2022 was a real roller-coaster for all those present on the capital market, not only in Romania, but globally. The conflict in Ukraine, the central banks fighting the galloping inflation have redrawn all the business plans of the companies, which reflected primarily in the evolution of the prices of all financial assets.
I am happy to say that the Bucharest stock exchange showed resilience, at the level of the indices, the setbacks recorded were smaller than those recorded by most markets in the region. However, even in this environment of uncertainty, we saw a few companies that brought returns above inflation, namely Transgaz (23%), BVB (42%) and Romcarbon (63%). These returns also include also the dividends.
What is gratifying is that financing rounds through the capital market carried on, albeit at a slower pace than in 2021: 42 rounds with a value of 1.9 billion euros. Thus, as a number we were close to 2/3 of the historical maximum recorded in 2021 (68 rounds), and as a value we were very close to the peak of 2 billion euros reached also in 2021. This shows that investors are still active on the primary market and support the ongoing financing rounds. The part where there are still some challenges we have to face is related to the liquidity in the secondary market, because we see a cautiousness of investors to be more active in trading. It is not an exit from the market, but rather a shift to hold positions.
The resilience of the Romanian market, the consistent dividends that the companies have distributed over time, as well as the proposals announced so far, and the Hidroelectrica IPO are among the most important assets of the local market capital on the screens of foreign investors.
Moreover, the Romanian market has performed very well in recent years, compared to the indices of emerging or frontier markets. Just as an example, the Romanian BET index has grown by 127% in the last 10 years (December 2012 - December 2022), a much better dynamic than those recorded by the FTSE Global All Cap (+79%), FTSE Frontier (-3.4 %) or FTSE Emerging (-6.1%).
An easier and lower tax regime on trades carried on the Romanian stock market.
140 Years Anniversary
BVB started to initiate regional partnerships
BVB shares rose by 42% in 2022, having the best performance out of the 20 shares included in BVB’s main index BET the number of retail investors rose by more than 60%.
Resilience
All BVB’s employees, as we work as a team.