Raspberry Pi rally bucks trend of London IPO disappointments

RASPBERRY Pi shares rallied after reporting a jump in sales, cementing the personal-computer (PC) maker’s status as the only winner from a recent wave of listings on the London Stock Exchange. 

Shares of the company rose as much as 9.5 per cent on Tuesday (Sep 24), after it reported a 61 per cent jump in first-half revenue to US$144 million.

Its stock price has risen by about 36 per cent since its initial public offering (IPO) in June, which was viewed as a win for the London capital market.

Of the roughly two dozen companies that raised at least US$100 million in a London IPO over the past three years and are still trading, Raspberry Pi is the only one with a stock price that has risen from the offering price, showed Bloomberg data.

Companies in the red include Cab Payments – which has slumped 70 per cent – and Ithaca Energy, which has dropped 58 per cent. 

Raspberry Pi gained 9 per cent to £3.796 as of 1.50 pm in London (9.50pm in Singapore).

While that is well above the IPO price of £2.80, it is significantly below its intraday high of £5 a few days after it started trading on Jun 11.

Some of the other recent debutants advanced during their first three months of trading, before their rallies faded. However, none of the three-month gains were as big as Raspberry Pi’s.

Its IPO, while relatively small, boosted the UK capital market. This came after several other companies opted for New York listings, in search of higher valuations and a more-accommodating executive pay environment.

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British PC maker Raspberry Pi soars in London trading debut

The biggest blow came last year when Arm Holdings – an investor in the PC manufacturer – chose to go public in New York. BLOOMBERG