Seven stock splits on the Zagreb and Ljubljana stock exchanges between 2018 and 2025 provide a useful test of what a lower share price changes in practice. Our estimates point to roughly twice as many trades per day and around 29% smaller transactions relative to control stocks. The largest activity increases came from previously thinly traded shares, while Euro turnover and quoted spreads changed less consistently.

A stock split increases the number of shares and reduces the price per share proportionately. A 1:10 split would turn one share priced at EUR 200 into ten shares priced at EUR 20, before subsequent market movements. The shareholder’s holding would still be worth EUR 200, so the split itself changes neither the company’s underlying business nor the investor’s percentage ownership.

A lower price can nevertheless make smaller purchases easier where investors buy whole shares. The question for trading is whether that change brings more transactions, more money through the order book, or better prices for buyers and sellers. These outcomes need to be measured separately.

Recent stock splits in Croatia and Slovenia

Source: Issuer announcements, ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

We compare each company’s trading with shares on the same exchange that did not split, using the 12 months before and after the event and excluding the split month. This helps account for broader market movements, while daily data provides a separate check around each split. Trade counts and euro turnover are more informative than unadjusted share volume, as after a 1:10 split, the same investment involves ten times as many shares even if investor behaviour is unchanged, so the rise in the number of shares traded can therefore be entirely mechanical.

Estimated changes in trades per day relative to control stocks (12-month windows, %)

Source: ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

12 months before and after each split, excluding the split month. Whiskers show approximate 95% confidence intervals. *Other corporate or trading changes coincided with the split. Percentage effects are approximate transformations of log-model estimates; data to 2 October 2026.

Salus and Bosqar recorded the largest increases relative to controls, approximately 598% and 416%. Atlantic Grupa showed a small increase, while Petrol’s estimate was negative. Shares with very low trading activity before the split generally recorded the largest gains.

Other changes complicate that pattern. Salus moved from call auctions to continuous trading and added a market maker around the same period. Bosqar experienced other corporate changes, and its market-making mandate ended in December 2025. Petrol’s pre-split period included exceptional trading during the energy crisis. The observed changes cannot all be attributed to the split alone.

The pooled estimate suggests approximately twice as many trades per day relative to controls. Seven events provide limited statistical power, and confidence depends on the testing method. A correction for small samples puts the p-value at about 0.056, just above the conventional 5% threshold. The estimate is not a forecast for the next issuer.

Trading around the split date (months from split, pre-split average = 100)

Source: ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

Monthly order-book activity per trading session, including zero-trade sessions. Each stock is indexed to its own pre-split 12-month mean. Controls are same-exchange sample stocks with no recorded split and complete trading-session coverage, equally weighted within each group, then the seven events are equally weighted. Month 0 is omitted. Descriptive averages are strongly influenced by Salus and Bosqar, which had concurrent changes; they are not the pooled model estimates.

The estimates also point to smaller transactions and more sessions with trading. Average transaction value was approximately 29% lower relative to controls, while the share of sessions with at least one trade was about 17 percentage points higher. More frequent, smaller transactions are consistent with broader participation. The data does not identify investors, so it cannot establish whether new retail investors entered the market.

Euro turnover shows a less clear pattern. Its pooled estimate is positive but imprecise, and the research does not establish a consistent increase. Trading can become more frequent while the amount invested in each transaction falls. More transactions therefore need not mean a proportionate increase in the money traded.

Median month-end quoted spreads before and after splits (12-month windows, % of mid-price)

Source: ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

12 months before and after each split, excluding the split month. *Salus also changed its trading model.

Quoted spreads also changed unevenly. Median month-end spreads narrowed in four cases and widened in three. The estimates relative to controls do not establish a clear overall reduction. These observations are snapshots of the gap between buying and selling quotes, rather than a complete measure of execution costs throughout each trading day.

The minimum price increment, or tick, helps explain why a lower share price need not produce a narrower spread as a percentage of price. European tick rules depend on both the share price and its liquidity band. A split changes where the share sits in the price grid. The percentage increment can rise, fall or remain similar.

Petrol's calculated tick represented approximately 0.21% of the share price before the split and 0.45% afterwards, using window-average prices and liquidity bands inferred from trading activity. Its median quoted spread nevertheless changed little, from about 1.12% to 1.06%. The lower nominal share price did not mechanically reduce the relative minimum price increment.

Market making across three continuously covered split cases (12-month windows)

Source: ZSE, LJSE, InterCapital Research

12 months before and after each split, excluding the split month

Market makers' turnover share fell at Atlantic Grupa and rose at Cinkarna Celje and Petrol. Their average quoted spreads also moved differently. Comparisons with controls do not establish a common change in participation. A turnover share is a relative measure and can rise when other trading declines.

The regional evidence associates splits with more frequent trading, particularly among previously thinly traded names. For subsequent splits, we would watch whether that increase persists and whether euro turnover and spreads improve alongside it, while accounting for changes in trading arrangements and market-making coverage.