In the 9 months since the beginning of 2023, the total equity turnover, excl. blocks amounted to EUR 220m in Slovenia, while the average daily turnover amounted to EUR 1.1m. Meanwhile, the most traded stocks, Krka, NLB, and Triglav, accounted for 68% of the total equity turnover, on average.
In today’s analysis, we looked at the equity turnover development on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. We’ll analyze the overall turnover, average daily turnover, as well as the most traded stocks during 2023.
Equity turnover by months on LJSE (January 2023 – September 2023, EURm)
Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research
As we can see in the graph above, the equity block turnover has been somewhat low this year, accounting for app. 7% of the total equity turnover in 2023 and some months even recording 0 transactions. As such, the majority of the transactions happened on the exchange, with an average daily turnover of app. EUR 1.1m. During the period, the total working days amounted to 188, while the monthly average amounted to 21 days.
Average daily turnover each month on the LJSE (January 2023 – September 2023, EURm)
Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research
Delving deeper into this, the average daily turnover started quite slowly in 2023 but picked up pace in the middle of the year, and reached a peak of EUR 1.67m in August 2023. This was to be expected, as the end of July, and August recorded storms and floodings in Slovenia, which had a direct and indirect impact on many of the listed companies. Moving on to the most traded stocks, Krka recorded by far the largest turnover, at EUR 82.9m, or 38% of the total equity turnover. Following them there is NLB at EUR 49.8m, or 23%, and Triglav, at EUR 15.9m, or 7% of the total.
Top 3 most traded stocks by months (January 2023 – September 2023, EURm)
| wdt_ID | Ticker | Most traded stock | 2nd most traded stock | 3rd most traded stock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jan-23 | NLB | Krka | Cinkarna Celje |
| 2 | Feb-23 | Krka | NLB | Triglav |
| 3 | Mar-23 | Krka | NLB | Triglav |
| 4 | Apr-23 | Krka | NLB | Cinkarna Celje |
| 5 | May-23 | Krka | NLB | Triglav |
| 6 | Jun-23 | Krka | NLB | Triglav |
| 7 | Jul-23 | Krka | NLB | Luka Koper |
| 8 | Aug-23 | Krka | Triglav | NLB |
| 9 | Sep-23 | Krka | NLB | Triglav |
Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research
Of course, it has to be noted that, unlike the Zagreb Stock Exchange where there are many different companies listed, the number of companies listed in Slovenia is rather small. As such, the turnover is more concentrated in the most well-known and liquid stocks. Besides the amount traded, it is also prudent to look at the times when these stocks were the most traded. Krka again takes the cake here, being the most traded stock for 8 out of 9 months observed. Following them is of course NLB, which was the most traded stock in January, the 2nd most traded stock in 7 other months, and the 3rd most traded stock during one month. Moving on, we have Triglav, which had 1 month when it was the 2nd most traded stock and 5 months when it was the 3rd most traded stock. Cinkarna Celje and Luka Koper also held spots as the 3rd most traded stock, Cinkarna for 2 months and Luka Koper for 1 month, respectively.
Performance of Slovenian blue chip companies (9M 2023, 2023 YTD, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
In terms of how this reflected on performance, Luka Koper recorded a 26% return in 9M 2023 and a 25% return in 2023 YTD. Following them are Krka and NLB, both at 19% return in 9M 2023, but on a YTD basis, NLB still managed to achieve a 19% return, while Krka’s return was reduced to 17%. On the other hand, Triglav recorded a 12% decline in share price on a 9M 2023 basis and a 14% decline on a YTD basis. As we can see here, other factors can influence the returns of the stocks, but as a general rule, the most traded stocks usually over time end up either one of the best or worst performers, depending on the macroeconomic environment, the company itself, and a myriad of other variables.
