More than £2bn raised on London markets last quarter as tech leads the way

Companies raised more than £2bn in London stock market listings during the last quarter, with a large number of tech listings helping drive the market.

Research by accountancy firm EY showed that there were 17 initial public offerings (IPOs) in London in the second quarter (Q2) of 2018, one more than in Q1 and six more than in the equivalent quarter last year.

The strong quarter was helped by five tech listings which raised £911m.

Read more: Why the UK tech sector needs IPOs

There were six main market IPOs in the period raising £1.4bn and 11 floats on Aim which raised £697m.

Scott McCubbin, EY’s IPO leader, said: “The London IPO market is becoming more active and diverse with a strong increase in the market capitalisation of the companies listing. The emergence of several technology and gaming IPOs this quarter also demonstrates that the UK can be a leading destination outside of the US for tech IPOs.”

The average market capitalisation during Q2 2018 was nearly £320m across both markets.

Floats during the quarter include Old Mutual's wealth management arm Quilter which listed last month with valuation of £2.8bn, Team 17 - the computer game company behind the Worms series – which floated in May with a market capitalisation of £217m and law firm Knights which floated last week with a market capitalisation of £103m.

“Looking towards the second half of the year, we can expect to see a significant volume of activity in Q3 and early Q4 as companies rush to take advantage of regulatory stability ahead of Brexit. Activity levels in early 2019 are expected to be more subdued due to uncertainty over the UK’s Brexit deal,” McCubbin added.

Let's block ads! (Why?)