Interest in the Warsaw floor is constantly on the rise. In 2007 more than 100 companies made a debut on the WSE, while in 2006 the number of new listings was 38. There are now 350 companies listed on the WSE, including 23 foreign ones. Half of the foreign companies listed in Warsaw last year.
The Warsaw exchange is a European leader in terms of new listings. With 81 debuts in 2007, WSE ranked second among Europe’s regulated markets and was only slightly behind the London Stock Exchange with 99 IPOs. Euronext (Eurolist) ranked third with 40 new listings in 2007. The Oslo Stock Exchange ranked fourth with 37 new entrants and OMX ranked fifth with 35 entrants. The year 2007 showed clearly that WSE is increasingly attractive not only to Polish issuers.
There are several reasons behind the success of the Warsaw trading floor. One of the most important ones is that the WSE maintains very high ethical and credibility standards, which is possible because companies listed in Warsaw comply with best practices.
Around 30 companies are likely to make a debut on the WSE Main List in the coming six months. Stock market analysts project that the number of new listings throughout 2008 may reach around 70, including up to 20 foreign companies and five Treasury-owned companies to be privatised through the stock market. Last year’s record, when the number of Main List entrants was 81, may be difficult to equal, though. The reason is that stock market conditions are now less favourable and several companies have postponed debuts that were to take place at the end of last year. WSE President Ludwik Sobolewski expects that the total number of listed companies will reach 400 in 2008 and 500 in 2009, and this growth trend should be sustained.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange is set to expand further. It will also see changes to its ownership structure and the introduction of new indices. More foreign companies from our region or perhaps even beyond will be listed on the Warsaw trading floor. Attempts will be made to form international alliances and there is every indication that the market will continue to grow fast.

Listings in 2007

– 105 debuts, including 24 listings on the NewConnect market and 12 foreign listings;
– record value of offerings: over PLN18.3 billion (Main List and New Connect);
– Immoeast: the largest public offering in the history of the Warsaw exchange worth PLN10.7 billion, of which Polish investors bought shares worth around PLN463 million;
– Silvano Fashion Group, the first Estonian company listed in Warsaw; WSE also saw first listings of companies from Italy, Spain, Cyprus and Sweden;
– LC Corp, the largest public offering of a private company in the history of WSE (PLN1.06 billion);
– Kernel Holding, the second Ukrainian company listed on the WSE; the offering worth over PLN500 million;
– UniCredit, the company with the largest capitalisation on the WSE – around PLN270 billion, or nearly as much as the total value of other foreign companies listed on the WSE (around PLN300 billion).

Foreign debuts in 2007

– Twelve foreign companies debuted in Warsaw in 2007;
– The value of foreign IPOs exceeded PLN13 billion; two thirds of the companies issued new shares in connection with their WSE debuts;
– The largest offering, worth over PLN10.7 billion, was that of Immoeast, followed by Orco Property Group (PLN652 million) and Kernel Holding (PLN546 million);
– WSE also saw debuts of companies from markets which had not been represented on the Warsaw floor before: two companies from Estonia, and companies from Italy, Spain and Sweden.