Executive Summary
In this paper we analyse the data on eleven years of IPOs on the London Stock Exchange. We ask whether there are any common factors behind the most – and least – successful offerings over that time.
Our findings show that the best performing new issues typically start life on the market with a market cap of under £250m, are run by a founder, have no private equity presence at flotation, and list on a sensible valuation. They also went on to deliver double digit earnings growth for a number of years.
Our findings show that investors should be very wary of buying new issues from private equity or participating in ‘hot’ IPOs that float on expensive multiples.



