Press releases

• The book launch marks the end of the third edition of BVB's flagship program addressed to entrepreneurs in Romania
• A new Made in Romania edition will be launched soon and major international entrepreneurial companies will join BVB in the 4th edition

Made in Romania: BVB League, Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) flagship program addressed to Romanian companies, reached the end of the third edition, an event that is marked by the launch of the book "Made in Romania: 15 companies for the growth of the Romanian economy and their success stories". It is a book of 100 pages that includes the stories of growth of the 15 companies finalists of the third edition Adservio, Agroserv Mariuta / Laptaria cu caimac, AMC RO Studio, Annabella / Raureni, AROBS Transilvania Software, Catena, DocProcess, Elba, Jidvei, Köber, NOAH Watches, Rodbun, Salad Box, Typing DNA and Vivre Deco.

The book can be read and downloaded from Made in Romania dedicated website www.bvbleague.ro or at this LINK.

“Made in Romania is one of the pillars of BVB's strategy to contribute to Romania's economic development, by supporting the diversification efforts determined by innovation and knowledge of the Romanian entrepreneurs. Taking into account SMEs contribution to the GDP and the creation of jobs, the purpose of Made in Romania is to contribute to the development of the Romanian companies, by supporting and promoting them, offering them a whole community of funders and consultants to help them for a sustainable development. All entrepreneurs, regardless of the industry in which they operate, deserve a chance to thrive. Many of the companies we have met since launching Made in Romania are fantastic, they have a viable business model, some perform on their market segment, some could become global products and others can become the companies of the future economy ”, said Radu Hanga, Bucharest Stock Exchange Chairman of the Board of Governors.

• Adrian Tanase, BVB CEO: The inclusion of Teraplast company in BET and BET-TR indices comes to complement and better represent the sectors on the stock exchange. From the point of view of the investors, either institutional or retail, the sectorial diversification is an essential element in the investment strategy.
• Alexandru Stanean, General Manager TeraPlast: We are determined to continue to serve the interests of our shareholders and potential investors, proving that we are a stable, attractive, and liquid company that they can trust. We have the necessary resources to reach our objectives for 2020, and the first months of this year are within the forecast parameters.
• Radu Hanga, BVB President: We need success stories, both in Romania and especially on the stock market. We want to see that more and more Romanian issuers listed on BVB assume a leadership role in their fields of activity, both at national and regional levels.

The FESE membership, comprising of Exchanges across Europe, are not immune from the effects triggered by the rapid spread of Covid-19 and its impact on the economic environment. Whilst this situation is not without its challenges for exchanges, it is crucial that the markets remain open.

Regulated stock markets fulfil a social and economic function that must prevail in times of uncertainty.  Exchanges play a key role in providing price formation, transparency and liquidity. Preventing them from fulfilling this role would have a huge impact not just on the economy but society too.

These functions have been put to the test in the past for example during the financial crisis - when other sources of liquidity dried – exchange markets successfully continued to operate. This situation is no different, exchanges should continue to be operational to maintain trust.

FESE Members’ guiding principles remain transparency and objectivity, especially in these times of uncertainty.

European Exchanges will and should continue to remain open at all times to ensure safety, integrity and fairness in a secure and transparent manner.

Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) is concerned about ensuring adequate measures, in the context of the evolutions generated by the Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Following the instructions of the central authorities regarding the security measures to be implemented during this period, for the safety of all persons who have access to the closed spaces and / or the open public spaces and to the personnel employed, in the context of Coronavirus (Covid-19), as well as to maintain an orderly market and equal access to information for all stakeholders, starting March 19th, 2020, please use the electronic communication channels in relation with BVB, as follows:

• The participants, the issuers, as well as other entities with which BVB is currently interacting will use, depending on the specific activity, the usual electronic means of communication in relation with the BVB: e-mail, electronic systems - IRIS, messaging system etc.
• Individual investors, as well as for any other requests addressed to BVB: BVB's e-mail address: bvb@bvb.ro

• Preventive measures necessary for the normal activity of the market operator have been implemented
• A plan is envisaged that also provides for remote work
• Events planed for March have been canceled

Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB) informs all the capital market stakeholders that it has implemented measures to prevent the influence of COVID-19 on the current activity of the market operator and of its employees. BVB has a Business Continuity Plan even for cases where the activity can no longer be carried out from the headquarters, a plan that involves even the remote work, even from home.

Since February, BVB has carefully monitored the evolution of the situation as presented by the authorities and implemented the necessary preventive measures for the normal conduct of the activity at the level of the market operator. Internally, BVB has announced its employees the measures they are obliged to take and what to do if any person presents specific symptoms triggered by this virus. In the context of the recent events regarding COVID-19 in Romania and the measures taken by the authorities with the acceleration of the spread of COVID-19 in Romania, almost half of BVB employees started working from home, by rotation, and within the BVB premises were taken additional hygiene and disinfection measures.

• The main international markets nosedived into the negative zone at the end of the first two months this year: In Europa, DAX (Germany) fell by 10.2 percent, CAC 40 (France) went down by 11.2 percent, FTSE 100 (UK) tumbled 12.7%, while US’s Dow Jones dropped by 11 percent, and S&P 500 by 8.6 percent. The Romanian stock market also experienced turbulences and posted a decline of 8.6 percent in the first two months, after the BET index peaked to a 12-year high, and BET-TR saw new record highs.
• Adrian Tanase, BVB CEO:
  • The Bucharest Stock Exchange, like all the modern stock exchanges, has implemented systems that can cope with excessive volatility and they can be triggered under extreme stress for the markets. Until now, the Romanian capital market has shown resilience in an international context government by growing uncertainties and increased volatility, and the investors have the opportunity to decide how to act or react according to their investment strategies.
  • I think that one of the fundamental things that Romanian investors should take into account when investing in the financial instruments issued by the Romanian companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange is to have the perspective not of occasional buyers of shares or bonds, but of long-term investors in the Romanian economy. This perspective in their investment approach, coupled with a reasonable expectation horizon, may return increased positive results than emotionally conducted transactions.

• Cosmin Ghita, CEO Nuclearelectrica: Nuclearelectrica intends to be included in the FTSE Russell index of the London Stock Exchange and for this purpose, it aims to increase its liquidity and implicitly, the value of its shares.
• Monica Ivan, CEO BRK Financial Group: BRK Financial Group's commitment to contribute to improving liquidity continues by assuming the role of market maker for a new issuer - Nuclearelectrica.
• Adrian Tanase, CEO BVB: Nuclearelectrica is one of the companies that could be included in the FTSE indices for emerging markets if it also fulfills the liquidity criterion, given that the size criterion is already met.

Societatea Nationala Nuclearelectrica (SNN), the sole producer of nuclear power and nuclear fuel using CANDU 6 type technology in Romania, will benefit as of March 11th from the issuer’s market-making services provided by SSIF BRK Financial Group (BRK), one of the most active brokerage companies trading on the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB).

• The Romanian stock market went slightly up at the end of the first month this year as the BET index traded half-percentage point higher, after having repeatedly tested the 10,000-point mark, the highest level in the last 12 years.
• Adrian Tanase, BVB CEO:
  • We are living in an international context marked by volatility, which stems from investors' uncertainties about what positions they should take in the markets. Beyond external influence, domestic factors could also trigger misalignments to the trend of international markets. It is difficult, at this moment, to imagine that we will have in 2020 a growth rate similar to that of 2019, namely 35% for BET or 47% if we take into account the dividends. Should disruptive factors not occur, nor should the Romanian economy slow down, the publicly traded Romanian companies have solid foundations to contribute to the overall growth of the market this year as well.
  • At the end of last year, we started the most ambitious project to develop the infrastructure óf the local stock exchange, once the company that will operate the central counterparty was set up. After the authorization process is completed, we will be able to relaunch the derivatives market. Beyond this project aiming to turn the secondary market more efficient, we have also established the framework for enhancing the liquidity by offering issuers the possibility to conclude market-making contracts with the market participants, a feature that finds increasingly practicability.
  • To have a greater weight of the stock market in the economy, BVB's efforts will have to be backed by the state authorities to support the listings of the companies and to stimulate the population to save in the securities portfolios.

• Alexandru Stanean, General Manager TeraPlast: Our collaboration with BRK Financial Group is a new step in line with our goal of creating value for shareholders by improving liquidity and minimizing volatility. In our activity, we rely on the implementation of the best practices at international level, and we want to become a model for other companies that want to take the step towards the stock market.
• Monica Ivan, General Manager BRK Financial Group: We are pleased to announce we have signed a new partnership regarding market-making services for issuers, in which we intend to support the improvement of the liquidity of Teraplast SA shares. Our commitment consists of displaying a minimum volume of 750,000 shares for the buy and sell-side, within a spread of 1%. We congratulate TeraPlast for understanding the benefits of a partnership with a liquidity provider who has proven its expertise in this regard.
• Adrian Tanase, CEO BVB: We want a significant increase in liquidity on the stock market, and the framework set by the Issuer's Market Maker program proves that opportunities are accessed especially when companies have the necessary environment for development. This shows that the Bucharest Stock Exchange fulfills its role of implementing the most effective solutions for enhancing liquidity, in particular, and the market, in general.

• Monica Ivan, General Manager BRK Financial Group: BRK Financial Group continues the business direction initiated last year by offering market-making services to the listed issuers and it is a great honor to announce the partnership with MedLife SA, the first issuer from the BET index that concludes a Market Making contract with an intermediary. It is an ambitious project, and we hope that the liquidity of the MedLife shares will significantly improve.
• Mihai Marcu, President and CEO MedLife: MedLife has always been performance-driven, regardless of the social or political context. It was the first medical company in Romania to be listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, and it was included in the BET index shortly after, as a result of the qualitative and quantitative standards we met. We constantly aim to thrive and, because liquidity is an extremely important indicator for attracting investment funds, we have decided to implement this Market Making program as well.
• Adrian Tanase, CEO BVB: We are pleased to see that two entities active in the Romanian capital market are working together to enhance liquidity and increase the degree of representativeness among investors. Such partnerships are the result of some of the specific steps we have taken at BVB in order to increase market liquidity after having established the general framework for the issuer's Market Making program last year. We would like these examples to be replicated by other issuers as they can benefit from this framework, which creates the premises for enhanced liquidity.

• The BET index, which includes the most-traded 16 companies listed on the Romanian stock exchange, except for the Financial Investment Companies, went up by 35% in 2019. It is the largest yearly growth rate in the last decade posted by the Romanian stock market and the second increase rate in 2019 among EU capital markets. Accounting for dividends, the market spiked up by 47%.
• Adrian Tanase, BVB CEO:
  • The year 2019 was the building year: we laid the foundations of the Central Counterparty Clearing company (CCP), a fundamental entity for developing market liquidity, and paved the way to meet all the criteria to be promoted to the Secondary Emerging Market status.
  • The priorities for 2020 aim at the logical continuation of this construction: the process to authorize and implement the CCP, which will allow the relaunch of the derivatives market, improve the efficiency of the stock exchange operations for the capital market participants, promote the Romanian companies in the FTSE Russell indices for Emerging Markets, and, last but not least, continue our efforts to significantly improve population participation in the capital market.
  • The year 2020 can be even better for the Romanian stock exchange, if the state resumes the listing process, frozen over the last 5 years, to sell minority stakes in state-owned companies such as Hidroelectrica or CEC Bank. For enhanced relevance, the weight of the Romanian companies listed on the stock exchange as a weight in GDP should double and reach 20% in the next 10 years, and this can be achieved through the involvement and support of the state authorities.