This week will mark exactly 1 year since the listing of the first ETFs on the Zagreb Stock Exchange. In today’s blog we decided to look back on what can be considered as a very successful year for both ETFs.

Wednesday will mark the 1 year anniversary of the listing of first ETFs on the ZSE. To be specific, 2 ETFs were listed on 17th November 2020, making it arguably the most notable event (aside from the pandemic) on ZSE in 2020. The ETFs (7CRO and 7SLO), listed by InterCapital Asset Management, showed in that period very solid levels of liquidity, a constantly rising market cap and above all – a great performance.

Here are a couple of facts about 7CRO and 7SLO ETFs.

Since their listing:

• The market cap of combined ETFs reached HRK 60m
• 7SLO’s iNAV reached more than 150 (showing a 50% YoY increase)
• 7CRO’s iNAV reached close to 120 (showing a 20% YoY increase)
• Total turnover on both ETFs reached more than HRK 60m
• The ETFs successfully tracked both SBITOP and CROBEX10 indices.

Performance of 7CRO and 7SLO Since Inception*

*showing bid price

Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research

All of the above stated only confirms that the ETFs were a great success on the domestic stock exchange. In the last year, 7SLO ETF has noted an exceptional performance showing an increase of c. 50%. To put things into a perspective, this indicates an outperformance of virtually every global equity index (such as S&P500, Nasdaq100, Dow Jones or DAX). We have already written quite a few blog posts on the reasons of such a stellar performance of 7SLO which can be found on our web. At the same time, 7CRO has noted a very solid increase of as much as 20%, despite having a high weight in tourism sector, which was quite affected by the pandemic.  

When looking at the best performing constituent among both indices, one can note that Atlantska Plovidba showed the highest increase since the inception of the fund of as much as 159%. However, one should note that ATPL entered CROBEX10 index following the revision back in September 2021. Meanwhile, Podravka was the best performing stock (+39%) which has been in the index since the inception of the fund.

In Slovenia, NLB showed a strong increase of 105%, making it the best perfoming stock in 7SLO.

After a year we can conclude that the ETFs have so far achieved all the set goals and thus enabled (especially retail) investors a very simple and efficient way to invest in the highest quality stocks in Croatia and Slovenia. Because of their simplicity, diversification and tax advantages, ETFs proved to be a very good savings vehicle.