender offer to purchase shares of Vakaru Skirstomieji Tinklai AB. In April the turnover of securities totaled EUR 75.3 million.
Year to date turnover of shares amounted to EUR 182.5 million, or 6% up on the whole volume of 2003 (in 2003, the share turnover was EUR 172.1 million). As of April 30, the total turnover on the Exchange has already reached EUR 358.3 million, or 63% of the total turnover of securities last year.
Tallinn
In April, the equity turnover of Tallinn Stock Exchange amounted to EUR 86 million, the highest level since April 1998. The TALSE index has risen by 19% since the beginning of the year, in the end of April the index closed at 340.28 points.
Several companies published their Q1 financial results. Net profit of Hansabank was EUR 42.8 million in Q1 2004; the annual growth was 24%.
The Q1 net profit of Estonian Telekom was EUR 6.5 million, up by 360% compared to the same period in 2003. The increase was mainly the result of dividend tax expenses that were declared in the statements of Q1 2003 while in 2004, the profit allocation was not confirmed by the end of March.
The consolidated net profit of department store Tallinna Kaubamaja for the Q1 2004 was EUR 0.5 million. The net result is an increase EUR 0.5 million over the comparable period when the net loss of the Group was EUR 0.07 million.
The net profit of Harju Elekter was EUR 3.5 million (the comparable result a year before EUR 489 thousand). The consolidated net profit of Norma was EUR 1.5 million. Its net profit had increased by EUR 0.1 million, i.e an increase of 7.9%. Eesti Telekom strategic owner Baltic Tele AB (TeliaSonera group) made an offer to acquire all shares from minority shareholders of the Estonian telecommunications company. The purchase price is EEK 111.30 (EUR 7.1) per A-share and EEK 11,130 (EUR 711.3) per B-share. The Finance Ministry turned down the offer, saying the offer price was not acceptable.
Hansa Capital bonds were delisted from bonds list, due to redemption of the bonds.
Riga
In April the Riga Stock Exchange trading volume amounted to EUR 35.61 million: equity trading volume was EUR 6.44 million, while debt trading was EUR 29.17 million. Valmieras SS with EUR 3.38 million continued to be turnover leader, followed by Ventspils nafta with EUR 1.21 million. Latvijas Gaze with EUR 336.86 million continued to be the largest company according to market capitalisation.
Equity market capitalisation at the end of April was EUR 968 million, while debt market value was EUR 638 million. Dow Jones Riga Stock Exchange index decreased by 2.58% since the end of March, yet, demonstrating an impressive 17.63% growth since the beginning of the year. Very few companies have gained in price during April: Liepajas metalurgs +1.65%, Valmieras SS+0.8%. Many companies lost in price, Ditton (-27.27%), Latvijas kugnieciba (-15.09%) and Ventspils nafta (-10.47%) being among the main losers.
Members’ trading activity has been summarised for the first quarter of 2004: Hansabanka was the most active member, contributing 19.54% of all stock exchange turnover. Hansabanka with 29.15% was also the most active member in terms of equity trading, whereas Nordea with 35.58% was the most active in debt trading.
