Initial public offerings down 7% against 2000

The UK IPO market has had the leanest quarter for more than 10 years, according to figures from KPMG Corporate Finance. The money raised in the fourth quarter of 2001 was down 93% on the same period in 2000 and, while 78 companies were formed last year, only nine non-investment vehicle trading companies joined the Official List of the London Stock Exchange in 2001. This compares with 138 new entrants in 2000, 72 of which were trading companies. The slowdown in new market entrants was starkly illustrated in the last quarter of 2001 in which only one trading company joined the market and...