prime market
The prime market segment contains stocks admitted to the Official Market or the Second Regulated
Market that also meet special additional criteria.
Additional Criteria
Basically, only common stock will be included in the prime market.
The admission of shares to the prime market also includes the requirement, among other things, that the stocks of the listed company must be included in continuous trading for the entire duration of participation on the prime market.
A further criterion for admission is the minimum free float. At least 25% of the shares deliverable on Wiener Börse of the issuer must be held in free float and the capitalization of the free float must be at least EUR 15 million. If the free float drops below 25%, the free float requirement will still be deemed as fulfilled if the capitalization of the free float exceeds EUR 30 million. The limits applicable as of 30 June 2001 (EUR 15m and EUR 30m) have been adjusted continuously as of 1 January 2002 to the development of the segment index (ATXPrime), with the upper limit being EUR 20m and EUR 40m respectively.
Additional admission criteria shall apply to the admission of foreign shares to the prime market.
The ongoing obligations of prime market include, among other things, the preparation and disclosure of interim reports (quarterly financial reports and half-yearly financial reports), annual financial reports, annual reports, listing prospectuses and a corporate events calendar.
The interim reports and the annual financial reports shall be generally be prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and must be published within two months (interim reports) and four months (annual financial reports) of the end of the reporting period. All reports and the calendar of corporate events must be published in German and English.
The issuer is under the obligation to include a declaration in the annual report regarding compliance or non-compliance with the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance.
The calendar of corporate events must contain as a minimum the dates of the publication of the annual results, the annual press conference of the financial statements, the general shareholders’ meeting, the ex-dividend day, the dividend payout day, the publication of the quarterly report and any other IR activities.
Listing prospectuses shall be made available by the listed companies on their websites and must be available to the public on the website for at least one year as of the end of the offer period.
Furthermore, all companies whose stocks are listed on the prime market must be linked to an electronic ad hoc system and must disseminate inside information that is required to be disclosed immediately via this system.
The admission of shares to the prime market also includes the requirement, among other things, that the stocks of the listed company must be included in continuous trading for the entire duration of participation on the prime market.
A further criterion for admission is the minimum free float. At least 25% of the shares deliverable on Wiener Börse of the issuer must be held in free float and the capitalization of the free float must be at least EUR 15 million. If the free float drops below 25%, the free float requirement will still be deemed as fulfilled if the capitalization of the free float exceeds EUR 30 million. The limits applicable as of 30 June 2001 (EUR 15m and EUR 30m) have been adjusted continuously as of 1 January 2002 to the development of the segment index (ATXPrime), with the upper limit being EUR 20m and EUR 40m respectively.
Additional admission criteria shall apply to the admission of foreign shares to the prime market.
The ongoing obligations of prime market include, among other things, the preparation and disclosure of interim reports (quarterly financial reports and half-yearly financial reports), annual financial reports, annual reports, listing prospectuses and a corporate events calendar.
The interim reports and the annual financial reports shall be generally be prepared in accordance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and must be published within two months (interim reports) and four months (annual financial reports) of the end of the reporting period. All reports and the calendar of corporate events must be published in German and English.
The issuer is under the obligation to include a declaration in the annual report regarding compliance or non-compliance with the Austrian Code of Corporate Governance.
The calendar of corporate events must contain as a minimum the dates of the publication of the annual results, the annual press conference of the financial statements, the general shareholders’ meeting, the ex-dividend day, the dividend payout day, the publication of the quarterly report and any other IR activities.
Listing prospectuses shall be made available by the listed companies on their websites and must be available to the public on the website for at least one year as of the end of the offer period.
Furthermore, all companies whose stocks are listed on the prime market must be linked to an electronic ad hoc system and must disseminate inside information that is required to be disclosed immediately via this system.
Specialist and Market Making Commitments
The commitment of a trading participant to act as a specialist is also required and who agrees to
enter firm quotes into the system on a permanent basis. It is desirable to have further commitments
of market makers to increase liquidity in the stock.
Trading System
The trading platform used is XETRA® with the trading procedure "Continuous Trading" in conjunction
with several auctions (opening auction, intra-day auction, closing auction).