BISX PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION
BISX CHIEF EXECUTIVE COMMENTS ON MARKET
The Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) is pleased to present commentary from the BISX Chief Executive Officer, Keith Davies on the BISX Q3 Statistical Report.
BISX ALL SHARE INDEX
For the nine month period ending September 30, 2009 the BISX All Share Index closed at 1501.78, which represented a year to date decrease of 210.58 points or -12.30%. By comparison; for the nine month period ending September 30, 2008 the BISX All Share Index closed at 1836.61 which represented a year to date decrease of 230.14 or -11.14%. The BISX All Share Index is a market capitalization weighted index comprised of all primary market listings excluding debt securities.
Speaking about the decline in the Index, Mr. Davies noted: “The continued decline of the BISX-All Share Index is obviously of concern to us. However, we were encouraged by the fact that the 9 month point decline in the Index for 2009 is less than the point decline over the comparable period of 2008.”
BISX also maintains a Free-Float Index which is a market capitalization weighted index comprised of stock in BISX-listed securities that is held by the general public. The Free-Float Index excludes ownership stakes held by substantial shareholders, officers and directors. Keith Davies described the creation of the Free-Float Index; “We developed the Free Float Index to keep track of changes in the relative value of securities that are actually available to the general public. Many of our companies have large substantial shareholders who rarely; if ever, change their shareholdings. The Free-Float Index helps us to ignore these shareholders and focus on the smaller everyday investors who are such a critical part of our market.”
During the Nine Month period ending September 30, 2009 the Free-Float Index declined by 148.24 points or 16.5%.
COMPARISON OF BISX ALL SHARE INDEX TO INTERNATIONAL INDICES
Over the 9 month period January to September 30, 2009, the BISX All Share Index was out-performed by many of the other international Indices. However, it must be borne in mind that if you compare the date when the BISX All-Share Index hit its peak (December 21, 2007) to the present, the All-Share Index has performed at the same level as most other indices.”
“In addition for the nine months following the December 21, 2007 peak BISX outperformed most international indices. What we have found in our experience is that our Index tends to lag international indices by about nine months. Based on this time lag that we have noticed we expect to see some turnaround in the BISX All-Share Index in the early portion of next year.”
Indices Comparison December 31, 2008 to September 30, 2009
MSCI Emerging Market Index 61.2%
S&P 5000 Index 17.0%
FTSE 100 Index 15.7%
BISX All Share Index -12.3%
Indices Comparison From BISX Peak (December 21, 2007) to September 30, 2009
MSCI Emerging Market Index -24.83%
S&P 5000 Index -28.79%
FTSE 100 Index -20.21%
BISX All Share Index -27.54%
Indices Comparison From BISX Peak (December 21, 2007) to September 30, 2008
MSCI Emerging Market Index -35.29%
S&P 5000 Index -21.43%
FTSE 100 Index -23.80%
BISX All Share Index -11.39%
TRADING VOLUMES AND VALUES
The number of trades for the Q3 2009 quarter has increased with 323 trades taking place over this period compared to 209 in the second quarter of 2009. The increase in trades per quarter followed a period of gradual declines in trades per quarter.
Addressing this fact, Mr. Davies also noted that the average value of trades in this quarter had declined compared to the previous quarter: “Some may view the decline in the average value of each trade in this quarter as a negative statistic, however there is a heartening note in that larger valued trades often are carried out by institutional investors trading large volumes of securities. We believe the decrease in value per trade for this quarter is indicative of the fact that smaller investors are once again entering the market compared to the previous quarter. The average value of a trade in Q3, 2009 was $17,593.33 compared to $25,669.91 in Q2, 2009.”
SECONDARY ISSUES
Keith Davies also addressed the performance of secondary issues listed on the Exchange. “At BISX we are very happy with the performance of the secondary issues that were listed on the Exchange over the course of last year. As we have stated in the past, market participants have come to BISX and noted that they believe the Exchange is the best location for the trading of secondary issues. This is indicative of the fact that investors in these securities realize the best value in terms of ease of transactions, liquidity and pricing by being listed on a regulated exchange. In addition, the process of being listed on an exchange allows institutional investors the opportunity to invest in securities that they may otherwise be barred from investing in. Issuers who list their secondary securities are paying attention to the needs of the market place and their investors.”
BISX continues to offer its services to secondary issues that remain unlisted.
Share Volume Leaders
FCLB the Class B Preference Shares of Freeport Oil Holdings Company Ltd. (FOCOL) was the sixth most traded BISX security by share volume trading 167,000 shares over the 9 month period of 2009 or 6.4% of total share volume traded over the Exchange. Based on empirical information, it is doubtful that this high a volume would have been possible from an unlisted security. These investors experienced definite gains from FOCOL’s decision to list these preference shares on the Exchange.
RANK SYMBOL VOLUME % OF TOTAL VOLUME
1 CBL 530,590 20.5%
2 AML 459,420 17.7%
3 FCL 293,026 11.3%
4 DHS 199,380 7.7%
5 CIB 178,129 6.9%
6 FCLB 167,000 6.4%
7 CAB 164,751 6.4%
8 ICD 151,103 5.8%
9 CWCB 142,647 5.5%
10 FIN 126,703 4.9%
Share Value Leaders
The Fidelity Bank Bahamas Medium Term Bond Notes; FBB13, FBB15, FBB17 and FBB22 as a combined security would have had the sixth highest value traded on the Exchange. This is extraordinary when you consider that the total market capitalization of these four securities is only $25 million. With at total traded value of $1,009,000.00 these securities had a very high turnover over the course of this year.
RANK SYMBOL VALUE % OF TOTAL VALUE
1 CBL $ 3,309,012.42 23.0%
2 CAB $ 1,888,035.65 13.1%
3 CIB $ 1,837,421.10 12.8%
4 FCL $ 1,469,230.20 10.2%
5 FIN $ 1,356,965.11 9.4%
6 FBB Notes $ 1,009,000.00 7.0%
7 ICD $ 832,225.01 5.8%
8 BOB $ 804,745.60 5.6%
9 FBB15 $ 740,000.00 5.1%
10 AML $ 613,975.01 4.3%
For Additional Information Contact
Holland Grant
BISX Listing Manager
Tel: 242-323-2330
Fax: 242-323-2320
Email: info@bisxbahamas.com
