Last year was not ideal for many businesses, but the Trinidad and Tobago Stock Exchange (TTSE) saw the year as one full of meaningful progress.
Chief executive officer of the TTSE, Eva Mitchell, explained that while most of the listed companies faced struggles, there continued to be increased interest by new investors over the year.
“Although our trading volumes were lower, year on year, what really excites us is the fact that we’ve seen a steady increase in retail activity over the last three years, particularly in 2023. Our retail trades went up by at least 10 per cent, which is a phenomenal achievement. It means that one of our marketing efforts, our strategic initiatives toward bringing more attention and making the exchange more attractive to retail investors is being achieved,” said Mitchell, during an interview at the TTSE’s office at Nicholas Towers on Friday.
Apart from investor interest, there were also some major achievements by listed companies as well.
“From a market perspective, even though we would have seen some falling prices in 2023, we’ve actually had some companies that performed even better in 2023. They hit some all-time highs, they registered record performances. There are some companies that would have registered growth of up to 49 per cent,” she said.
Mitchell also hailed the encouraging use of the digital platforms set up by the TTSE in the past year.
“One other thing I’d like to highlight is, we launched our online trading platform during the COVID-19 pandemic. And it has continuously outperformed our expectations. As a matter of fact, for December 2023, trades on our online trading platform accounted for 32 per cent of total market trades, which is a significant achievement for us. This is something that we’re going to leverage and build on in 2024,” said Mitchell, who stressed that the TTSE was eager to build on that momentum this year by stepping up marketing and encouraging new investors as well as new company listings on the exchange.
The latter is a key focus for the TTSE in 2024. A mentorship programme was established in 2022 geared toward guiding Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs) through the necessary steps to achieve listing. However, on January 5, the TTSE signed an agreement with the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Commerce that will further boost efforts to get SMEs on board.
“What I do expect going forward is that the TTSE will continue to accelerate its efforts in terms of raising our profile in terms of raising our awareness. We have a detailed plan with respect to the SME market. You would have seen us sign some MOUs within the last month or so, which is really about re-emphasising our commitment and re-engaging the stakeholders to ensure that we send the right message and we raise awareness about the opportunities, relative to listing on the SME market,” she said, adding that there had been significant interest from businesses to get listed.
“We have a list of at least 20 (companies) in our pipeline that we are in discussions with and we are confident that at least some will make it through to listing, bearing in mind that there’s a long gestation period for these companies,” she said.
However Mitchell did note while most companies in Trinidad and Tobago remained profitable and as a result largely remained great value for investors, the international climate still required a level of caution.
“I remain cautiously optimistic, the truth and the fact is 2023 was a rising interest rate environment regionally and internationally. That impacts the attractiveness of the stock market,” she said, “We haven’t experienced that sort of environment locally in terms of our interest rates. But what I would say is that our listed companies maintained stability, they’ve maintained their profitability, most of them. They’ve rewarded their investors for being shareholders of their companies by way of dividends. “
She noted that the performance of locally listed companies did underline the current strength of the local economy in the face of several severe international headwinds, and this was encouraging for people considering investing in the local market.
“I’m confident that the environment is going to be one where companies understand and believe that there’s a level of resilience and agility that we need to move forward with in order for us to remain relevant. Part of that agility is looking at your funding options. And of course, as part of those funding options, equity should always be considered at the right time. The TTSE will then position itself to ensure that we are involved in these discussions and to ensure that we raise awareness especially as relates to the benefits of the SME market,” said Mitchell.
She also explained that while T&T does have foreign exchange issues, there is still high liquidity in terms of the T&T dollar investments, and this would serve as a fertile ground for companies looking at an equity option as a funding option.