The prime market segment contains stocks admitted to the Official Market that also meet special additional criteria.
Additional criteria
Basically, only common stock will be included in the prime market (certificates that represent stocks and give holders the same rights as common stocks shall be deemed equivalent to common stock). 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 20 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 40 million.
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 half-yearly financial reports, annual financial reports a corporate events calendar and listing prospectuses. The half-yearly financial 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 (half-yearly financial 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. Since February 2019 companies listed on the prime market of the Vienna Stock Exchange may choose whether or not to publish quarterly reports (Q1 & Q3) and in what form. The calendar of corporate events must contain as a minimum the following dates: publication of the financial results for the half-year and year, record date "annual general meeting", annual general meeting, dividend ex day, record date "dividends" and dividend payout day. 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, the issuer is under the obligation to comply with a Code of Corporate Governance and must be linked to an electronic ad hoc system in order to disseminate inside information that is required to be disclosed immediately via this system.
Liquidity provider
It is a prerequisite that at least one trading participant assumes the function of market maker and commits to permanent quotation. Further market makers are desirable in order to increase liquidity.
Trading
Trading in the prime market takes place in the trading procedure "continuous trading" with auctions (opening auction, intraday auction, closing auction) in the trading system Xetra® T7.
