FEDERATION OF EURO-ASIAN STOCK EXCHANGES
ANNUAL REPORT JUNE 2013
BELGRADE STOCK EXCHANGE
Gordana Dostanic
Managing Director
The total turnover of the Belgrade Stock
Exchange in 2013 reached EUR 267 millions.
Positive impulses, coming from the modest
recovery of economic activity, as a result of
export acceleration boosted by the revival
of the car industry, and inflation slow-down,
spilled-over to the capital market resulting
in 21.7% increase in the turnover compared
to 2012. Nevertheless, liquidity remains the
biggest concern and issue to handle. Share
of block trading was high with only 27 block
trades made during 2013 accounting for 49.1
% of the total annual turnover. Average daily
turnover in 2013 was EUR 1.1 million. Both
indices BELEX15 and BELEXline had positive
performance with the leading index BELEX15
ending the year at 557.97, posting 6.5%
increase year-on-year. Broad market index
HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT
The Belgrade Stock Exchange was initially
founded back in 1894. Such institution was
established to promote, facilitate and regulate
trading in various commodities, all securities
allowed to be quoted, cheques and coupons,
coins and paper money. After the World War
II in 1953 the stock exchange was formally
abolished by the Decision of the Presidium
of the Serbian government. It resumed its
activities in 1989 as the Yugoslav Capital
Market, established by 32 biggest banks from
the territory of former Yugoslavia. In 1992, the
Yugoslav Capital Market changed its name to
the Belgrade Stock Exchange. In the 1990s,
the trading material mostly consisted of debt
instruments of companies, government bonds
and the like. Although the first share trade
was carried out in 1991, it was only in 2000
that a significant step forward was made,
when shares from the previous privatization
processes were included in secondary trading.
In 1996, the Belgrade Stock Exchange traded in
commodity-commercial notes of the Commodity
Reserves with the underlying in corn, maize,
sugar and oil, while the first municipal bonds
were traded on the Exchange in 2000, as well
as the first treasury notes of the National Bank
of Yugoslavia. In 2001, the introduction of RS
bonds for covering the government debt with
respect to the old foreign currency savings
further boosted the growth of the domestic
capital market. Since its re-establishment, the
operation of the Belgrade Stock Exchange has
not been interrupted, not even during the NATO
aggression in 1999. In more recent history,
significant improvements of the BELEX trading
Positive impulses, coming from the modest
recovery of economic activity and inflation
slow-down spilled-over to the capital
market resulting in 21.7% increase in the
turnover compared to 2012.
BELEXline, covering 47 companies, increased
by 9.9% in comparison to the previous year.
2013 Market Cap stood at 6.8 billion EUR, due
to a significant number of companies excluded
from the market. Foreign investors accounted
for almost 70 % of the total turnover, including
block trades.
Traditional Annual Conference of the Belgrade
Stock Exchange was held in mid November.
Many were surprised by the results of the 2013
Conference as it in many ways surpassed
expectations of most participants which had the
opportunity to share views on current topics of
macroeconomic setting, regional consolidation,
reform of the pension system in Serbia and
new investment products and alternatives.
3rd Investor Regional Conference brought
system, were made in 2003 and 2004, when
continuous and remote trading were introduced.
The first index was published in late 2004, and
up to this day the Exchange has continued to
develop indicators. 2008 was the year when the
BELEXFIX information system, was released,
followed by the BELEX FIX API module
implemented in early 2010, which allowed
members to develop their own trading apps.
The key highlights in 2013:
• In March - Questionnaire on Corporate
Governance Practices defined,
• In March - new Rules and Regulation
published,
• In March - Application for Reporting OTC
trades was launched,
• In May - traditional Belex Day was held,
• In November - the Best IR Award for 2013,
presented to NIS a.d Novi Sad,
• In November - 12th International Conference
was held,
• In November - 3rd Investor Conference was
held.
FUTURE OUTLOOK
In 2014 the BSE will focus on the following
activities:
• Promoting listing opportunities for Serbian
non-listed companies;
• Development of existing indexes and
indicators;
• Exploring possibilities for introducing new
instruments into the market;
• Exploring regional linkage possibilities;
• Development of trading platform and lounch
of new functionalities (in compliance with the
together fund managers and top executives
of leading companies from Serbia, Croatia,
Slovenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina
and Macedonia. Over 150 individual meetings
were held in the attempt to shad some
new light to this region. This year’s investor
conference was organized in cooperation
with the WOOD&Company, one of the leading
investment companies in Central Europe.
Although small step forward was made, further
development of the stock exchange will remain
highly dependent on foreign investors , political
will and over-all consensus in implementation of
much needed wide-ranging structural reforms
that can only pave a path to sustained growth
and provide impetus for boosting investment
activity.
EU standards);
• Organization of a regional roadshow
for domestic and international investor
community;
• Improvement of educational activities and
programs for public and students;
• Broadening the network of international and
local data vendors;
• Organization of specialized seminars about
IR and corporate government for companies
in Serbia;
• Organization of International Annual
Conference in November.
2013 COUNTRY OUTLOOK
Key macroeconomic indicators for 2013 reflect
modest recovery of the Serbian economy,
underpinned by accelerating growth of exports,
reduced foreign trade and current account
deficit as well as subsiding inflation. Strong
growth in net exports was a result of expansion
in the automobile industry, and the growth of
exports of petroleum products, pharmaceuticals
and chemical products and electrical machinery.
Serbia has made efforts to recover from the
impact of the international crisis combined
with internal issues and pursue with the
much needed reforms. After acknowledging
the progress made, on 28 June 2013 the
European Council endorsed the Council of
Ministers conclusions and recommendations
to open accession negotiations with Serbia. In
December 2013 the Council of the European
Union approved opening negotiations on
Serbia’s accession in January 2014.
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