everis and DCM, with support from Spanish stock exchanges and markets,
present the first ever study on the Spanish Alternative Stock Market (MAB) as a financing tool for SMEs

Over half of all SMEs know of the Spanish Alternative
Stock Market, but only 20% say they would be quoted on this market

Over half of SMEs and expanding companies know of the Spanish Alternative Stock Market (MAB), but only 20% of these companies say they would be quoted on this market, according to a report by everis and DCM, the official registered advisers who lead the development of this new channel of funding. In preparing this study, which aims to analyse the degree of knowledge of and interest in the MAB, the financing tools available and the major obstacles to access them, everis and DCM held 250 interviews with SMEs with turnovers of between €10 and €150 million.

According to the companies surveyed the main benefits of MAB are to improve the funding (83%), higher liquidity (59%) and the professionalisation of management (39%). However, the study also notes that uncertainty about company revaluation when meeting the costs associated with being listed on the MAB and any fluctuations in price and transparency requirements are the main problems companies associate with being quoted on this new market. In the light of these comments, one in three companies considered it essential to have public support in order to undertake this process of transformation.

Telecommunications and IT companies are the sectors most interested in being listed on the MAB (45%), followed by companies from chemical and pharmaceutical sectors (25%). By size, the most pro-active are those organizations that have between 50 and 250 employees.

Most pro-active sectors: MAB listing





One in four SMEs has problems with sources of funding

The study also devotes a section to addressing the challenges and difficulties that SMEs face over the next two years. Thus, 70% of companies thinking of joining the MAB have a growth strategy based on increasing market share of products in current markets.

According to the results of the analysis by everis and DCM, the main challenges that SMEs and growing businesses face include lack of liquidity and funding and also shrinking demand, problems highlighted by more than half of the companies surveyed . Moreover, almost one in four companies confirmed that the lack of qualified personnel will proof to be a difficulty for their development over the next two years.

Currently, the tightening of financial conditions (67%) and late charges and late payments (62%) have affected the acquisition of resources in enterprises. 24% of companies claim to have resorted to some source of funding without achieving the projected success. In particular, public support and loans are the alternatives that have most failed the majority of SMEs. Spanish SMEs, in this sense, are still very traditional in the use of sources of funding: only a minority (12%) draw on new partners, institutional investors, venture capital funds or family office.

everis and DCM jointly provide advice to companies planning to be quoted on the stock market. They have set up the first Spanish observatory to monitor the development and financing of SMEs and expanding companies. The Spanish Bolsas y Mercados (BME) were partners in the design of this observatory. The observatory makes it possible to analyse various solutions and results in detail. The web address of the MAB observatory is www.observatoriomab.es.