OMX

OMX - OMX Stock Exchanges

About the OMX Stock Exchanges :

OMX Exchanges is the largest securities market in the Northern Europe seeking regional competitiveness through effective integration over national borders. It provides access to about 80% of the Nordic and Baltic securities markets.

OMX AB operates six stock exchanges in the Baltic (Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn Stock Exchanges) and Nordic (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki) countries. Investors enjoy high liquidity and efficient trading through OMX's one trading system, harmonized trading rules, and practices in Nordic and Baltic markets. In equity trading, OMX's Nordic Exchange is the Europe's fifth largest exchange in terms of the number of transactions. In equity-related derivative trading, OMX's Exchange is the third largest exchange in terms of the number of contracts.

The Exchange having 1.370 employees experienced a rapid growth with increase in equity turnover by 22%, derivative contracts by 15%, and market capitalization of 33% in 2005. As a result of increased trading activity, the revenues went up by 8% and operating income by even 48%.

The companies listed on the OMX Exchanges are enabled to receive investing across the borders. Nokia, Ericsson, and Nordea Bank are one of the largest OMX's listed companies in terms of market capitalization. In the last 10 years, the list of companies on the Exchange has grown by 1%, whereas, the capitalization of the listed companies has increased by 14% annually. Today total market capitalization for all the listed 678 companies amount to SEK 7,012 m .

Equity trading on the OMX is operated through the electronic trading system SAXESS that the OMX developed itself. SAXESS is the order-based system which matches orders electronically. In addition, derivative trading is carried out in the CLICK XT trading system that has also been developed by the OMX. The OMX Exchanges has also developed the TARGIN price dissemination system that provides valuable up-to-date information to investors.

OMX AB (ticker symbol 'OMX') has been assigned Standard & Poor's A/Stable long-term and A-1 short-term counterparty credit rating.

OMX - History of the OMX Stock Exchanges :

OMX history traces back to 1984 when the Helsinki Stock Exchange (HEX plc) was founded and trading was commenced in the following year. In 1998, HEX acquired the Stockholm Stock Exchange and throughout 2003-2004 the process of integration continued with the mergers of the Helsinki and Copenhagen Stock Exchanges.

OMX AB was formed in 2003 when HEX plc. and OM AB merged. Swedish OM and the Finnish Stock Exchange HEX merged then to form OMHEX, the largest securities market in Northern Europe. In 2004, the brand name of the company was changed to OMX.

As a result of the merger and privatization of Vilnius stock Exchange in Lithuania, all three Baltic stock Exchanges - Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius - became the part of the OMX Exchanges in 2004. The uniform trading system in the Joint Baltic market was adopted in May 2005. Today OMX operates around 80% of the Nordic and Baltic stock markets - the Stockholm Stock Exchange, Helsinki Stock Exchange, Copenhagen Stock Exchange, Tallinn Stock Exchange, Riga Stock Exchange, and Vilnius Stock Exchange.

The Stock Exchange has recently announced that the trading will be done in round lot sizes of one share from September 2006. Until then trading is done in round lot sizes that vary from listed company to company.

On October 2, 2006 the Nordic list will replace the current exchange list structures for Sweden, Denmark, and Finland. The new listing structure will be organized in three segments: Large Cap, Mid Cap for companies with a market capitalization of between EUR 150 M and EUR 1 billion, and Small Cap. Also the companies on the Nordic list will be organized by the industry sector. The Nordic list will enable Exchange members to execute trades in Copenhagen, Helsinki, and Stockholm with only one membership fee.