DNB: Dutch share value grew by 101 billion since December

In the first quarter of 2015, the market value of Dutch companies listed on Amsterdam's stock exchange, Euronext Amsterdam, rose to 735 billion Euros, reports the Dutch Central Bank (DNB). Compared to the previous quarter, it grew by 101 billion. This is the largest absolute increase since the last quarter of 1999. Since 2007, the value of Dutch shares did not exceed 700 billion. The lowest point was reached in 2009, with the total value of listed companies at 266 billion. Since the recovery of the Dutch stock market from the mid-2011 shock, several large IPOs have taken place, such as IPOs of Constellium and Frank's International. The total amount of new issuance in the first quarter of 2015 was at 1.59 billion as opposed to 850 million in the last quarter of 2014. Besides IPOs, several major companies issued additional shares in recent years. The largest issues were from ASML Holding and KPN. Besides that, there were some large withdrawals through purchases of own shares that totaled at 1.22 million in the first quarter of 2015. Among the main repurchasers were ASML Holding, Philips and Shell. Repurchasing process also pushed the shares value up.