LoopUp shares fall 35 per cent as return to the office scuppers stay at home stocks
Lockdown darling LoopUp proved the return to the office was in full swing yesterday, after reporting a lacklustre trading update which sent shares plummeting by more than 35 per cent.
Despite reporting a 60 per cent drop in revenue from 2020 levels, the conferencing software firm sought to reassure investors, saying the drop was “in line with expectations” and that figures would recover when they caught up with a recent flurry in contracts.
While the AIM-listed firm – which provides cloud software for Microsoft Teams – rode high on the pandemic, reaching a market cap of £75m, it has since tumbled to sit at only £9.7m.
The fall follows the trend shown by other ‘stay at home stocks’ like Zoom, Netflix and Peloton, all of which have seen shares tumble after reporting underwhelming post-pandemic results.
It comes as workers flood back to their city desks, with figures published yesterday by office provider IWG showing the number of Brits returning to the office jumped 50 per cent in the final week of January following the lifting of Plan B restrictions.
Similarly, demand for office space has quickly leapt up, with figures from real estate consultancy Knight Frank revealing demand for office space last month was up even on pre-pandemic levels.