OMX to introduce Nordic stock market list in October

List expected to increase interest among international investors

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OMX, which runs stock exchanges in the Nordic Countries and the Baltic Sates, is to set up a common Nordic List in October.
      OMX hopes that the list will spark interest among international investors.
      "It is crucial for the Finnish capital markets to be a part of a larger whole", says Jouni Torasvirta, Managing Director of the Helsinki Stock Exchange.
      Torasvirta says that another advantage of a common list is that it makes it easier to companies in the same business.
      "For instance, in the health care sector, Finland has four companies, while there are 48 on the Nordic List."
     
The Nordic List will include the stock exchanges of Helsinki, Stockholm, and Copenhagen. In a few years' time it will be possible to link the common Baltic List to the Nordic List.
      Originally, the Nordic List was to have been set up already in the summer, but Torasvirta says that the plans were postponed to give brokers and the media time to reprogramme their technical systems.
      The Nordic List will include 584 companies divided into three groups: large corporations with a market value of over EUR one billion, medium sized companies worth EUR 150 - 1,000 million, and small companies with a value of less than EUR 150 million.
      Of all of the companies on the list, 116 are large, 160 are medium-sized, and 308 are small.
      Of the 137 Finnish companies on the list, 70 are in the small category, 36 are medium-sized, and 31 qualify as large.
      With the common list, the requirements for listing, and the method of presentation of the listed companies are to be standardised.
     
The Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion, which aims at promoting stock ownership, has expressed concern that the Nordic List might reduce the visibility of small enterprises.
      "Visibility in the stock market is important; out of sight means out of mind", notes Sirkka-Liisa Roine, President of the foundation.
      Torasvirta admits that increased competition for attention will be a challenge for companies. He advises Finnish listed companies to be more active in communicating about themselves to international investors.
     
A common list also increases visibility.
      A study was conducted at the Helsinki School of Economics last year, seeking to assess the impact of a Nordic list on the visibility of listed companies and on activity on the stock market.
      "Both improved slightly, when measured against the overall coverage of brokers’ analysts", Torasvirta says.
      The Helsinki Stock Exchange plans to quote the shares of Swedish and Danish companies on the list in euros as well as the national currencies of the two countries, in order to make it easier for investors to compare prices.
      Torasvirta says that plans are that in the coming years, customers will be able to implement both stock market deals and currency deals within the same system.
     
OMX owns the stock exchanges of Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius.
      Trading volume on the OMX exchanges hit a new record in January - EUR 95,9 billion. The previous monthly record, EUR 77.8 billion, was set in October 2005.


Links:
  OMX press release 1.2.2006: OMX’s Nordic List to be launched on October 2, 2006
  Finnish Foundation for Share Promotion

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