A major UK tech IPO is coming

A UK firm which provides software for the likes of Barclays and Mercedes has announced its intention to float on the London Stock Exchange.

Alfa Financial Software will float on the main market as early as June, which is expected to value the firm at more than £800m.

“Alfa has established itself as a world class technology company with a market leading position in asset finance, which is a substantial global market with many structural growth drivers," said executive chairman Andrew Page.

"Many promising growth opportunities have been identified which Alfa is uniquely placed to capitalise upon going forward."

Full-year revenues for the 27-year-old firm last year were £73.3m and adjusted earnings before tax and interest were £32.8m, growing at 32 per cent on the previous year. It's headquartered in London and employs more than 250 people in four offices around the world.

Page and chief executive Andrew Denton are majority owners of the firm through CHP Software and will float 25 per cent of the company, the minimum needed for a premium listing.

Around five per cent of shares are owned by staff and the float will add another "weapon in our arsenal" in attracting and retaining employees by offering stock options, Denton told City A.M..

Moving from being a private company to a public one will also boost its reputation among customers, said Denton, who also dismissed the timing of the float amid Brexit and a snap General Election as a sensitive.

"We don't really think it's going to impact us," he said of political and economic turbulence. "We're extremely confident in our position and a global robust market."

The last major tech listing in the UK, and London's biggest ever in the sector, was Sophos in 2015, valuing it at more than £1bn.

Fellow financial technology company Misys would have surpassed that but it pulled its plans for a listing in London towards the end of 2016, blaming market turbulence, though it could revisit plans again this year.

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