In September 2023, the total equity turnover on the LJSE declined by 49% MoM, and 35% YoY. During the same period, the SBITOP recorded a 1.3% increase MoM, ending at 1,174.31 points. On a YTD basis, SBITOP increased by 12%.
Yesterday, the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, LJSE, published its latest monthly trading activity report, for the month of September 2023. According to the report, the total equity turnover on LJSE amounted to EUR 18.5m, representing a decline of 49% MoM, and 35% YoY. In terms of the average daily turnover, it amounted to EUR 865k during the month. Moving on, SBITOP recorded an increase of 1.28% MoM and ended at 1,174.31 points. Meanwhile, SBITOP TR ended the month at 1,568.10 points, an increase of 1.27% MoM.
Monthly equity turnover on LJSE (January 2022 – September 2023, EURm)
Source: LJSE, InterCapital Research
In terms of the most traded stocks, leading the way is Krka with a turnover of EUR 7.6m, representing 41% of the total equity turnover. Next up, there is NLB at 4.16m, or 22% of the total, Triglav at EUR 1.36m, or 7%, and Petrol, at EUR 1.1m, or 6%. Finally, there is Cinkarna Celje and Luka Koper, at EUR 985.3k (or 5.3% of the total), and EUR 843.7m (or 4.6%), respectively. This would also mean that the top 5 most traded stocks accounted for 82% of the total equity turnover, while the top 10 stocks accounted for 93% of the total.
Moving on to the performance of the SBITOP constituents during September, 5 out of 9 companies recorded an increase, while the remaining 4 recorded negative returns. The biggest gain was recorded by Equinox, with a 6% increase, followed by Krka at 4.8%, Petrol at 4.6%, and Triglav, at 2.7%. On the other hand, the largest decrease was recorded by NLB at 5.1%, followed by Cinkarna at 2.6%, and Sava Re, at 1.7%.
Performance of SBITOP constituents (September 2023, MoM, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
Meanwhile, on a YTD basis, the gains recorded are a lot more positive. Out of the observed companies, 7 recorded increases, while only 2 recorded negative returns. The largest increase was recorded by Luka Koper, at 26% YTD, followed by NLB at 19%, Krka at 17%, and Petrol at 15%. On the flipside, Triglav declined by 12%, while Cinkarna declined by 1%. The SBITOP index itself recorded a 12% growth YTD.
Performance of SBITOP constituents (2023 YTD, %)
Source: Bloomberg, InterCapital Research
Overall, 2023 thus far has proved to be quite good for Slovenian equity. Recently, there has been a decline in trading and even a decline across several stocks. This came as a result of firstly the flooding and natural disasters in Slovenia, but also news such as the total assets banking tax for Slovenian banks. As such, after the initial negative momentum, trading has been somewhat subdued, especially compared to what the average trading would be.
In August, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 21% YoY, totaling 787,626 units. Meanwhile, looking at the first eight months of 2023, EU registration of new cars increased by 17.9% YoY overall. In Croatia in the mentioned period, passenger car registration reported an increase of 34.6% YoY.
New total car registration per month
Source: ACEA, InterCapital Research
In August 2023, passenger car registration in the EU increased by 21% YoY, totaling 851,156 units. The largest increase reported in the EU in August was again in Germany, where the absolute increase amounted to 74.2k units, representing an increase of as much as 37.3% YoY increase! Germany is followed by France at 22.2k units (24.3% YoY). Next up is Italy where the increase was 8.5k (11.9% YoY). Finally, the last major region within the EU, Spain, reported the least pronounced growth of 4k units (7.8% YoY).
When observing the first eight months of 2023, the situation is pretty similar – EU registration of new cars increased by 17.9% YoY. However, the previous year was influenced by the semiconductor shortage, which started all the way back in 2021. Consequently, most EU markets showed strong growth compared to previous years. When observing the whole period, each of the major markets within the EU noted a positive development. Germany reported the most pronounced absolute growth (amounting to a relative 16.5% YoY), while the remaining major markets, Italy, France, and Spain all noted strong double-digit growth of 20.2%, 16.6%, and 20.5% respectively, coming both from low base effect & real recovery in the sector. Smaller regions mostly noted double-digit growth. In August, two countries reported a YoY decrease in units, Hungary (-3.3% YoY) and Sweden (-0.4% YoY).
Looking at the region, when observing the whole YTD period, Croatia reported an astounding increase of 34.6% YTD, amounting to a growth of 10.8k units. Slovenia reported slightly lower numbers, recording a 4.1% growth, amounting to 1.3k units.
New car registration by power source
Source: ACEA, InterCapital Research
During August, we could see the battery electric car market noted a big steep attention rise, climbing to 21% market share, representing a 9.4 p.p increase! Furthermore, hybrids now account for 23.9% of the market, being the second most popular choice. However, for now, petrol cars still retain the largest share at 32.7%, though we note it’s down 5 p.p. from data collected in August 2022.