Permanent Liquidity Provider

In the past, most Belgian small- and midcaps faced a lack of liquidity. That is why, upon the merger of the stock exchanges, Euronext created the statute of ‘liquidity provider’:

- A Liquidity Provider Agreement is a contract concluded between Euronext and a member of the stock exchange, to the benefit of a particular company.
- A Permanent Liquidity Provider has the obligation towards Euronext to, concerning the share for which it acts as Permanent Liquidity Provider, to maintain a permanent maximum spread between the purchase and selling price of maximum 4%, for a minimum amount of € 10,000 (on both parts).
- A listed company on behalf of which a Liquidity Provider Agreement has been signed, is assured of a quotation on the continue segment (regardless of the number of transactions concluded in the past 12 months).
- For control purposes, the stock exchange authorities provide the company with monthly statistics of the performance of the liquidity provider (respect of the spread, the minimum amount and the traded volume).

In July 2002, Duvel Moortgat signed a Liquidity Agreement with the Degroof Bank, who is currently the liquidity rovider for the Duvel share as part of the Liquidity Provider Agreement. This brings the group a significant number of benefits:

- a rise in traded volumes thanks to the permanent presence of buying and selling prices (introduced inthe name of and to the account of Degroof Bank), at which investors can trade in Duvel Moortgat shares.
- The spread between selling and buying prices narrows.
- Imported price fluctuations on small traded volumes are avoided.
- A quotation on the continue segment of Euronext is guaranteed.

Overview of 2010 activities of the liquidity provider :

The natural liquidity of the Duvel Moortgat share amounted to 6,30% in 2010. Due to the market activities as part of the liquidity agreement concluded with Bank Degroof, the share liquidity increased by one quarter or 1,64% to 7,94%.