Glossary

Glossary
 
KEYWORD DEFINITION
Annual General Meeting (AGM) Annual meeting of shareholders required by law where directors inform shareholders of company performance and future prospects. Shareholders vote on board elections and significant company issues. The Fiji Companies Act 2015 through Section 170 requires each company to hold an AGM at least once in each calendar year and within 6 months after the end of each financial period.
Annual Report  Financial report or statement issued by a publicly listed company to its shareholders. It contains a statement of financial performance, a statement of financial position, a statement of cash flow, as well as notice of the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and business resolutions to be discussed.
Annualised Return  Return or profit, expressed on an annual basis.
Audit A formal verification of the accuracy of accounting records and published accounts. An audit can be external or internal and is undertaken both to ensure the correctness of classifications and amounts and to discover fraud. The external auditor has a statutory responsibility to report on the truth and fairness of the accounts.
Bear Market  When prices are falling and further falls are expected.
Bid A bid is the "buying" price that an investor is prepared to pay for shares (opposite to offer/ask).
Board of Directors A group of people elected by shareholders to manage the overall direction of a company and for the implementation of the corporate objectives. 
Bond A tradeable debt security issued to raise money. Holders of the bond have lent money for which they receive a fixed rate of interest over a set period of time (Coupon). The bond is repaid with interest on the predetermined maturity date. Bonds can be traded on the sharemarket.
Brokerage Fee paid to a stockbroking firm for buying or selling of shares.
Bull Market  When prices generally are rising and further rises are expected.
Business Day Means a day that is not a Saturday, a Sunday or a public holiday or Financial Institution holiday in Republic of Fiji
Buy Back Is when a company buys its own outstanding shares to reduce the number of shares available on the open market.
Capital Gain  An increase in the value of your investment that gives it a higher worth than the purchase price. However, the gain is not realised until the investment is liquidated.  
Capital Loss  A decrease in the value of your investment that gives it a lower worth than the purchase price. However, the loss is not realised until the investment is liquidated.  
Corporate Action   Action taken by an entity for the purpose of giving an entitlement to the shareholders of a listed entity. A share split, rights issue, mergers and acquisitions are some examples of a Corporate Action. These events are generally approved by the company's board of directors; shareholders may be permitted to vote on some events as well.
Coupon The interest paid per period to the holder of the debt security.
Current Ratio A measure of liquidity that shows a company's ability to pay its short-term debts. It is calculated by dividing the current assets by current liabilities. 
Delisted  When a listed entity is removed from the Official List of the SPX and its shares are no longer quoted.
Diversification Spreading investments over a variety of investment categories with different performance characteristics, in order to reduce risk.
Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) A plan offered by a listed entity that allows an investor to reinvest their cash dividends by purchasing additional shares in the same listed entity.
Dividend Yield  A financial ratio that indicates how much a listed entity pays out in dividends each year relative to its share price. Dividend yield is calculated by dividing the dollar value of dividends per share by the share price of the listed entity.
Dividends  Payments from companies to shareholders as a share of the company's profits, allocated to shareholders on a per-share basis. The amount payable, in cents per security held. For example, if you have a holding balance of 500 shares and a dividend of $0.10 per share is declared, you are then entitled to receive $50 in dividends.
Earning per Share (EPS)  A market prospect ratio that determines the fraction of a company's net income available for payment to its shareholders. A company with a high EPS ratio is capable of generating a significant dividend for its investors or it may plough the funds back into its business for more growth; in either case, a high ratio indicates a potentially worthwhile investment, depending on the market price of the security. EPS ratio is computed with the net profit after tax divided by the total issued shares.  
Earnings Yield  Calculated by dividing the EPS with the entity’s market price. The earnings yield indicates the rate of profit a company generates relative to its share price. For example, a company with a PE ratio of 15 has an earnings yield of 6.67%. 
Equal Weighted Index  A market index that captures the impact of smaller stocks symmetric to the movements in larger capitalisation companies. An equal weighted index eliminates the market capitalisation weighting and instead measures the general performance of the market by weighing them equally without being skewed by the heavyweight securities. 
Ex-Dividend Date  Securities bought on or after this date will not be entitled to the dividend. In SPX's context, this is computed as three business days prior to the Record Date (excluding the Record Date).
Free Float/Float The percentage of a company's shares that are considered to be freely available for public purchase. Determining a company's free float requires analysis and classification of the company's shareholders.
Gearing The extent to which an investor or business is using borrowed money. Also known as leverage.
Holding Balance The number of shares held in a security or a portfolio.
Initial Public Offering (IPO) The process by which a private company becomes a publicly held company by selling shares of its stock to the public for the first time.
Insider Trading Trading shares of a listed security based on information that has not yet become available to the public.Insider trading diminishes the integrity of capital markets.
Interim Dividend When a dividend is paid more than once a year, dividends other than the final one are called interim dividends. Typically, dividends are paid twice a year, one interim and one final dividend.
Liquid Assets Assets that can be bought or sold easily with little impact on price.
Liquidity Measure of the ability to buy or sell assets easily and with little impact on price. Characterised by bid and offer prices close together and many shares available (depth) at these prices.
Market Announcements Platform An online medium via the SPX website that enables a Listed Entity to facilitate the electronic lodgement of market announcements as part of its continuing listing requirements. The lodged announcement is then distributed electronically to the market through a subscriber network
Market Capitalisation  The total value of the issued shares of a publicly traded company. It is equal to the share price multiplied by the number of shares outstanding. 
Market Capitalisation Weighted Index A stock market index whose components are weighted according to the total market value of their outstanding shares. A company with a larger weighting will have a greater impact on the index.
Market Indices  Represents a historical perspective of stock market performance, giving investors further insight into their investment decisions. 
Market Price Prevailing price of shares traded on SPX. It is the last price at which the shares traded.
Merger When two or more companies combine either by takeover or creation of a new entity.
Net Asset Value (NAV) Book value of a company's assets divided by the number of shares on issue.
Normal Session During this session, trading Commences and orders may be entered, amended or withdrawn during this period and are matched on entry.
Offer Price at which someone is prepared to sell securities.
Online Shareholder Portal  A secure online platform that allows shareholders to register their profile using their distinct Shareholder Identification Number (SIN) in order to obtain a quick and easy access to up-to-date shareholding information about their investments.
Ordinary Share The most commonly traded security in Fiji. Holders of ordinary shares are part-owners of a company and may receive payments in cash, called dividends, if the company trades profitably. They have no preferential rights as to either dividends out of profits or capital on a winding up.
Payment Date This is the 21st business day from the day of dividend declaration or as the case maybe it can also be any business day from the Record Date (inclusive) to the 21st business day.
Pre-Open Session During this session, orders may be entered, amended or withdrawn during this period but no matching takes place.
Price Earnings Ratio (PE)  A valuation ratio of a company’s current share price compared to its per share earnings and reveals the multiple of earnings that the investors are willing to pay to own a company's stock. By comparing price and EPS for a company, an investor can analyse the market’s stock valuation of a company and its shares relative to the income the company is actually generating. Stocks with higher or more certain forecast earnings growth will usually have higher PE ratio while those expected to have lower or riskier earnings growth will usually have a lower PE ratio. Effectively, the PE ratio shows how much time, in years, it will take for your share purchase to be covered by earnings. PE ratio is computed by dividing the current share price of a company by its EPS. 
Proxy Written authorisation given by one person to another so that the second person can act in place of the first person, e.g. attending and voting at shareholders' meetings. The person authorised to act is also known as the proxy.
Record Date The date used in determining who is entitled to a dividend or other entitlement associated with a security. Those on the register on the record date are eligible for the entitlement. In SPX's context, this date is computed as the 14th business day from the next business day of dividend declaration.
Return on Investment Earnings from investments over a given period - usually expressed as a percentage per year of the amount invested.
Rights Issue Privilege granted to shareholders to buy new shares in the same company at a discounted price.
Share Registry Organisation which, on behalf of a listed entity, records changes in share ownership, issues share holding statements and makes adjustments for dividend payments, bonus and rights issues. SPX listed entities use the services of Central Share Registry Pte Limited (CSRL), a wholly owned subsidiary of SPX.
Share Split Share split or stock split involves the increase of the total number of shares outstanding, accompanied by a proportionate decrease in the price of each share. The aggregate market value of the shares for that company remains the unchanged. 
Shareholder Identification Number (SIN) Unique identification number allocated to shareholders in SPX listed entities. 
ShareSoft A web based software used by the Central Share Registry Limited (CSRL) to manage securities, investors and securities traded on the SPX.
Stockbroker A professional who executes buy and sell orders for listed entities and other securities on behalf of clients.
Substantial Shareholder Person/company holding more than 5% of a company's voting rights.
Takeover Acquisition of a controlling interest in a company through the purchase of shares.
Trading Halt Defined in the Listing Rules as a temporary interruption to trading at the request of an entity or initiated by the SPX and that is not a suspension from quotation.
Trust Deed  Lays down the rules for a Trust, its investment guidelines and how benefits will accrue to beneficiaries and account holders.
Trustee An individual who holds or manages assets for the benefit of another.
Yield to Maturity (YTM) A total return measure for bonds which takes account of both capital gain (or loss) and income earned. YTM is calculated using purchase price (not face value) and assumes the instrument is then held to maturity.