London set for bumper IPO year in spite of Brexit

Stock market flotations are showing 'no sign of slowing' with the number of listings in 2018 set to beat the past two years despite Brexit fears, according to share services firm Equiniti.

By The Newsroom

Published 28th Aug 2018, 21:51 BST

Updated 3rd Sep 2018, 12:16 BST

Equiniti Group, which provides share registrations services, said IPOs on London stock exchanges so far in 2018 had already equalled the total for 2017 and was on course to be a record year thanks to a “healthy IPO pipeline”.

Stock market flotations this year include the £2.3 billion flotation of cyber security firm Avast and the £100 million listing of high street retailer theWorks.co.uk.

Equiniti, which has acted as registrar for 70% of IPOs so far in 2018, said the LSE was attracting around 70% of new capital, with the remaining 30% split between London’s junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM) and other exchanges.

Paul Matthews, chief executive for boardroom business at Equiniti, said: “These figures show that London continues to attract significant investor capital and that shows no sign of slowing as we head toward Brexit next year.

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