Roundtable: “Going public – Why no one breaks the ice”

Macedonian Stock Exchange Posted

On November 23, 2022, in the organization of the Macedonian Stock Exchange, was held a Roundtable on the topic “Going public – Why no one breaks the ice”.

The event, which took place in the Cineplexx cinema, began with presentation of the results of a survey conducted on the potential of the Macedonian securities market (views of the companies for transformation into AD, IPO and stock exchange listing), which was conducted by the agency Stratum R&D for the needs of the Stock Exchange.

The general conclusions of the survey are that a larger percentage of the surveyed companies (51%) are not ready to allow the dilution of ownership due to the participation of third parties in their capital, as well as that a certain percentage of companies (39%) perceive the required transparency, in accordance with the regulation in the area of securities, as a negative from their point of view. The research showed that about three quarters of the companies are not currently thinking about transformation into joint stock companies and simultaneous raising of capital. Also, a large percentage of the companies (65%), despite multi-year educational programs and information campaigns, are not familiar with the functioning of the country’s capital market in general and the stock market in particular. Regarding the image of the Macedonian Stock Exchange, the survey showed that the respondents gave a high average score for the professionalism and seriousness of the institution, that it achieves good cooperation with other financial institutions in the country and that it can be one of the leading institutions for dynamization and further development of the capital market.

The complete and detailed results of this survey are available at the following link. 

The Chief Executive Officer of the Macedonian Stock Exchange, Ivan Shteriev, who was also the moderator of the round table, in his opening address, he opened the debate by stating that the results of the research are in fact a confirmation of what has been intuitively and experientially identified for years – the companies’ knowledge of the possibilities that the financing market offers are still at a very low level and that there are additionally a series of objective, but also irrational dilemmas and fears, with the most egregious being the issue of the so-called ownership dilution. The director of the Stock Exchange emphasized that this is a topic that has been talked about many times, but that the mission of the Stock Exchange is to constantly open this issue and return to it cyclically, bearing in mind that the economic relations and conditions in the society are changing and becoming more mature.

At the round table on the topics of knowledge, interest, misconceptions and expectations of companies related to shareholding, new issues of securities and stock exchange listing discussed Dusan Pecovski, General Director of “Replek” AD Skopje, Goran Antevski, General Manager of “Rade Konchar-TEP” DOOEL Skopje, Nina Angelovska, Director of International Development at “Ananas E-commerce” and Goran Gjorgjievski, Founder and Manager of ” Special – Product” LLC Skopje.

At the panel discussion, the prevailing views were that there is insufficient information about the possibilities of raising capital on the stock market, which still indicates a low investment culture. In addition, it was emphasized that the health and energy crisis influenced companies not currently consider the capital market as an alternative for financing, but that things are expected to change in the medium term.

The entire video material from the event is available on the website of the Macedonian Stock Exchange through the following link.