The Lemon Fool

So We Soda were going to IPO on the FTSE... and now they're not, saying that they can't reach the valuation they they should be be at and are going to go elsewhere

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65912634

What's your take? On the one hand it's a sign that the FTSE is old and tired and increasingly irrelevant...

On the other hand, that they can't achieve the presumably rich premium that they think they should is perhaps a sign that the FTSE itself is trading at outlier levels of valuation and what's already there is a bargain...

vand wrote:
So We Soda were going to IPO on the FTSE... and now they're not, saying that they can't reach the valuation they they should be be at and are going to go elsewhere

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65912634

What's your take? On the one hand it's a sign that the FTSE is old and tired and increasingly irrelevant...

On the other hand, that they can't achieve the presumably rich premium that they think they should is perhaps a sign that the FTSE itself is trading at outlier levels of valuation and what's already there is a bargain...

Alternatively, We Soda were looking for a valuation that was massively out of step with their more established peers, which didn't acknowledge some of the clear risks with their own valuation and business model...

I think it's worth having a read of the Financial Times take on this, accessed from the top returned item from the following Google search -

WE Soda’s failure to launch is no big deal for London -

https://www.google.com/search?q=WE+Soda%E2%80%99s+failure+to+launch+is+no+big+deal+for+London

Of course, we should expect the usual suspects to use the story as yet another UK-bashing exercise, but them's the times we're living in, unfortunately...

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

vand wrote:So We Soda were going to IPO on the FTSE... and now they're not, saying that they can't reach the valuation they they should be be at and are going to go elsewhere

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65912634

What's your take? On the one hand it's a sign that the FTSE is old and tired and increasingly irrelevant...

On the other hand, that they can't achieve the presumably rich premium that they think they should is perhaps a sign that the FTSE itself is trading at outlier levels of valuation and what's already there is a bargain...

"He [Alasdair Warren, the CEO] told the BBC's Today programme that the valuation was "not just a UK issue" but a "broader European issue"."

Itsallaguess wrote:Of course, we should expect the usual suspects to use the story as yet another UK-bashing exercise, but them's the times we're living in, unfortunately...

And if they had listed in London then it'd be confirmation that the London market is just for old-style mining/extraction/commodity/chemical industries, and (according to the FT article) with big dividend yields (9%!), right ...

Sounds to me like not listing on LSE has done everyone except the current owners a favour. Over priced offer and Turkey isn't without risk as a destination for your money. Not surprising it was pulled reading about it.

PersonallyI am in 2 minds:

IPOs are rightly viewed with skepticism as we know the performance of IPOs is generally worse than the market due to initial overpriced valuations...

Then again, just as first time buyers are the lifeblood of the property market, new entrants are the lifeblood of a healthy and vibrant stock market, and the low number of IPOs on LSE in recent times is a sign that things are not all well over here.

vand wrote:Then again, just as first time buyers are the lifeblood of the property market, new entrants are the lifeblood of a healthy and vibrant stock market, and the low number of IPOs on LSE in recent times is a sign that things are not all well over here.

The Brokers such as ii, HL, AJ Bell with lots of individual clients have been featuring IPOs of ITs and REITs in specialist or even obscure market segments. Even that seems to have dried up at the moment.