Looking back at the first quarter of 2026, it is worth assessing whether the strong turnover momentum built up during 2025 has carried into the new year. Discussions around regional equities typically focus on individual share price moves, the gainers and the laggards over a given period. Today, we turn to what sits behind those moves, turnover on the Zagreb and Ljubljana stock exchanges.

On the ZSE in Q1 2026, total equity turnover (stocks, ETFs, and equity block trades combined) reached EUR 263.0m, up 66.5% YoY. Stock turnover amounted to EUR 174.7m, up 61.0% YoY, marking a clear acceleration on top of the already strong base recorded in Q1 2025. ETF turnover came in at EUR 20.6m, up 41.6% YoY, while equity block turnover surged to EUR 67.7m, up 94.2% YoY, broadly continuing the FY 2025 pattern in which a meaningful share of activity is executed through negotiated institutional trades rather than purely through order book liquidity. Including bonds and money market instruments, total ZSE turnover reached EUR 271.0m, up 57.2% YoY from EUR 172.4m in Q1 2025, confirming that the improvement in activity was visible across the market as a whole.

InterCapital Securities maintained its position at the top of the league table, ranking first in stocks with a 27.4% market share (vs. 25.1% in Q1 2025) and first in ETFs with 78.7% (vs. 79.9%). Across all segments, the firm executed 30.5% of total ZSE turnover, up from 27.7% a year earlier.

ZSE Q1 Turnover segments (Q1 2023- Q1 2026)

Source: ZSE, InterCapital Research

Beyond value turnover, trading intensity also strengthened. The number of stock trades climbed 53.5% YoY to 39,725, while stock volumes increased 16.6%. The implied average trade size on the order book stood at around EUR 4,400, slightly above the Q1 2025 level of roughly EUR 4,200, suggesting that the higher turnover came primarily through broader participation rather than larger individual tickets. ETFs followed a similar pattern, with the number of trades up 51.3% YoY to 1,584 even as volumes were essentially flat. Stock market capitalisation rose 7.5% YoY to EUR 31.9bn and ETF market capitalisation increased 24.4% to EUR 151.1m, providing a supportive backdrop for both turnover expansion and overall index dynamics.

The breakdown by market segment also points to a meaningful structural shift. Activity on the Official Market more than doubled, with turnover up 145.8% YoY to EUR 93.5m and the number of trades up 110.9%. Prime Market turnover rose 32.8% YoY to EUR 35.8m, while Regular Market turnover was broadly flat at EUR 45.5m, although trades and volumes there continued to grow.

KOEI (KONČAR Group regular shares) again dominated trading activity, with EUR 55.7m of turnover, representing roughly 31.9% of total stock turnover, a clear step up from 18.0% in Q1 2025 (EUR 19.6m). The 184.4% YoY increase in turnover for the most traded name reflects continued investor focus on KOEI’s fundamentals, but also illustrates how concentrated activity on the ZSE remains in a relatively small group of names. Behind KOEI, Dalekovod (EUR 13.1m) climbed to second place with turnover up 148.3% YoY, followed by AD Plastik (EUR 12.1m), up 769.3% YoY, the latter being a particularly notable shift considering ADPL was outside the top 10 in Q1 2025 with EUR 1.4m of turnover. The remainder of the top 10 was rounded out by Zagrebačka banka (EUR 10.2m, +16.1% YoY), Hrvatski Telekom (EUR 8.7m, broadly stable), KONČAR D&ST preferred shares (EUR 6.8m, –11.5%), KONČAR D&ST regular shares (EUR 6.5m, –29.4%), Valamar Riviera (EUR 6.1m, –26.8%), Adris Grupa preferred (EUR 5.9m, +13.2%), and Podravka (EUR 5.6m, +14.8%). The top 5 names accounted for around 57.1% of total stock turnover, while the top 10 captured roughly 74.8%, broadly in line with the concentration profile observed in FY 2025.

Price action across blue chips was more mixed than in 2025, consistent with the modest decline in CROBEX10tr over the quarter. AD Plastik was the strongest performer in the top 10 (+16.7%), followed by KOEI (+4.9%) and Dalekovod (+4.6%). Most other names in the top 10 finished the quarter flat to modestly negative, with Hrvatski Telekom (–10.6%), KONČAR D&ST regular and preferred shares (–3.7% and –2.3%), Zagrebačka banka (–2.1%) and Adris Grupa preferred (–1.5%) the most notable detractors.

LJSE Q1 Stocks Trading Intensity (Q1 2023-Q1 2026)

Source: ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

On the LJSE in Q1 2026, total turnover (stocks, structured products, bonds, T-Bills and equity block trades) reached EUR 229.9m, up 14.6% YoY from EUR 200.6m in Q1 2025. Stock turnover, the dominant component, amounted to EUR 196.1m, up 19.7% YoY, while structured products turnover more than doubled to EUR 6.7m (+129.3% YoY). Equity block turnover, however, declined 20.2% YoY to EUR 22.9m, in contrast with the trajectory observed on the ZSE and pointing to a different composition of trading activity in Slovenia, where order book trading remains the dominant channel.

InterCapital led the league table on LJSE as well, ranking first in stocks with a 28.8% market share and first in structured products with 61.8%, for a combined 29.2% share of total LJSE turnover. Among other intermediaries, BKS Bank ranked second (17.8% share), followed by Nova Ljubljanska Banka (12.6%), Ilirika (10.9%) and OTP Banka (10.2%).

LJSE Q1 Turnover segments (Q1 2023-Q1 2026)

Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research

Trading intensity on LJSE strengthened more sharply than the headline turnover figure suggests. The number of stock trades almost doubled, climbing 85.2% YoY to 26,297, while stock volumes were up 26.9%. The implied average trade size on the order book moved from around EUR 11,500 in Q1 2025 to roughly EUR 7,500 in Q1 2026, indicating that the increase in activity came primarily through a higher number of smaller trades rather than larger individual tickets. Stock market capitalisation rose 39.8% YoY to EUR 19.9bn, comfortably outpacing the SBITOPtr index gain of 8.8% over the same period and reflecting a broader contribution from non-index names and overall valuation expansion.

By segment, the Prime Market remained the core of the exchange, with turnover up 14.6% YoY to EUR 186.4m and the number of trades up 48.5%. The Standard Market, although small in absolute terms, saw an outsized increase, with turnover rising more than seven-fold to EUR 9.7m and the number of trades climbing from 330 to 5,707. The bulk of this jump can be traced to a single name, Salus, which moved up significantly in the rankings (see below).

Krka (KRKG) again held the top spot with EUR 62.9m of turnover, although its activity actually declined 11.6% YoY despite a 14.8% increase in the share price over the quarter. KRKG accounted for 32.1% of total stock turnover on LJSE, a level of concentration broadly comparable to that observed for KOEI on the ZSE. NLB (NLBR) followed with EUR 56.5m, up 24.1% YoY, with the price up 14.5% in the quarter. Together, KRKG and NLBR accounted for around 60.9% of total LJSE stock turnover, underlining how dependent the Slovenian market remains on its two largest names.

The third-placed name was Petrol (PETG) at EUR 19.5m (+13.7% YoY), followed by Zavarovalnica Triglav (EUR 15.1m, +71.7%) and Luka Koper (EUR 10.8m, +204.7%). Other notable names included Sava Re (EUR 9.4m, +5.4%), Salus (EUR 7.7m, up from EUR 0.6m a year earlier and the main driver of the Standard Market jump), Telekom Slovenije (EUR 6.8m, +96.1%), Cinkarna Celje (EUR 5.4m, +29.1%) and Vzajemna (EUR 1.8m). Collectively, the top 5 names accounted for around 84.0% of total stock turnover, while the top 10 effectively captured almost all order book activity, underscoring the still concentrated nature of liquidity on the Ljubljana market.

LJSE Q1 Stocks Trading Intensity (Q1 2023-Q1 2026)

Source: ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

Price action across LJSE blue chips was generally supportive of the turnover expansion, with most names posting positive YoY moves over the quarter, including Krka (+14.8%), NLB (+14.5%), Luka Koper (+20.8%), Sava Re (+22.6%), Salus (+22.5%), Telekom Slovenije (+22.7%) and Triglav (+3.0%). Petrol (–3.1%) and Cinkarna Celje (–10.8%) were the main exceptions among top traded names.

Q1 2026 turnover figures suggest that the momentum built up during 2025 is carrying into 2026, with both exchanges posting double-digit growth across their main equity segments. The composition of that growth differs across the two markets: on the ZSE, expansion was supported by both order book activity and a sharp pick-up in equity block trades, while on the LJSE, growth came predominantly through a higher number of order book trades, with block activity moving in the opposite direction. Concentration in a handful of large names, KOEI on the ZSE and Krka and NLB on the LJSE, remains a defining feature of regional (i)liquidity.

Q1 2026 earnings season is now largely behind the Croatian market, with reported results broadly in line with expectations across the main listings. Detailed commentary and analysis on individual Croatian Q1 2026 results can be found here. The Slovenian reporting cycle is the next to come, and combined with dividend proposals and approvals already being announced across the region, both should continue to provide meaningful support to trading activity in the coming weeks. Should the broader earnings picture remain consistent with fundamentals, the trajectory established in 2025 and confirmed in Q1 2026 has reasonable scope to extend through Q2 and into the remainder of 2026. As always, the precise pace will ultimately depend on the interplay between regional fundamentals and a global backdrop that, for the moment, remains anything but calm.

On a related note, our colleagues at InterCapital ETF are preparing to launch a new Polish ETF in the coming period, broadening the range of regional investment products available on the local market and providing an additional layer of trading activity in the quarters ahead. This represents another constructive step for regional capital markets, and for any questions or further information on the new product, feel free to reach out at [email protected].

At InterCapital, we take pride in our role as the leading broker and market maker across both Croatia and Slovenia, as well as the sole ETF provider in the region, and we look forward to supporting investors through what is shaping up to be another constructive year for regional capital markets