Viewpoint: The retail investor should not be ignored March 17, 2014 HOW CAN any company which relies on the custom of the public ignore them when it floats on the market? Certainly it seems wrong to deny your customers a chance to share in your company’s fortunes. The current resurgence of initial public offerings in the London market is certainly welcome. But it isn’t good news [...]
Poundland and Pets start trading March 17, 2014 MILLIONS of shares in Pets at Home and Poundland changed hands yesterday after the two retailers officially started trading on the London Stock Exchange. Poundland boss Jim McCarthy opened trading in a ceremony at the exchange but shares in the company closed 2.6 per cent lower at 375p a share. About 2m Poundland shares changed [...]
Shore Capital in the money after markets boost March 17, 2014 CITY finance firm Shore Capital yesterday said it doubled profits last year after a strong showing from its equity capital markets division. The business, founded by Howard Shore in 1985, said the division saw its pre-tax profits rise up 19.4 per cent from £5.1m to £6m. Overall revenues for the company rose nine per cent [...]
Just-Eat float will have no retail component March 17, 2014 City AM has learned that the float of fast food website Just-Eat will have no retail component. Retail investors will be able to go through brokers who've put in an institutional bid, but there'll be no direct access to the initial public offering (IPO). This mirrors Poundland's recent IPO, which also lacked a retail component. [...]
Boohoo bounces onto Aim as shares hit 85p March 14, 2014 It's the first day of trading for online fashion retailer Boohoo.com, and shared are surging. Making its debut on London's Aim, shares opened at 85p – well above the offer price of 50p. Shares are currently trading around 78p. The firm raised £300m through its initial public offering, and is the third UK retailer to [...]
Inside Track: Investors: How best to avoid being shut out on listings March 13, 2014 CITY folk often have long memories and until very recently there was an average chance that if a private equity group tried to bring a company to market it would be hit by a barrage of cynicism. The disappointing performance of several stocks in the noughties, including Debenhams, ensured that for a good while whenever [...]
Traders paw off Pets at Home as shares fall back March 12, 2014 PETS at Home shares fell by a whisker in initial trading yesterday as the £1.2bn float was left in the shade by a strong debut from fellow high street chain Poundland. Pets, which floated at 245p yesterday morning, ended the day trading around 243p after falling as low as 230p during a rocky start in [...]
Frustrated investors miss out in stampede for Poundland shares March 12, 2014 THE immense popularity of the share listing for the discount retailer Poundland meant that, as with AO World last week, many funds received nothing from the allocation process. Demand for the shares, which traded at a 22 per cent premium to their issue price yesterday, exceeded expectations and orders came in around 15 times oversubscribed. [...]
Inside Track: Co-op board spat highlights need for change March 12, 2014 COMPANIES usually ban the use of social media sites to stop employees idling away work-time on frivolous gossip. In the case of the Co-operative Group, it might have been better advised to put a filter on the internet access of Euan Sutherland, its now-former chief executive. Sutherland took to Facebook on Sunday to denounce the [...]
Poundland shares pop on first day of trading March 12, 2014 On its first of trading, Poundland has seen its shares jumped by 17 per cent. The company's initial public offering was priced significantly above its retail items of one pound, at 300p per share, toward the higher end of the range. The price gave Europe's biggest single-price retailer a market capitalisation of £750m. There has [...]