Internet financial communication of SME listed on Brussels ‘unregulated markets

The stock exchange of Brussels, which is part of the NYSE Euronext since 2007, contains one regulated market called Euronext and two unregulated markets: Alternext and the Free Market. Unregulated markets address especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) which are an important part of the Belgian economic framework. These markets give to the SME the possibility of a first stock-exchange experience, without satisfying all the obligations related to a quotation on a regulated market, and offer them to raise capital.

What is very interesting for our research is the absence of obligations regarding internet financial communication. It leads to our general question: in the absence of obligations for communication, are companies listed on these markets proactive regarding financial disclosure on their websites?

Then several research questions were asked: what are the determiners of the level of internet financial communication? Do the characteristics of the SME have an impact on this level? What brought the managers of these SME to disclose or not financial information on the Internet? Do companies quoted in Paris disclose more financial information on their websites than those quoted in Brussels?

Qualitative (interviews) and quantitative (content analysis of websites, linear regression, paired sample) approaches were mobilized to answer those researches’ objectives.

Through our research, certain variables were identified as recurring determinants of the Internet financial communication score.

We discovered that the listed SME have a higher level of Internet financial communication compared to their unlisted peers (Pozniak & Croquet, 2011). We can study their voluntary effort at communication.

Furthermore, results show that the elements which brought the SME managers to publish financial information on the website of the company are the respect for the investor and visibility. The elements which caused managers not to publish financial information, are the threat of competitors, the skepticism in the face of transparency, the lack of means, the priority given to the business and certain characteristics of the Free market (Pozniak & Guillemette, 2013).

Finally, companies quoted on Brussels’ unregulated markets present a higher level of Internet financial communication than their peers quoted in Paris (Pozniak, 2013).