The UK’s capital market suffered another hit as Europe’s largest building materials company and a jewel of Britain’s technology industry picked New York for their main listings.
(Bloomberg) — The UK’s capital market suffered another hit as Europe’s largest building materials company and a jewel of Britain’s technology industry picked New York for their main listings.
CRH Plc said on Thursday it plans to move its primary listing to New York from London. Separately, Arm Ltd. has decided against selling shares on the London Stock Exchange for now, dealing a blow to UK politicians who had been lobbying the home-grown technology giant ahead of its initial public offering.
“A US primary listing would bring increased commercial, operational and acquisition opportunities for CRH,” the Dublin-based company said in a statement on Thursday.
Firms are increasingly looking to the US market instead of London due to its wider investor base and bigger pool of capital. Liquidity has also deteriorated in London in recent years. The average daily traded volume on the FTSE All-Shares Index was equivalent to about £4 billion in February this year, compared with nearly £14 billion at the same period in 2007.
“It should be a badge of honor to list in the UK, but that reputation is dwindling fast,” said Russ Mould, a director at retail investment platform AJ Bell. “Overseas investors lost interest in the trading venue as soon as the UK voted in favor of Brexit.”
CRH will remain headquartered, incorporated and tax-resident in Ireland, according to the statement. The company currently has a primary listing in London with a secondary one in Dublin.
Flutter, Ascential
Already this year, $28 billion gambling giant Flutter Entertainment Plc said it was preparing a secondary US listing, while Ascential Plc, the London-listed data-and-analytics company, said in January it was planning a separation and listing of its digital commerce assets in the US, as part of a strategic review.
Abcam Plc, a Cambridge-based biotechnology company worth about $3.3 billion, moved its primary listing away from London to the Nasdaq last year. Its shares have drifted almost 7% since then, however.
The size of the UK stock market has been shrinking over the past 16 years, too. The total market capitalization of London-listed equities fell from a peak of $4.3 trillion in 2007 to about $3 trillion this year. The UK lost its crown of Europe’s largest stock market to France last year, another blow to the dominance of British finance. As a comparison, the US stock market more than doubled in size over the same period, growing its total maker capitalization from $19 trillion to $43 trillion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
In 2021, plumbing and heating products group Ferguson Plc moved its primary listing the US after trading as a FTSE 100 company for several years. In the same year, Shell Plc’s executives explored moving the company’s stock market listing and headquarters to the US from the UK, the Financial Times reported this week — a move that would have sent shock-waves through corporate Britain.
GW Pharmaceuticals Plc, a British cannabis medicine specialist, moved its primary listing to the US before it was acquired by Jazz Pharmaceuticals Plc for $7.2 billion in cash and stock, also in 2021.
Davy Research analyst Ross Harvey said Thursday that he sees “merit and strategic rationale” for CRH’s decision, while Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Lars Kjellberg said the shift could boost the valuation of the company’s shares.
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