The Warsaw Stock Exchange welcomed with satisfaction the October statistics published by the Federation of European Stock Exchanges (FESE) which indicate that the WSE steadily improves its position in Central and Eastern Europe. The WSE is ahead of all other exchanges in CEE and SEE (Central and Eastern Europe and Southern and Eastern Europe) by capitalisation (value of listed companies).
The highlight of October on NewConnect was the first foreign listing of Photon Energy a.s. (Czech Republic).
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Events
The WSE educational event “All That Exchange” was held at the Palace of Culture and Science on 9 – 11 October. The agenda included Exchange School lectures for beginners and specialised workshops for advanced investors, the debate “Analyst Ring: Economic Forecasts,” discussions and consultations with experts, competitions and other attractions.
“All That Exchange” was part of the 14th Polish Forum of Capital and Finance “Your Money” comprising an extensive programme addressed to everyone interested in the way the Exchange operates and in listed financial instruments. WSE partners in the project included the Financial Supervision Authority, the Association of Individual Investors, the IDM Brokerage House, and the company Asseco Poland.
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A meeting with institutional investors in the Brokerage Days series was held in Madrid on 9 October. The meeting was organised by the Warsaw Stock Exchange and KBC Securities. The meeting presented the WSE offer of equities and derivative instruments and its dynamically developing IPO market. The meeting with investors featured a discussion of Poland’s macroeconomic situation and a presentation of the stock transactions settlement system used in Poland. The meeting attracted the interest of the Spanish capital market community. It was attended by representatives of several financial institutions including commercial banks, brokerage houses, investment banks, financial intermediaries and asset management companies.
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A conference entitled “Is the Financial Crisis a Threat to the Polish Economy?” organised by the employers’ association PKPP Lewiatan was hosted by the WSE on 10 October. The conference was held urgently in the context of the extraordinary situation on the global financial markets. The goal of the conference was to address the question of the actual scale of threats to the Polish economy caused by the downturn on the global financial markets. The conference guest of honour, Finance Minister Jan Vincent-Rostowski discussed the Polish economy in the context of the situation on the international markets and said that Poland has important assets including high economic growth, balanced macroeconomic indicators (current account gap, public deficit, low public debt and falling inflation). According to the Minister, these will be the key drivers of the Polish economy in the short, mid and long term (3-4 years).
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An Extraordinary General Shareholders Meeting of the Warsaw Stock Exchange was held in Warsaw on 10 October. The General Meeting approved amendments to the WSE Articles of Association whereby upon dematerialization pursuant to the Financial Instruments Trading Law, in the number of dematerialized shares, series A registered shares shall become bearer non-voting shares preferred in dividend payment as the dividend per each silent share shall be 1.5 times the dividend per ordinary share.
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The Warsaw Stock Exchange and DM POLONIA NET signed an exchange data provider agreement on 10 October. DM POLONIA NET will offer its clients real-time access to exchange information from the WSE Main List. Following the new agreement, there are 48 exchange data providers, including 29 domestic and 19 foreign partners (in the UK, the USA, Switzerland, France, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Slovakia).
In addition, DM POLONIA NET signed annexes to the exchange data provider agreement and will offer its clients real-time access to exchange information from NewConnect as well as reports of companies listed on NewConnect (EBI), while CAIT signed an annex to distribute company reports (EBI). There are now 33 providers offering access to NewConnect quotations (all Polish vendors and 4 foreign partners) and 20 providers offering access to reports of NewConnect listed companies (EBI).
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The FUND OF INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT with its seat in Kiev became a WSE IPO Partner on 13 October. The Fund of Industrial Development provides comprehensive financial services in the Ukrainian market including asset management and IPO advisory and services and brokerage services.
>p>The goal of the WSE IPO programme established in the autumn of 2006 is to ensure support of foreign brokerage houses for the WSE’s acquisition and promotion efforts in foreign markets.The Fund of Industrial Development is the fifteenth WSE IPO Partner.
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A delegation of the Warsaw Stock Exchange visited New York City on 13 – 17 October 2008 to present the Polish capital market and business opportunities it offers during meetings with US investors and companies. The programme of the visit of the WSE delegation included the Polish Equity Conference for institutional investors organised in co-operation with Citigroup with a special participation of the Bank Handlowy Brokerage House. Representatives of nine Polish companies participating in the WIG20 index were present at the meetings.
Representatives of the Warsaw Stock Exchange also met with business people from the Polish American community and with US companies interested in listing on the WSE Main List or NewConnect. As an important part of the presentation, Poland was introduced as a country with relatively strong economic fundamentals and a good position of its financial sector with a special emphasis on the safety and stability of the Polish market.
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Winners of The Best Annual Report competition were announced on 17 October. The Warsaw Stock Exchange is the Honorary Patron of the competition. 34 companies entered the final round of the competition.
The Competition Jury headed by Professor Waldemar Fr?ckowiak awarded the following companies in the Business category:
1st place – KGHM Polska Mied? S.A.2nd place – CIECH S.A.
3rd place - PKN Orlen S.A.
The winners in the Banks and Financial Institutions category were:
1st place – BRE BANK S.A.
2nd place – BANK BPH S.A.
3rd place – BANK PEKAO S.A.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange awarded KGHM Polska Mied? for the best investor communications.
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A conference entitled “Polish-Swiss Capital Bridge - investment opportunities into the Polish capital markets” was held in Zurich on 21 October. The conference was co-organised by the WSE, the Polish Embassy in Bern, and SECA (Swiss Private Equity&Corporate Finance Association). The conference participants included representatives of Swiss financial institutions (mainly VC and PE) interested in developing co-operation with Polish capital institutions and investing in companies of the WSE Main List and NewConnect. Investment opportunities of the Polish markets were presented in case studies of companies listed on the WSE including bmp AG listed on the WSE Main List and in Frankfurt, Euroimplant S.A. listed on NewConnect, and Read Gene soon to be listed on NewConnect. The company presentations reinforced the Swiss investors’ perception of Poland as a country providing modern innovative companies with broad opportunities of financing growth in the Polish capital market. The conference brought together more than 50 participants.
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The TMT.Ventures’08 Zagreb conference was held in Zagreb, Croatia, on 28 October. The meeting under the auspices of the Warsaw Stock Exchange and the financial group MCI Management was attended by over 120 investors, businessmen and high-tech companies from Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Poland. A WSE representative presented the opportunities of raising capital offered by the WSE to companies in the region. TMT.Ventures’08 Zagreb is a conference in a series addressed to owners and managers of high-tech companies and representatives of investment funds interested in Central European markets.
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Derivative Instruments
October 2008 set new records on the derivative instruments market. The total volume of trading in all derivative instruments was 1.56 million instruments, the highest monthly volume of trading in the history of the Exchange.
October brought a record-high monthly volume of trading in stock futures contracts at 54,362 contracts and a record-high monthly volume of trading in currency futures contracts at 32,004 contracts. A record-high daily volume of trading in currency futures contracts was reported three times, on 23, 24 and 30 October at 2,970 contracts, 2,980 contracts and 3,123 contracts respectively.
The volume of trading in WIG20 options was 37,576 options in October 2008, the highest monthly volume of trading in 2008. The value of trading in WIG20 options was PLN 81.8 million in October 2008 (value by premium), the highest monthly value of trading in the history of the instrument.
The volume of trading in mWIG40 futures contracts was 3,803 contracts in October, the highest monthly volume of trading in 2008.
Structured Products
The value of trading in structured products was PLN 26.02 million in October, including PLN 2.03 million in notes and PLN 23.99 million in certificates, the highest monthly volume of trading in these instruments in the history of the WSE.
A record-high volume of trading in structured certificates at 67,413 certificates was reported on 8 October.
There were 43 structured products listed on the WSE at the end of October 2008, including 9 notes and 34 structured certificates.
Exchange Members
ALIOR BANK S.A. with its seat in Warsaw was admitted to operations on the WSE as an Exchange Member on 3 October. ALIOR BANK is the 50th WSE Member and the 31st Polish Member.
ALIOR BANK is a new Polish bank established by the Italian financial group Carlo Tassara. It is a universal bank serving all market segments in two business lines: retail and corporate.
There were 50 Exchange Members at the end of October 2008, including 19 remote members in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia and Estonia.
Key Statistics Percentage Index Change in October Year to Date WIG20 -23.4% -47.2% MWIG40 -27.9% -59.7% SWIG80 -22.7% -54.1% WIG -24.0% -49.0% WIG-PL -23.8% -48.5% 20 companies on the Main List reported positive returns. Highest Growth in Stock Prices in October Company Price at 30.09.08 Price at 31.10.08 % change FON 0.01 0.02 100.0 PCGUARD 0.02 0.03 50.0 BIPROMET 6.38 8.40 31.7 Trading on the cash market was PLN 36,546 million, up by 32% month on month. Trading on the futures market was PLN 58,632 million, up by 7% month on month. Trading in Instruments (PLN M) Shares and rights to shares** 35 074 Bonds** 1 426 MiniWIG20 2.7 Futures Contracts Value* 58 548 Volume (#) 1 516 282 Options Value* 81.8 Volume (#) 37 576 For more statistics see Monthly Statistics The Warsaw Stock Exchange adopted the codes of “Best Practice of NewConnect Listed Companies” and “Best Practice of NewConnect Autorised Advisers” on 31 October. The codes will enter into force on 1 January 2009. At the early phase (by the end of 2009) they will operate as recommendations addressed to issuers and Authorised Advisers. The adoption of the codes of Best Practice both for NewConnect listed companies and Authorised Advisers followed broad market consultations by the WSE with the community of all NewConnect issuers and the most active Authorised Advisers. New Listings New companies listed on NewConnect in October include in particular the first foreign listing (Photon Energy) and the 50th company listed in 2008 (PGS Software). There were 74 companies listed on NewConnect at the end of October. The company SUNTECH listed on NewConnect on 2 October. The company is the leading producer of Business Support Systems / Operations Support Systems software for telecommunications operators. *** The company ROCCA listed on 7 October. The core business of Rocca is to process natural stones and to produce stone elements with different applications used to raise the standard of buildings. *** The company CARBON DESIGN listed on NewConnect on 8 October. The company’s core business is to design and produce horizontal bicycles and to produce three-wheel bikes and other unusual vehicles powered by hand or with alternative sources of energy.
*** The company DOMEX-BUD DEVELOPMENT listed on NewConnect on 9 October. The company’s core business is to construct and sell new residential property including apartment buildings and detached houses. The company operates on the construction market in the city and the region of Wroc?aw and runs complete projects from acquisition of land to sale of residential property. *** The Czech company Photon Energy listed on NewConnect on 16 October as the first foreign company on the WSE alternative trading market. It is the first step in regionalization of NewConnect and best proof of the success of the market which opens new opportunities of financing investments meeting real demand in Poland and abroad. The WSE opens up to foreign markets and addresses its offer and opportunities of co-operation to issuers, investors and exchanges in the region. Photon Energy is a very innovative company which fits very well into the specificity of NewConnect. It is the intention of Photon Energy to become a leader of the emerging market of photovoltaic installation in the Czech Republic. *** The company PGS Software listed on NewConnect on 29 October. The core business of PGS Software is to offer IT services provided by experts, mainly from the Wroc?aw University of Technology. Market Members Copernicus Securities S.A. became a NewConnect Market Member on 17 October. The scope of operation of Copernicus Securities S.A. includes trading on clients’ account in all financial instruments listed on NewConnect. Market Animators Two NewConnect Market Members became NewConnect Authorised Advisers in October: Bank DNB NORD acting as animator for the company Domex-Bud Development and the first Czech remote market member CYRRUS acting as market animator for the Czech company Photon Energy. Other Events The 26th IPO Day was held on 22 October. The event featured presentations of 3 companies soon to be listed on NewConnect: IPO Days are organised by the Association of Individual Investors together with the WSE and the National Depository for Securities. The first IPO Day was held in 2006. Over 100 companies have since been introduced to investors. The 25 IPO Days have brought together around 1,600 investors as well as over 3,800 on-line viewers. *** On 24 October 2008 the Polish Financial Supervision Authority approved amendments to the Alternative Trading System Rules adopted by Resolution No. 705/2008 of the WSE Management Board dated 22 September 2008. The amendments consist in the introduction of separate trading session schedules on the first day of listing on NewConnect. As of 11 November 2008 (date of entry into force), the opening price of securities of a newly listed company will be determined at 11.30 in the continuous quotations system on the first day of listing, following an opening call phase (from 8.00 to 11.00) and an intervention phase (from 11.00 to 11.30). *** A meeting with the renown economist David Friedman opened the WSE’s new initiative: a series of lectures and meetings with interesting personalities on NewConnect. The acclaimed libertarian economist and thinker (also known as the son of the Nobel Prize winner Milton Friedman) gave a lecture entitled “What is economy and why is it so important today?” David Friedman belongs to the most interesting figures of American economics. He has published The Machinery of Freedom, a guidebook to anarcho-capitalism, Hidden Order, and the recently released *** The WSE launched a mobile version of the NewConnect website at http://m.newconnect.pl/ on 28 October. It was created in response to the increasingly popular internet use from mobile phones and other mobile devices. The website http://m.newconnect.pl/ is addressed to users of mobile phones and other mobile devices, including those using the blackberry technology. The service is available from any handset equipped with a web browser. The mobile version gives access to practically all resources of the NewConnect website in Polish and in English. *** Three new advisory companies were included in the register of NewConnect Authorised Advisers in October 2008. Key Statistics Percentage Index Change in October Year to date NCINDEX -16.0% -69.2% 9 companies listed on NewConnect reported positive returns. Highest
Growth in Stock Prices in October Company Price on
30.09.08 Price on
31.10.08 % change INTELIWIS 2.99 4.05 35.5 ORGANIC 22.80 26.00 14.0 COMPRESS 1.48 1.61 8.8 Trading in shares and rights to shares on NewConnect was PLN 29 million, down by 53% month on month. Trading in Instruments (PLN M)* Shares 27.2 Rights to shares 2.1 * excluding block trades For more information, please visit the NewConnect website.
Orion Investment S.A.
HOTBLOK S.A.
