NYSE Alternext Celebrates 5th Birthday
Wednesday, May 19, 2010

NYSE Euronext has celebrated the fifth anniversary of the Paris-based NYSE Alternext, an exchange-regulated market with lighter regulatory requirements that is tailor-made for small and medium-size businesses.

Launched on 17 May 2005, NYSE Alternext is designed to offer SMEs easier access to the stock market. Listing and trading requirements are simplified and thus satisfy investors' need for transparency and controlled disclosure. NYSE Alternext has proven a growing success from the start, providing small and medium-sized businesses from all sectors with effective support at each stage in their development.

133 companies are currently listed on NYSE Alternext, for a total market capitalization of EUR4.4bn. Since the launch of NYSE Alternext, they have raised a total of EUR2.3bn, half of this through secondary issues (capital increases, etc.).

Companies listed on NYSE Alternext represent a wide variety of sectors, including, among others, industry, technology and telecommunication, finance, consumer services and healthcare.

In 2009, turnover reported by NYSE Alternext companies averaged EUR39m. Forecasts for a sample group of 70 companies provide an estimated average of EUR66m in 2010, representing a 69% annual rise in the turnover of the small- and medium-size business listed with NYSE Alternext.

Within the framework of a Paris financial community initiative launched by Christine Lagarde, France's Minister for the Economy and Finance, two market segments were created —Public Offering and Private Placement—to distinguish companies listed by private placement from those listed by public offering and make this market more transparent for investors.

The majority of listings since 2005 have been through public offerings, which accounted for 86 of the total, compared with 34 private placements and 31 direct admissions. Three listings with public offerings were made at the beginning of 2010, marking a return to favour for this procedure despite the difficult environment. In addition, the minimum amount of private placements for admission to NYSE Alternext was reduced to EUR2.5m. Adopted at the beginning of this year, these two measures will broaden access to market financing for smaller businesses, while at the same time providing investors with a clearer view of market liquidity.

Two indices are available on NYSE Alternext, providing management tools for investors and enhancing the visibility of component stocks. These are the Alternext All Share index, which comprises all companies listed on this market, and the NYSE Alternext OSEO Innovation index, representing the listed companies that have won recognition from OSEO as “innovative businesses”.

Since last November companies listed with NYSE Alternext have also benefited from realtime listing and trading information flows from ExpertLine, a push and pull communications platform based in NYSE Euronext's European operations room in Paris.

There are close to 1,700 daily trades on NYSE Alternext, representing a total amount of EUR4.7m, with order size averaging EUR2,800 over five years.

NYSE Euronext says that since its launch, NYSE Alternext has attracted more and more investors keen to diversify their portfolios. The market's international reach is illustrated by the presence of 140 institutional investors from 15 countries. Investors are being drawn from across Europe as well as the United States in growing numbers.

“We are very proud and happy to be celebrating the fifth anniversary of NYSE Alternext, which has proven increasingly effective in serving small and medium-size businesses seeking new resources for continued growth,” comments Dominique Cerutti, NYSE Euronext's Deputy CEO. “SMEs play a pivotal role for the European economy and NYSE Euronext, which is especially committed to support for them, will be continuing action to ease their access to capital markets.”