How to stop the listings exodus that's blighting the City

The prescription? Persuade UK pension funds to invest in wealth-creating British businesses again,

- Jonathan Prynn

The capital's stock market is in danger of bleeding out. Already this year more than 30 London-listed companies valued at £100 million or more have fallen to takeovers, many from overseas private equity or trade buyers.

Some of those “made in the UK” businesses such as Spectris, acquired by New York private equity giant KKR, and Alphawave, snapped up by US semiconductor group Qualcomm, are at the cutting edge of British technology.

At the same time the pipeline of replacements through new listings has ground to a halt, with just one London IPO for a company worth more than £100 million so far in 2025.

It is a slow-motion car crash that could accelerate alarmingly if a British blue-chip — a Shell, or an AstraZeneca — decided to scrap their London listing and move elsewhere.

Chronic undervaluation of London-listed companies, particularly as funds have drained out of the UK since Brexit, has been one of the primary drivers of this unwelcome trend.

The recent strong run for the FTSE 100 to all-time highs above the 9,000 mark may temporarily take some of the momentum out of the exodus, but the long-term competitive threat to the City from the likes of New York and Singapore has not gone away.