Number of Listed Companies
In this article, we provide an overview of the primary market by looking into the listing activities in the stock exchanges around the world. More specifically, we analyse the trends in the number of companies listed on main and alternative/SME boards in 2022 compared with the year before. Worth noting that the changes in the number of listed companies could be driven by new listing and delisting. Thus, the number of listed companies indicator captures the net changes of new listings and delistings experienced by exchanges.
The data is taken from the WFE Statistics Portal. The definition of our indicators can be found in the WFE Definitions Manual.
Listed companies are classified as domestic and foreign, depending on their country of incorporation in relation to the stock exchange on which they are listed.
At the end of Q1 2022 the total number of listed companies stood at 58,200, which represented a 0.2% uptick on Q4 2021 and a 2.5% increase on Q1 2021.
Regionally, the Americas accounted for 20% of the global number of listed companies, APAC for 55% and EMEA for the rest 25%.
Figure 1: Number of listed companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022
*The figure for April 2021 excludes companies listed on Borsa Italiana (aprox. 379).
The quarter on quarter increase at the end of Q1 2022 was driven by the Americas region which increased 1.3%, while APAC and EMEA regions declined with the same rate of 0.1%.
Compared to Q1 2021, all regions went up: the Americas by 9.2%, APAC by only 0.01% and EMEA region by 3.1%.
The top ten exchanges that grew their number of listings the most year-on-year are presented in Table 1.
Table 1: Top ten exchanges that grew the most year-on-year
|
Region |
Exchange |
Mar'22/Mar'21 % change |
Listed companies at the end of Mar'22 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
EMEA |
Bulgarian Stock Exchange |
47.1% |
381 |
|
EMEA |
Euronext |
31.8% |
1,997 |
|
EMEA |
Kazakhstan Stock Exchange |
21.0% |
144 |
|
Americas |
Nasdaq - US |
19.4% |
3,767 |
|
EMEA |
Malta Stock Exchange |
18.5% |
32 |
|
EMEA |
Saudi Exchange (Tadawul) |
14.8% |
240 |
|
EMEA |
Nasdaq Nordic and Baltics |
14.1% |
1,244 |
|
EMEA |
Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange |
13.7% |
548 |
|
APAC |
Shanghai Stock Exchange |
12.0% |
2,074 |
|
EMEA |
Budapest Stock Exchange |
11.1% |
50 |
The regional number of listed companies is illustrated in Figures 2-4.
Figure 2: Number of listed companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022 in the Americas region
Figure 3: Number of listed companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022 in the APAC region
Figure 4: Number of listed companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022 in the EMEA region
Regarding the type of company, domestic ones account for 92%, while foreign ones for the rest 8%.
Quarter on quarter, in Q1 2022, both domestic and foreign companies increased 0.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
Compared to the end of Q1 2021, the increase in listed domestic and foreign companies is greater, domestic companies rising 1.6%, while foreign ones 14.4%.
At the end of March 2022, APAC was the region that listed the highest number of domestic companies (31,092 - representing 58% share), followed by EMEA (12,744 - representing 23.8% share) and the Americas region (9,782 - representing 18.2% share). While the highest number of foreign companies were listed in EMEA (2,101 – representing 45.9% share), followed by the Americas (1,742 – representing 38% share) and APAC (739 – representing 16.1% share).
Figures 5 - 7 present the number of listed domestic and foreign companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022.
Figure 5: Number of listed companies (domestic and foreign) between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022
*The figure for April 2021 excludes companies listed on Borsa Italiana (aprox. 379).
Figure 6: Number of listed domestic companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022
Figure 7: Number of listed foreign companies between Jan 2020 – Mar 2022
