The new listings in London are coming so thick and fast, companies are running out of original names.
So, on the one hand we have Seraphine Group PLC (LSE:BUMP) (Seraphine Group PLC (LSE:BUMP)), which yesterday published its prospectus ahead of its forthcoming flotation at 295p per share, valuing the company at £150.2mln.
It is not to be confused with Seraphim Space Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SSIT) (Seraphim Space Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SSIT)), which floated on the London Stock Exchange today at 100p a share.
One is a maternity brand, apparently patronised by celebrities exclusively named Kate (Middleton, Winslett, Hudson), and the other is the world’s first space tech investment fund.
“Space is the final investment frontier but our team has boldly invested where virtually no one has invested before and proved that there are returns out there above the atmosphere,” said Will Wheaton … er … Whitehorn, the chair of Seraphim.
So far, the shares have not exactly rocketed higher – they are quoted at around 102.38p – but neither have they fallen down to earth with a bump, which is more than can be said for Seraphine, which is quoted at 283.95p in conditional trading.
There have been around 50 new listings this year including the odd demerger, such as Wickes Group (LSE:WIX) PLC (Wickes Group (LSE:WIX)). As you might expect, performance has been mixed; Wickes itself, which was hived off from Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK) PLC (Travis Perkins (LSE:TPK)) at the end of April, has seen its shares drift down to 251p from 275p.
The biggest flotation of the year was Deliveroo Holdings PLC (Deliveroo PLC (LSE:ROO)), the controverisal fast food delivery company.
The initial public offering at 390p per share was so underwhelming that wags referred to its as “Floperoo”; the shares have recovered a bit of late and now trade at 307p.
The hype around the flotation of Dr. Martens PLC (Dr Martens PLC (LSE:DOCS)), the boot boys’ favourite footwear, was not quite as excessive as Deliveroo’s and although the shares have come off of late, at 452p they are well above the 370p flotation price.
With a market capitalisation of £4.52bn, the company is the second largest company to list in London this year.
Darktrace PLC (LSE:DARK) (Darktrace PLC (LSE:DARK)), worth £1.7bn on listing and £3.8bn now, is the third largest company to list this year and as can be seen in the sharp valuation uplift, one of the more successul ones but that was after the cybersecurity group’s initial public offering price was slashed from initial estimates.
Ironically, the firm is now valued at about the level the company was anticipating when it first floated the idea of … er … floating.
Ticker
Name
Flotation price (p)
Current share price (p)
% change
Market cap. (£mln)
Company's float date
ROO
Deliveroo Holdings PLC
390
307
-21.28%
5268.3
31/3/2021
DOCS
Dr. Martens PLC
370
452
22.16%
4520
29/1/2021
DARK
Darktrace PLC
250
546.5
118.60%
3812.5
30/4/2021
HBR
344.7
358.7
4.06%
3319.9
1/4/2021
AWE
Alphawave IP Group PLC (LSE:AWE)
410
359
-12.44%
2387.2
13/5/2021
ATG
Auction Technology Group PLC (LSE:ATG)
800
1312
64.00%
1574.4
23/2/2021
TRST
Trustpilot Group PLC (LSE:TRST)
265
381.4
43.92%
1560.7
23/3/2021
MOON
350
406
16.00%
1389
2/2/2021
BCG
Baltic Classifieds Group PLC (LSE:BCG)
165
197.5
19.70%
987.5
30/6/2021
At the cheaper end of the market, star performers are thin on the ground.
The lowest valued newcomer, Roquefort Investments PLC (Roquefort Therapeutics PLC (LSE:ROQ)), has done well, rising to 6.75p in less than four months after floating at 5p while Caerus Minerals Resources PLC (Caerus Mineral Resources PLC (LSE:CMRS)) has been the pick of the tiddlers, storming 170% higher to 27p.
Team PLC (AIM:TEAM) (Team PLC (AIM:TEAM)) was one of the more interesting new arrivals, floating on 8 March and launching an abortive bid on 23 March for fellow fund manager Tavistock Investments.
Earlier in the year, special purpose acquisition companies were all the rage but as CYBA PLC (LSE:CYBA) (CYBA PLC (LSE:CYBA)) has proved, patience quickly wears thin while backers wait for the company to choose a target. Shares in CYBA floated at 3.5p and are now languishing at 2p.
Ticker · Name · Flotation price (p) · Current share price (p) · % change · Market cap. (£mln) · Company's float date
ROQ · Roquefort Investments PLC · 5 · 6.75 · 35.00% · 2.3 · 22/3/2021
EST · East Star Resources Plc (LSE:EST) · 8 · 4.98 · -37.75% · 3.5 · 4/5/2021
ASP · African Pioneer PLC (LSE:AFP) · 3.5 · 2.75 · -21.43% · 5.2 · 1/6/2021
CSFS · Cornerstone FS PLC (AIM:CSFS) · 61 · 37 · -39.34% · 7.5 · 6/4/2021
CYBA · Cyba PLC · 3.5 · 2.1 · -40.00% · 13.1 · 8/3/2021
CMRS · Caerus Mineral Resources PLC (LSE:CMRS) · 10 · 27 · 170.00% · 13.6 · 19/3/2021
TEAM · Team PLC · 89 · 80.5 · -9.55% · 13.9 · 8/3/2021
CIZ · Cizzle Biotechnology PLC · 10 · 5.75 · -42.50% · 14.6 · 14/5/2021
MAST · Mast Energy Developments PLC (LSE:MAST) · 12.5 · 10.25 · -18.00% · 19.3 · 14/4/2021