Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure to once again be a part of another listing on the Exchange. This listing is of significance to us as it should give the Exchange an added bounce as we move towards the close of the year. It also comes at a point in our financial landscape when so many persons are being attracted by other forms of investment. The success of this offer signals that the market continues to engender confidence. Investors are attracted to well formulated and new investments ideas. The Exchange is the vehicle through which this can be realized in an orderly and transparent manner. We are pleased that more and more listed Companies are utilizing the market to raise capital and are offering to investors attractive alternatives. This augurs well for the growth of the capital market. Capital raised on the market within the year either from listings or rights issue amounted to some $ 1.2b. We will have to do more to encourage more companies to use the Exchange as a medium to raise capital.
The listing of the Mayberry Investment Limited Preference Share is the third listing for the year. This listing will increase the number of Preference Shares listed on the Exchange to thirteen. Mayberry will also become the fourth company to have both Ordinary and Preference Shares listed on the Exchange. It is encouraging to note that this offer was over-subscribed and signals that investors are ready to return to the market. In fact, this confirms the upward trends in our market indicators seen within the last few months. This ladies and gentlemen provides great encouragement for the performance of the market for 2008.
Occasions such as these give us hope for new prospects. We look forward to having more companies listed on the Exchange, whether by the listing of Ordinary or Preference Shares. We encourage other companies to look at the various types of instruments that can be used in raising capital and in providing investors with a variety of options from which to choose.
