Press release Irish Stock Exchange 12^th February 2014.

3.4m equity trades in 2013 – highest ever recorded
€1.2bn raised in last quarter including 3 IPOs from Mincon, GameAccount Network and Hibernia REIT
Strong performance in ISE’s debt business sees y/e listings above 21,700 covering 65 countries across the globe

Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) statistics released today show the ISEQ Overall index has had its best year since 1997, rising by 33.6% in 2013. The ISEQ has now gained 57.3% in 3 years.

A comparison with other indices shows it was the best performing index in Western Europe during 2013, ahead of key indices such as the FTSE100 [+14.4%] and the German DAX [+25.5%]. It also outperformed the leading US indices, the S&P 500 [+24.4%] and NASDAQ [+32.8%] in what was a good year overall for global equity markets.

3.4m equity trades in 2013 – highest ever recorded

The demand for Irish shares was also evident in the number of trades dealt on the ISE during 2013. At 3.4m deals, 2013 is the highest ever number of equity trades in the ISE’s history, and over 40% higher than 2012 [the previous high was recorded in 2008: 2.5m trades].

With four new member firms joining the ISE in 2013, equity turnover was similarly up, with 54.2% growth during the year bringing the annual total to over €57.6bn [2012: €37.3bn]. Given turnover’s link to share price, this underlies the positive performance of Irish companies and the underlying liquidity of the Irish market among the ISE’s international membership base [38 of the 47 members of the Irish Stock Exchange are based outside of Ireland].

€1.2bn raised in last quarter including 3 IPOs from Mincon, GameAccount Network and Hibernia REIT

The last quarter of 2013, saw 3 new companies join the Irish Stock Exchange – Mincon a mature export-orientated Irish business raised €50m in international capital from its IPO. Also in November, GameAccount Network, a developer and supplier of enterprise-level business to business gaming software systems and online gaming content raised €26.6m from international investors. Hibernia REIT became the biggest IPO of 2013 when it raised €365m in December. It was the 2nd REIT to join the Main Securities Market of the ISE during 2013 following Green REIT’s IPO in July. Falcon Oil and Gas joined the ISE in March.

Money raised in the last quarter totalled €1.2bn and included €580m raised by Bank of Ireland.

Strong performance in ISE’s debt business sees y/e listings above 21,700 covering 65 countries across the globe

While global uncertainty remains in debt markets, the ISE’s debt business performed well in 2013 with every quarter showing an increase in new international listings. In total, the 12 months of 2013 saw 4,562 new listings, up 88% on 2012 figures [2,424].

Additional listing activity was evident across all debt product types during the year and in the last quarter the ISE attracted debt listings from major corporates such as:

Sinopec Group, the Beijing based petroleum and petrochemical company which has a wide range of interests in China and internationally,
Caixabank, the Spanish banking and insurance services group and DNB Bank, a significant retail and corporate banking provider in Norway. They joined other international financial institutions such as Abbey National, Citigroup, HSBC, Santander in listing their core debt programmes at the ISE.
Italian issuers, Aeroporto de Roma, which manages Rome’s two primary airports; Iren, a multi-utility company which produces, distributes and sells electricity from hydro and renewal sources in Italy and Societe Cattolica di Assicurazione which offers life and non-life insurance services.
Communications specialists, Avanti, a pioneer in satellite technology in Europe, and Cable Communications Systems which provides telecommunication and mobile services in Eastern Europe
The French frozen foods retailer Picard Group.

The total number of debt tranches listed on the ISE at the end of 2013 grew by 7.1% to 21,719 [end 2012: 20,286] and included debt listings from 65 countries across the globe including Europe, the USA, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

New fund classes admitted to the ISE’s markets remained the same in Q4 as Q3 [414].At the end of the year, the number of funds and sub-funds listed on the ISE was 2,352 [end 2012: 2,579].

Further Information

Ailish Byrne

Head of Public Affairs and Communications

Telephone +353 1 617 4200+353 1 617 4200

Mobile + 353 87 2380265+ 353 87 2380265

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