London hit by biggest stock market exodus since global financial crisis
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Just Eat, Flutter and Tui were among the firms to ditch their main UK listing in 2024. Last year was one of the quietest on record for the London Stock Exchange, which saw the largest outflow of companies since the global financial crisis, stark new analysis shows.
Takeaway giant Just Eat, Paddy Power owner Flutter, travel group Tui, and equipment rental firm Ashtead were among those to announce plans to ditch their main UK listing. A total of 88 companies delisted or transferred their primary listing from the primary market in the UK, The London Stock Exchange (LSE), which is the highest tally on record since 2009, according to data from auditing giant EY. A number of these firms said declining liquidity and lower valuations were key reasons for moving away from London, particularly to the US which offers more capital and trading activity, EY said.
Betting giant Flutter Entertainment switched its primary listing to New York, where it said it could access the “world’s deepest and most liquid capital markets”. Just Eat Takeaway abandoned its listing on the LSE altogether, citing the “administrative burden, complexity and costs” associated with keeping its shares in London as one of the reasons to quit.
Other companies such as Watches of Switzerland faced pressure from activist investors to swap their main stock market listing to the US. The boss of oil giant BP, meanwhile, suggested last year that a move away from the UK was “not on the agenda”, with Murray Auchincloss insisting valuation gaps between UK and US companies could be closed by “safe performance, quarter in, quarter out”, along with share buybacks, dividend increases and cashflow growth.
