It is „only“ mid-February and Slovenian blue chips have already reported outstanding performance, resulting in a double-digit return of SBITOP as a whole, which amounted to 12.8%.
Since the start of the year, Slovenian blue chips noted an exceptional performance resulting in an overall SBITOP return of 12.8%. Almost each SBITOP constituent noted performance in green, while the majority of them reported strong double-digit performance. This resulted in SBITOP outperforming both regional CROBEX10 and global S&P 500 & DAX with the mentioned 12.8% increase.
Comparison of indices performance
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
Strong SBITOP performance was driven by both heavyweight and the companies below with <5% of the composition further amplifying the index’s performance. The most significant individual impact was reported by the two biggest heavyweights: Krka and Petrol, which noted an increase of 15.2% and 14.5% since the beginning of the year. We note that these companies together account for c. 50% of SBITOP’s weighting. Further, the „green“ development was amplified by almost every other constituent. The biggest increase in share price was noted by Cinkarna Celje with an exceptional double-digit return of 21.7%. Also, Telekom Slovenije noted a 14.4% increase, followed by NLB and Sava Re with 11.9% and 11.2% increases, respectively. Triglav, too, noted a solid performance with an 8.7% return. We note the only SBITOP constituent to have a negative share price development was Equinox with a 4% share price decline.
Performance of SBITOP constituents (YTD, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
All in all, Ljubljana Stock Exchange showed a positive sentiment in 2023 so far. We note that these elevated returns in a short period of time might not be surprising for the Slovenian market due to its attractive valuation positioning, which is something we emphasize from time to time. However, due to a few structural stock exchange headwinds, it is always reinsuring to actually witness a performance like this one.
