Sherwood News

Where did all the UK IPOs go?

The London Stock Exchange had fewer new IPO listings last year than during the global financial crisis.

2/27/25 9:38AM

Things went from bad to worse for London’s capital markets scene last year when the UK saw the lowest number of IPOs in decades, with a mere 17 listings added — down 96% from its 2005 peak.

London’s reputation as a leading destination for equities suffered a further blow after mining giant Glencore, which has a market cap of £39 billion, said last week that it was considering moving its main stock listing overseas. That follows a number of high-profile departures like Paddy Power owner Flutter Entertainment and Just Eat. Indeed, in 2024, a total of 88 companies “delisted or transferred their primary listing from London’s main market,” per the Financial Times.

Fundraisings reportedly shrunk down to ~$800 million in 2024, taking a mere 0.81% share of the global IPO market. That’s fewer than what tiny frontier markets like Oman pulled in, per Bloomberg.

Small fish, bigger ponds

Part of the issue has been the willingness of executives to list overseas — with the deeper liquidity and loftier valuations of the enormous American market proving magnetic. But what’s striking for London is that it has plummeted as a choice even against its European peers, taking up only 2% of all European IPO activities as of May last year, a surprising defeat when you consider that the London Stock Exchange was the largest center for IPOs globally outside of the US or China in 2021.

Looking to 2025, stakes are high with NYSE dropout Shein waiting on approval for a UK listing after the US Securities and Exchange Commission spurned its initial plans — which, if approved, could be one of the biggest flotations on the British exchange this decade.

The good news? UK stocks are actually enjoying a rare sliver of outperformance: the FTSE 100 has gained 7% this year, while US stocks are up 2%, which, if it continues, could galvanize management teams to back Britain.

Luke Kawa6h

Hims & Hers sees surge turn sour in its biggest reversal since the 2025 stock market bottom

Hims & Hers erased gains of more than 5% in early trading to close down more than 7% on Thursday.

It’s the first time the telehealth company saw an intraday gain of 5% or more turn into a loss of 5% or more since April 8, 2025, which marked that year’s bottom for the S&P 500 amid the tariff-induced tumult.

Hims has been on an absolute tear this week after reaching a renewed partnership with Novo Nordisk to sell its weight-loss drugs, a pact that resolves the massive legal overhang that had been plaguing the stock. The momentum continued as Wall Street scrambled to boost its outlook on the shares following this arrangement.

There’s not much in the way of company-specific news to point to: Hims, like many other firms, tanked after the market opened as oil climbed.

Perhaps this is just a consolidation period — the so-called pause that refreshes — or a potential sign that the stock has squeezed all the juice it could out of one catalyst as the overall market wobbles under the weight of high oil prices brought about by the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks tumble as Brent crude closes above $100

Investors were plagued by inflation fears amid rising oil prices and ongoing private credit concerns.

Matt Phillips6h

Firefly Aerospace rockets higher as traders snap up calls

Firefly Aerospace shares soared after Wednesday’s successful liftoff of its Alpha rocket for the first time in almost a year was followed by a flurry of call buying in the options market.

Shortly before 3 p.m. ET on Thursday, roughly 36,000 call options on Firefly had changed hands, more than twice the average over the previous 20 days.

The Cedar Park, Texas-based designer and manufacturer of space launch vehicles has lost some serious altitude since its August 2025 IPO. It’s down about 60% since then, even after Thursday’s surge.

Vandenberg rocket launch visible across West Coast. Here's a recap

Luke Kawa

Woe de toilette

Spiking oil prices have investors turning up their noses at fragrance stocks

Estée Lauder and International Flavors & Fragrances are among the worst-performing stocks since the kinetic conflict in the Middle East started.

Saleah Blancaflor7h

Gas jumps $0.60 in under two weeks, hitting $3.60 as the market braces for possible $4 a gallon

Spring is just around the corner and gas prices just keep getting higher.

The national average for a gallon of regular gas is currently at $3.598, according to the American Automobile Association, jumping nearly $0.35 since last week.

The most recent prices are similar to the spring of 2024, while this is the first time it has gone above the $3.50 threshold since July 29, 2024.

While gas prices tend to increase during the warmer months, crude oil prices have played a major part in what consumers have been paying, at times exceeding $100 per barrel in the past few days.

To offset the rising energy costs due to the conflict in the Middle East, the US Department of Energy announced it would release 172 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves over the next four months as part of the larger effort to release 400 million oil barrels.

Prediction markets are pricing in an implied 62% chance that the price of gas exceeds $4.00 by the end of the month. Things may get even more expensive, though; markets are pricing in roughly even chances that gas finishes above $4.10, and even a 22% chance gasoline averages $4.50 per gallon by March 31.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

US gas prices jump to nearly $3.60 per gallon