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The Warsaw Stock Exchange successfully strengthens its position in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. The WSE is the region’s unquestionable leader by capitalisation, number of listed companies, IPOs, and the derivative instruments market. According to recent statistics from the Federation of European Securities Exchanges (FESE), the capitalisation of the WSE is now greater than that of Wiener Boerse.
Capitalisation
By capitalisation, or the value of listed companies, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest exchange in the region. The WSE capitalisation is greater than the value of companies listed on the Wiener Boerse: it was EUR 126.2 billion at the end of July ’08 (EUR 117.3 billion for the Wiener Boerse).
The difference in capitalisation between Vienna and Warsaw has been systematically decreasing during the past couple of years. At the end of 2005, the capitalisation of the Wiener Boerse was more than EUR 27 billion greater than the capitalisation of the WSE. At the start of this year, the gap shrank to EUR 12 billion. At present, the value of companies listed in Warsaw is almost EUR 9 billion greater. This is the capitalisation of domestic companies on both markets.
Figure 1. Capitalisation of Stock Exchanges in the Region – Domestic Companies (end of July 2008)
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Source: FESE
Foreign Issuers and IPOs
The Warsaw Stock Exchange successfully competes with other markets of the region by attracting a growing number of foreign issuers. In 2003, the WSE had only one foreign company; now it has 25. In this period, the number of foreign companies listed on the Wiener Boerse dropped from 21 to 18.
Figure 2. Foreign Companies Listed on Stock Exchanges in the Region (end of July 2008)
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Source: FESE
The growing number of foreign listings is a result of the pursued growth strategy of the Warsaw Stock Exchange which is becoming the main stock exchange in the region. Broad access to equity, a stable and diverse investor base, including foreign investors, low IPO costs, and effective international promotion of the WSE increase the interest of Polish and foreign issuers seeking capital. The WSE ranked second in Europe by both the number and the value of IPOs after Q2 2008, second only to the London Stock Exchange.
Table 1. IPOs on Stock Exchanges in Europe, Q2 2008
No. |
Exchange |
Number of IPOs, Q2 |
Value of IPOs (EUR
M) |
1 |
London |
46 |
6 298 |
2 |
Warsaw |
37 |
1 890 |
3 |
NYSE-Euronext |
15 |
1 615 |
4 |
OMX |
10 |
178 |
5 |
Deutsche Boerse |
8 |
330 |
6 |
Oslo |
6 |
28 |
7 |
Luxemburg |
6 |
49 |
8 |
Switzerland |
3 |
412 |
9 |
Borsa Italiana |
2 |
14 |
10 |
Madrid (BME) |
- |
- |
11 |
Wiener Boerse |
- |
- |
12 |
Ireland (ISE) |
- |
- |
13 |
Athens |
- |
- |
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers
.In spite of a weaker sentiment on the global stock markets, issuers are still keen to join the Warsaw Stock Exchange. The WSE Main List has been joined by 23 companies year to date (including 3 foreign issuers) and their IPOs totalled over PLN 7 billion. NewConnect, the WSE alternative market, is growing as dynamically. It has 38 new listings year to date and their IPOs totalled over PLN 130 million.
The WSE will continue to pursue the strategy of attracting new issuers, including foreign companies, and strengthening its position in the region.
A growing number of foreign investors are interested in the WSE. This is reflected, among others, in the increasing number of exchange members, including a dynamically growing group of foreign investment firms which become WSE Members. There are currently 47 exchange members, including 19 remote members from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Sweden, Slovakia, and Estonia. The value of trading by foreign brokers is also growing. They generated around 5 percent of equity trading on the WSE at the end of May 2007 and already 10 percent at the end of H1 2008.
