Why should I invest? About SEM The Stock Exchange of Mauritius Ltd (SEM) is a regulated and organised market where shares and other financial instruments are traded (bought and sold.) It is a centralised market place which possesses a modern trading and settlement infrastructure which enables investors to follow the market in real time. The SEM continues to innovate in order to satisfy its stakeholders and provide them with world-class systems and services.
SEM was incorporated in Mauritius on March 30, 1989 under the Stock Exchange Act 1988, as a private limited company responsible for the operation and promotion of an efficient and regulated securities market in Mauritius. Since October 6, 2008, SEM became a public company. The Mauritius Bourse is a full-fledged member of the World Federation of Exchanges, an important standards setter in the Stock Exchange industry. Over the years, SEM has been at the forefront of innovation in the exchange space in Africa, developing into a reference exchange on the African continent.
What is a share? Basically a ‘share’ is exactly what it says it is – a share of a business. When you buy a share, you become a part-owner – a shareholder – of a business. You will be involved in certain decisions regarding its future and your share in its profits. Shares are traded on SEM during every working day of the year and you can buy or sell whenever you wish. Equities, or ordinary shares, are issued by companies and represent the money which shareholders (as owners of the business) originally put into building up the business. Between them, holders of ordinary shares own the company. They are entitled to vote on company policy, appoint and dismiss directors, and if the company makes a profit they are entitled to a share of it. But shareholders’ dividends (the slice of profits which is paid out to shareholders) are not fixed. Each year the directors recommend how much money the company should keep in reserve for future expansion, and how much should be distributed to shareowners, taking into account the overall size of that year’s company profits.