This year is a crucial year for the London market. Nearly four years after Lord Hill reviewed the UK's listing rules, which sparked reform efforts, the stock market remains in the doldrums.
New London-listed companies raised the lowest amount of money ever in 2024, at just £737m according to Dealogic data, underscoring the challenges facing revitalizing the market. Fewer than 20 companies were listed in the British capital last year, the lowest number of additions to the stock market since the 2009 financial crisis.
As more companies choose to add or move their listings to the US in search of greater liquidity and higher valuations, UK policymakers are urgently trying to revive London with reforms to regulations and measures to encourage pension funds to invest in British stocks.
Amid dull markets and political uncertainty, long-awaited listings by fintech companies were postponed last year. Some, including eBay-backed payments company Zilch, are moving towards it Initial public offerings But not until 2026. Others, like a trading app eToro and buy now pay later collection Klarnaplans to go public in the United States.
Those leading the effort to revitalize the UK market, led by London Stock Exchange chief executive Julia Huggett, have confirmed that the IPO market will rebound this year. But advisers say hopes have already faded that 2025 will be a boom year.
The Financial Times has rounded up the companies that could list in London this year.
Financial technology
Ebury
The payments startup owned by Spanish bank Santander has appointed investment banks including Goldman Sachs to lead work on an IPO in London that could value the group at around £2 billion.
Ebury was founded in 2009 by Spanish engineers Juan Lobato and Salvador García. It offers services including cross-border payments, salary transfers, currency risk management, and business lending.
The flotation will be closely watched by the rest of the UK fintech sector in the wake of the disastrous performance of rival CAB Payments, whose shares fell more than 70 per cent just three months after its 2023 listing.
Soup
The digital lender backed by SoftBank Soup It is expected to seek a list yet Reach profitability last year. The company was founded in 2005 as a peer-to-peer lender, but has since pivoted into banking and offers savings accounts, auto financing and personal loans. It was last estimated at more than $1 billion in fundraising in December 2024.
CEO Jadev Janardhana had previously expressed his preference for London as a listing location. However, a person close to the company cautioned that executives have not set a timeline for the IPO. Zopa stock may be ready to go public soon, but will wait for the right market conditions, they said.
clearscore
ClearScore, the credit screening platform founded by Justin Pasini in 2015, is one of the rare fintech companies to have expressed its commitment to London as a listing destination, with a first float option “under consideration”.
“If we go this route, we see London as our natural home given our household brand positioning, strong profitability and user volume in this market,” the company told the Financial Times. The company was last valued at $700 million in a 2021 funding round and is backed by venture capital firm QED Investors.
ClearScore welcomed regulatory reforms to boost investment in the UK, and said it “(believes) the future of profitable, London-listed fintech is an exciting prospect”. However, a potential listing could take place in 2026.
Financial services
border
British broker TP ICAP is considering listing its data unit, Parameta, which sells market data to institutional investors and could be worth up to £1.5bn. This comes after TP ICAP faced pressure from investors spin off The unit is rapidly growing.
However, the group's CEO said last year that he was considering different options for Paramita, including going public in New York instead of London. He said this “could involve a listing in the United States,” adding, “There is of course no certainty about a public offering or its location.”
Shoprock
Private equity owners of a UK small business lender Shoprock It is considering listing the company in London, aiming for a £2 billion valuation. BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital bought the bank in 2017 and are considering listing it in the first half of 2025. The company in 2022 On the shelf The sale plans after record high inflation and rising energy costs hit the lender's clients.
Industries
Mitlin Energy and Minerals
In mid-December, Greece-based Metlen Energy & Metals filed paperwork to add a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange. The chairman of Metlen, whose shares are currently traded on the Athens market, said the group “has had a presence in the UK and international markets for many years” and that a London listing “would be in the interests of both Metlen and its shareholders”.
AirBaltic
Airbaltic, a Latvian airline, said London would be a serious contender if it went ahead with a much-delayed initial public offering this year.
The airline plans to list on its home market in Riga, but its CEO met the head of the London Stock Exchange last month to discuss the possibility of a dual listing in London. Despite this, AirBaltic CEO Martin Gauss said other European stock exchanges including Amsterdam and Frankfurt are also options, if the airline goes ahead with the flotation.
consumer
Shane
Online fast fashion group SheIn may seek a major listing in London this year, which could value the company at around £50 billion. The company, founded in China and headquartered in Singapore, filed confidential papers last year for a proposed initial public offering and is still waiting Regulatory gestures In the United Kingdom and China.
In October, Reclusive billionaire founder Sky Xu has met with investors in the UK and US in anticipation of the flotation. If Shein gets the green light to go public, it would likely be in the first half of this year, a person familiar with the meetings said at the time. It initially targeted New York, but switched to London after US regulators rejected it. The company may also target a dual listing in Hong Kong.
Unilever ice cream
Unilever plans to list its ice cream division at a value of €15 billion, but has not confirmed where the IPO will take place.
“We are talking with governments, authorities, but also with stock markets, banks, etc.,” CEO Hein Schumacher told the Financial Times, adding that the door remains open to potential buyers. The company will confirm its plans in the first half of this year.
The listing could revive the old rivalry between London and Amsterdam over Unilever. The maker of Magnum and Marmite previously had listings in both cities, but scrapped its dual corporate structure in 2020, moving to a single listing in London.
Additional reporting by Laura Onita, Madeleine Speed and Philip Georgiadis in London
