2023 was very much the London stock exchange’s ‘annus horribilus’. There were only 23 IPO listings throughout the entire year. Perhaps even more forebodingly, the final quarter, usually a time when companies might make a final dash for a year-end float, saw no IPO activity whatsoever. Comparing these figures to prior years paints an even more dire picture. From 2022, the market experienced a 49% drop in IPO activity, a percentage which only worsens if compared to 2021, with an 80% decrease.
But with reforms on the horizon, surely, things can only get better—right?
