The London stock market witnessed a very slow start to 2023, with five issuers raising just £81m in the first three months of the year.
The main market saw only two IPOs, which raised a combined £63m, while the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) saw three admissions in the quarter, raising £18m. The largest main market IPO in the period was Dar Global plc which raised £60m and the largest AIM admission was Onward Opportunities which raised £13m.
The exchange’s performance during the first quarter of 2023 is a significant decline when compared to the same period in 2022 when there were 12 IPOs on the main market and seven on AIM, which raised a combined total of £0.4bn. The equivalent period in 2021 saw £5.7bn raised in the UK markets.
Scott McCubbin, EY UKI IPO Leader, comments: “The London IPO market continues to experience the extremely challenging conditions witnessed in 2022. There remain strong headwinds including the war in Ukraine, high energy and commodity prices, and wider inflationary pressures.
“We expect the market to remain challenging for the next few months, albeit with some green shoots in the form of an expected reduction in inflation by the year-end. This should help see a return to a stronger equity market later in the year. However, this remains at risk given the continued uncertain geopolitical landscape.”
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