What is it? What are its importance? THE STOCK EXCHANGE What is it? What are its importance?

The Stock Exchange Is a secondary market where shares for public listed companies are traded. Listed companies raise money for the first time through an initial public offer in primary market. 

Benefit of listing on the Stock Exchange A listed company is able to raise equity capital through sale of stocks and rights issues Enhanced the status of the company enabling it to access loans from lending institutions Financial providers and investors will have confidence in the company as its financial information and actions will be subjects to public scrutiny

A listing will give the company a wider shareholder base and broaden its exposure thus eliminating dependence on a single group of investors Enhances the status of the company which will better enable the company to attract and maintain high caliber employees The status of being listed should improve the company’s dealing with banks, suppliers, distributors and customer, which could have a positive effect on the company’s overall performance

The Role of the Stock Exchange Mobilizing Savings for investment When people invest in shares they bring in resources to the business sector instead of keeping the money idle or for consumption  Facilitating company growth A takeover bid or a merger through the stock market is one of the simplest and most common ways for a company to grow by acquisition or fusion

Redistribution of wealth Gives a wide spectrum of people a chance to buy shares and therefore become shareholders of profitable enterprises; the stock market thus helps to reduce large income inequalities Corporate Governance Enables companies to improve the management standard and efficiency in order to satisfy the demands of these shareholders and the bourse regulation

Government Revenue It enables the government to raise revenue through capital gains when shares are traded   Barometer of the Economic performance Share prices are a response to market forces. They tend to rise or remain stable when companies and the economy show signs of stability and growth.

However, in the case of Zimbabwe, the stock exchange performance cannot be used as a barometer for economic performance. In a normally functioning economy, at least 60% of the companies should be listed

Z S E listing requirements To obtain a listing certificate, a company has to have at least 30% of its shares held by the public The company should present details of trading records for at least 5 years Company signs an agreement which obliges it to make a public disclosure of information in order to help investors in making informed investment decisions

On corporate governance, the senior management and the directors should not have changed significantly throughout the 5 year period and should possess appropriate expertise and experience Provide forecast earnings and dividends for the next 12 months Details of share capital structure, loan capital and the borrowing powers of the company

The name, history and description of the company’s interests and activities is required. The stock exchange require that the spread of shareholders existing at the close of offer is sufficiently wide to justify the listing (appropriately 300 shareholders is the minimum) At least 1 million shares of not less than $500, 000 in the nominal value must be in the hands of the public

Options may not be granted to any specific body of shareholders without the consent of the committee of the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

Regular reporting and disclosure requirements of listed companies: Annual report - to be sent to shareholders at least 21 days before the shareholder’s Annual General Meeting, which must be held within six months of the financial year end Interim report - must be issued in respect of the first six months of each financial year within three months of expiry of that period

Hindrances to listing of SMEs on the ZSE SMEs are not good at record keeping and most of them do not have a life span exceeding 5 years Most SMEs prefer to be sole proprietors, family owned or partnerships They do not have proper organizational structures that could perform the good corporate governance function

Normally, SMEs get into all kinds of businesses according to interest, chance or opportunity, so the issue of expertise does not apply to most of them Details of capital structure, loan capital and borrowing powers of the company are unclear in the case of SMEs whose sources of capital are widely varied and not easily traceable The basic minimum of 300 shareholders is unattainable considering the size of most SMEs

The culture of confidentiality and conservatism affects the listing of SMEs on the ZSE, as the owners of the company are not willing to involve others and to divulge (make secret information known)company information to the public Some SMEs would not want to run the risk of losing control through diluted shareholding

SMEs feel the ZSE is a specialized field where they cannot compete with other Multi-national companies Some SMEs do not have knowledge of the operations and benefits of listing on the stock exchange