London’s stock market needs a shot in the Arm

Another day, another delisting. 

Today Tui investors are expected to vote to approve management plans to make Frankfurt its sole market, delisting from London. 

Meanwhile, the big one that got away, Cambridge-based Arm Holdings is on a spectacular run on Nasdaq that has made it the UK’s fourth biggest quoted company. Imagine the incredible shot in the, er, arm, that would have given the London stock market if such a tech champion was still trading over here.

But while London’s public equity markets are still being given the cold shoulder, investment across the capital as a whole has never been stronger. 

Figures published today by the London Property Alliance show how the capital has seen a surge in foreign direct investment (FDI) since the end of the pandemic while its biggest global rivals, including New York, Paris and Hong Kong have suffered declines.

In the third quarter alone, London attracted £1.3 billion of FDI capital, by far the most of any European city. In the fourth quarter there were 103 FDI projects recorded, up 16% on the 89 seen in the same period in 2022.

The figures demonstrate London’s resilience as an economic powerhouse even when its traditional financial markets are under a cloud. Nevertheless it is not a good look for London’s shop window financial market to appear so lacklustre compared with rival stock exchanges in America. 

London’s stock market needs revitalising to start attracting the companies that are tomorrow’s Arm Holdings. An assumption that Britain’s fast tech start ups and unicorns will look straight across the Atlantic for their first public listing is not good news for the stock market or UK plc. 

British ingenuity and inventiveness is as strong as ever - hence the strong flow of investment into London. 

But it is vital that the growth story stays in the UK when these companies are big and strong enough to be publicly traded.