Friday morning saw Midwich Group Plc (LON:MIDW) got off to a premium debut on London’s AIM market, with the newly listed shares changing hands up as high as 240p in early deals.
Raising £75.2mln at 208p per share, Midwich’s AIM float is among the largest thus far in 2016.
It comes amid a swelling of IPOs and share placings ahead of looming uncertainty brought by the UK’s referendum on its European Union membership in June.
A BREXIT - i.e. the scenario that Britain exits the EU - would allegedly cause a phase of disruption in the City and, according to experts, could see capital freeze at least temporarily.
Companies such as Midwich do themselves a favour coming to market sooner rather than later.
The IPO was priced earlier this week, on May 3, and at 208p per share it gave the group a market value of just over £165mln.
Midwich supplies an array of technologies for marketing purposes and trade shows - things such as top-end projectors, interactive touch-screens, ‘video walls’ and 3D printing.
Stephen Fenby, Midwich managing director and 27.9% shareholder, described the listing as an important milestone in the group’s history.
He added: “becoming a public company will further enhance Midwich's leading competitive position as a specialist AV and document solutions distributor to the trade market.
“I would like to welcome our new shareholders and I am very excited about the next stage of our journey as we continue to grow both in the UK and internationally."
At 11:00am, Midwhich shares were changing hands at 235p.
Some £26mln of the IPO proceeds are earmarked to pay down existing debts and to cover final payment of the group’s prior acquisition of Kern & Stelly.
The other £49.2mln is was banked by selling shareholders.