We are extremely proud to announce that InterCapital has been awarded the Member of the Year award by the Zagreb Stock Exchange and Ljubljana Stock Exchange in 2023, for the 12th and 5th consecutive year, respectively.
Zagreb Stock Exchange
In Croatia, the award resulted from our combined market share of 27% of equity and ETF trading. Furthermore, the award also came due to our continuous research activities, and the contribution of our market-making mandates.
2023 recorded the listing of 2 new ETFs on ZSE. Firstly, 7BET, which tracks the movements of the total return version of the main Romanian index BET-TR. Due to the popularity and growth of the Romanian blue chips, the 7BET ETF has managed to achieve a return of over 26% since its listing in June! Secondly, the listing of 7CASH took place, an ETF that tracks the Euro Money Market and provides attractive returns of 3.65% per annum.
Besides these two ETFs, InterCapital also acts as a market maker for 7CRO and 7SLO, ETFs tracking the movements of Croatian (CROBEX10tr) and Slovenian (SBITOPtr) indices. Furthermore, InterCapital acts as a market maker for 9 Croatian issuers: AD Plastik, Adris Grupa (both regular and preferred stocks), Arena Hospitality Group, Hrvatski Telekom, Končar, Podravka, Valamar Riviera, and Span. The overall aim of the market-making services is to improve liquidity as well as to lower the spread, with the goal of improving trading activities for both retail and institutional investors.
At the same time, this achievement comes on the back of our ongoing investment into a fully independent research team and a securities promotion platform, together with the aim of providing our clients with an in-depth, comprehensive, and forward-looking analysis of the best quality investment opportunities in the region. Currently, our research team covers 15 Croatian issuers: AD Plastik, Adris Grupa, Atlantic Grupa, Arena Hospitality Group, Atlantska Plovidba, Ericsson NT, Hrvatski Telekom, Končar, Podravka, Valamar Riviera, Span, Zagrebačka banka, HPB, Maistra, Croatia osiguranje.
We would like to wholeheartedly thank the Zagreb Stock Exchange for the honor of being the Member of the Year for every consecutive year since the inception of the Award in 2012. We strongly believe that this award indicates the validity of our strategy, that is, to constantly promote the Croatian capital market, through the dedication of all of our employees.
Ljubljana Stock Exchange
In Slovenia, the award came as a result of our 28% equity market share, which was further supported by our continued research activities and the contribution of the market-making mandates.
In 2019, InterCapital became the inaugural provider of market-making services in Slovenia for the first time since 2008. From that point, we have expanded our coverage of Slovenian blue chips, and at the moment, we provide market-making services to the majority of Slovenian blue chips, including Krka, Petrol, NLB, Triglav, Sava Re, and Cinkarna Celje. Furthermore, InterCapital provides market-making services to the ICCRO (CROBEX10tr) and ICSLO (SBITOPtr) ETFs.
Besides market-making, the award also came as a result of our continuous investments into a fully independent research team, focused on regional equity, a securities promotion platform, with a goal of providing our clients with the highest quality research. At the moment, our research team covers all the Slovenian blue chips. We would like to once again express our gratitude for receiving the Ljubljana Stock Exchange Member of the Year award for 2023.
For both Slovenia and Croatia, 2023 has been a year of challenges but also hope. Furthermore, we would like to note that these awards could not have been achieved without our clients and partners, combined with the trust that they put into our services, our level of professionalism, and our drive to continually improve the regional capital markets. As such, we are tremendously proud to be recognized as the leading broker in Croatia and Slovenia. There are many challenges ahead, but in each challenge lies an opportunity – an opportunity for continued growth and development.
By the end of November 2023, the Slovenian mutual funds AUM grew by 7.2% MoM, 18.5% YTD, and 12.8% YoY.
The latest report on the performance of the Slovenian mutual funds, for the month of November 2023 has been released by the Slovenian Securities Market Agency, ATVP. According to the report, the total AUM of Slovenian mutual funds amounted to EUR 4.69bn, growing by 7.2% MoM, 18.5% YTD and 12.8% YoY. This represents the largest MoM growth since November 2020, leading to the mutual funds recording all-time highs on many metrics.
Breaking down the drivers of this growth, on a MoM basis, the largest absolute increase was recorded by shares, which grew by a whopping EUR 261.7m, or 8.5%. Following them, there are bonds, which recorded an increase of EUR 32.7m, or 4.6%, other assets, which increased by EUR 18.3m, or 123%, and cash, which grew by EUR 17.4m, or 9.2%. On the other hand, investment funds recorded a slight decrease of EUR 2.2m, or 8.3%. Moving on to the YoY basis, here the largest increase was once again recorded by shares, which grew by EUR 414m, or 14.2%, followed by bonds at EUR 99m, or 15.4%, and money market holdings, at EUR 52m, or 80%. All other asset holdings remained roughly the same.
Total assets of Slovenian mutual funds (June 2007 – November 2023, EURm)
Source: ATVP, InterCapital Research
Of course, the increase/decrease in the value of these assets inside the funds can be due to several reasons, including the change in the inherent value of the assets, the decisions of the fund managers to allocate more/less into certain assets, and the net contributions to the funds. During November, the net contributions amounted to EUR 46.7m, growing by 2% MoM, and almost 3.7x YoY. On the trailling 12 months basis, the net contributions amounted to EUR 324.1m, a 27.5% increase compared to the same period last year. Also, the number of subscribers kept growing, increasing by 0.4% MoM, and 4.1% YoY, amounting to 529.1k. As such, it could be said that the increase in the value of the funds came from both higher levels of investments from Slovenians, which given the improved economic outlook (for example, the expectation that the ECB might start cutting rates sooner after they decided to postpone rate hike on their last meeting) is a positive development.
Net contributions into the Slovenian mutual funds (January 2016 – November 2023, EURm)
Source: ATVP, InterCapital Research
Delving a little deeper into the largest category of mutual funds, i.e. share holdings, we can see a trend continuing. If we were to break down the equity securities by origin (home issuers or foreign issuers), then we can see that the investments into home issuers’ equity securities are continuing, but they are still a very small part of the entire investment. In fact, in November 2023, the home issuers’ equity securities amounted to EUR 55.3m, representing 1.7% of the total, whilst growing by 0.4% MoM and declining by 3.4% YoY. On the flipside, foreign issuers equity securities amounted to EUR 3.28bn, increasing by 8.6% MoM, and 14.5% YoY.
Equity holdings of Slovenian UCITS funds (October 2007 – November 2023, EURm)
Source: ATVP, InterCapital Research
Finally, taking a look at the current asset structure of these funds, shares still hold the vast majority at 71.3% of the total, growing by 0.87 p.p. MoM, and 0.84 p.p. YoY. The 2nd largest category, bonds, currently hold 15.9% of the total, declining by 0.39 p.p. MoM, but increasing by 0.36 p.p. YoY. Following them there are money market, deposits, and cash holdings at 7.1%, remaining roughly unchanged MoM, but declining by 0.15 p.p. YoY, and investment funds at 5%, which recorded a decrease of 0.85 p.p. MoM, but an increase of 0.36 p.p. YoY.
Taking all of this data together, it would seem that the growth was primarily driven by equity increases, and more specifically, foreign issuers equity securities, but also supported by continued investments coming from Slovenians. As the economic situation improves, and the possibility of interest rate cuts looms, the sentiment is of course more positive than it has been for most of the year. As such, if this trend continues, one could also see further development and growth of the AUM of these funds.
Here you can find the dates for the upcoming events of the regional companies
| wdt_ID | Date | Ticker | Announcement | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 15.12.2023 | PETG | Petrol 2024 Business plan and key targets | Slovenia |
| 5 | 15.12.2023 | ATPL | Atlantska Plovidba 2024 Events Calendar | Croatia |
Due to the nature of these events, they are subject to change (might be postponed or canceled).