In August 2023, the total equity turnover on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange increased by 36.4% MoM (68.8% YoY), while SBITOP declined by 7.7% MoM, ending at 1,159.46 points. On a YTD level, LJSE experienced solid recovery with SBITOP increasing by as much as 10.7%.
The total equity turnover on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange amounted to EUR 36.4m, representing an increase of 68.8% YoY, and 36.3% MoM. This would also mean that the average daily turnover in August amounted to EUR 1.58m. In terms of the indices, Slovenia’s main index, SBITOP, decreased 7.7% MoM during August and ended the month at 1,159.46 points. At the same time, SBITOP TR declined by 5.9% MoM, ending the month at 1,548.41 points.
Monthly equity turnover on LJSE (January 2022 – August 2023, EURm)
Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research
Looking at equity turnover, the largest turnover was recorded by Krka, with a turnover of EUR 14.5m (or 39.9% of the total equity turnover for the month), followed by Triglav, at EUR 6m (or 16.6% of the total), NLB at EUR 5.8m, and Petrol at EUR 3.5m. In fact, this would mean that the top 5 most traded stocks accounted for 89.3% of the total turnover, while the top 10 would account for as much as 99.7%.
Taking a look at the SBITOP constituents’ performance in August, we can see that all except one recorded decreases, with only Equinox recording a slight 0.8% growth. The largest decrease was recorded by Triglav and Petrol, at 14% and 10.6%, respectively, followed by Krka at 8.3%, Luka Koper at 7.6%, Cinkarna at 6.5%, and Sava Re at 5.9%. August in Slovenia was marked by the floods which caused significant damage and thus caused higher claims to insurance companies, which meant that a strong decline in profitability by the end of the year would be recorded. Cinkarna was also directly affected by this, albeit to a lesser extent compared to the insurance companies. If you would like to read more about this, click here. August is also the month when the majority of the Slovenian companies publish their H1 results. Even though some of them recorded positive developments in terms of sales (Krka, NLB, Sava Re, and Triglav), and op. profitability (Krka, Petrol), the overall negative sentiment was still strong enough to drive the prices down despite this, resulting in the overall decline in share prices across most of the Slovenian blue chips.
Performance of SBITOP constituents (August 2023, MoM, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
Moving on to the YTD performance, we can notice a more positive picture, with 6 out 9 SBITOP constituents recording growth, 2 remaining flat (Cinkarna and Equinox), and only Triglav recording a decline of 14.2%. The largest increases were recorded by Luka Koper at 26.2%, followed by NLB at 24.7%, Krka at 13.6%, Petrol at 10%, and Sava Re at 6.3%. It should be noted that the overall sentiment on the market in 2022 was quite negative, due to the high inflation rates and thus the interest rate hikes by ECB. This directly influenced the companies as prices of labor and services increased and borrowing costs were higher. Lower valuations are a result of interest rate hikes, as well as higher investment risk for investors due to these changes. As such, the growth recorded in 2023 YTD is more of a return to previous levels as most of these companies recorded a decline in their share price in 2022.
Performance of SBITOP constituents (2023 YTD, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
