.jpg)
The background for these changes is the need to establish greater differentiation between companies in the areas of liquidity and company information. Investigations carried out by Oslo Børs and views expressed by other players have confirmed the need for these changes.
Liquidity-based categories
Oslo Børs proposes that listed companies will be allocated to four new categories based on the liquidity of their shares.
- OBX - The 25 most liquid shares on Oslo Børs make up the OBX Index. This represents the top category in the new structure.
- Match - This category will include all companies in which there are on average at least 10 trades per day over a six-month period, excluding companies already included in the OBX category. Data for the last year indicates that around 40 companies will be included in this category.
- Other companies - This category will include all companies not included in any of the other categories.
- New listings - Companies admitted to listing for the first time have no track record to give a basis for allocation to a liquidity category. Newly listed companies will be placed in this category until the next time categories are reviewed, which will take place every six months.
In addition Primary Capital Certificates will continue as a separate category as at present. Oslo Børs hopes that by setting clear and absolute criteria for inclusion in the Match category it will create an incentive for companies that do not qualify for inclusion to work to increase liquidity in their shares in order to satisfy the criteria.
Information symbol
The most important prerequisite for the market to price a company's shares correctly is that all players have access to sufficient, relevant and accurate information on the company. Oslo Børs wishes to identify companies that make financial information easily available for investors and other players in the market by adding an ?information? symbol to the entries for such companies in its published lists.
In order to qualify for the information symbol, companies will be required to satisfy specific requirements in respect of the provision and distribution of information. These requirements relate to three main factors, namely the availability of information on the internet, holding presentations for the market and the prompt publication of interim reports soon after the close of each quarter. Full details of the requirements that companies must satisfy can be found in the attachment to this press release.
Companies that in addition make this level of information available in English will also be identified by the symbol of an English flag.
The liquidity categories and information symbols will be shown in the stock exchange price lists published in newspapers and in the information published by Oslo Børs on its web site. Oslo Børs will continue to use other categories such as the distinction between the Main List and the SMB (small and medium companies) List and classification by industrial category as used at present.
These proposals have been circulated for consultation. To see the consultation letter click here. Oslo Børs expects to implement the new classification model during the course of the first six months of 2004.
