This year is crucial for the London market. Almost four years after Lord Hill’s review of UK listing rules that launched reform efforts, the stock market is still in a slump.
New London-listed companies raised the lowest amount of money on record in 2024, at just £737m according to Dealogic, underscoring challenges in revitalizing the market. Fewer than 20 companies listed in the UK capital last year, the lowest number of listings since the 2009 financial crisis.
As more companies decide to add or move listings to the US in search of greater liquidity and higher valuations, UK policymakers are urgently trying to revive London with regulatory reforms and measures to encourage pension funds to invest in UK stocks.
Amid uncertain markets and political uncertainty, long-awaited listings of fintech companies were delayed last year. Some, including eBay-backed payments company Zilch, are moving towards it initial public offerings but not until 2026. Others, such as a trading app eToro and the buy-now-pay-later group Klarnaare planning to go public in the USA.
Those spearheading efforts to revitalize the UK market, led by London Stock Exchange chief executive Julia Hoggett, claimed the IPO market would take off this year. But already, say the advisers, hopes are fading that 2025 will turn out to be a boom year.
The Financial Times has compiled a list of companies that could list on the London Stock Exchange this year.
Fintech
Ebury
The payments start-up owned by Spanish bank Santander has appointed investment banks including Goldman Sachs to lead work on an IPO in London that could value the group at around £2 billion.
Ebury was founded in 2009 by Spanish engineers Juan Lobato and Salvador García. It offers services including cross-border payments, payroll transfers, currency risk management and business lending.
The rest of the UK fintech sector will be watching the listing closely following the disastrous performance of rival CAB Payments, whose shares have fallen by more than 70 per cent just three months after listing in 2023.
Zopa
A digital lender backed by SoftBank Zopa expected to seek listing after achieving profitability last year. The company was founded in 2005 as a peer-to-peer lender, but has since branched out into banking and offers savings accounts, car finance and personal loans. It was last valued at more than $1 billion in fundraising in December 2024.
CEO Jaidev Janardana had previously expressed a preference for London as a listing site. However, a person close to the company cautioned executives that they have not set a timeline for the IPO. Zopa could be ready for release soon, they said, but will wait for the right market conditions.
ClearScore
ClearScore, the credit-checking platform founded in 2015 by Justin Basini, is one of the few fintech companies to have expressed a commitment to London as a listing destination, with a flotation option “under consideration”.
“Having gone down this route, we see London as our natural home given our household brand status, strong profitability and customer scale in this market,” the company told the Financial Times. The company was last valued at $700 million in a 2021 funding round and is backed by venture capital firm QED Investors.
ClearScore welcomed regulatory reforms to encourage investment in the UK and said that “[believes] that the future of successful publicly listed profitable fintech companies in London is an exciting prospect”. However, potential listing could come in 2026.
Financial services
Parameter
British broker-dealer TP ICAP is considering listing its data unit, Paramet, which sells market data to institutional investors, and could be valued at as much as £1.5 billion. This comes after TP ICAP faced pressure from investors to spin around a rapidly growing unit.
However, the group’s chief executive said last year that he was considering different options for Parameta, including going public in New York instead of London. That “could include a U.S. listing,” he said, adding “of course, there is no certainty about an IPO or its location.”
Shawbrook
UK Small Business Lender Private Equity Owners Shawbrook are considering listing the company on the London Stock Exchange, targeting a valuation of £2 billion. BC Partners and Pollen Street Capital bought the bank in 2017 and plan to list it in the first half of 2025. The company is in 2022. shelved plans to sell after record high inflation and soaring energy costs hit the lender’s customers.
Industries
Metlen Energy & Metals
In mid-December, Greece-based Metlen Energy & Metals filed for a primary listing on the LSE. Currently trading on the Athens market, the Metlen director said the conglomerate “has been present in the UK and international markets for many years” and that a London listing “will be in the best interests of both Metlen and its shareholders”.
AirBaltic
Latvia’s national carrier AirBaltic said London would be a serious contender if it goes ahead with a much-delayed IPO this year.
The airline plans to enter its home market in Riga, but its chief executive met the head of the LSE last month to discuss the possibility of a dual listing in London. However, Martin Gauss, AirBaltic’s chief executive, said other European stock exchanges, including Amsterdam and Frankfurt, were also options if the airline went ahead with the listing.
Consumer
Shein
Online fast fashion group Shein could go public this year in London, potentially valuing the company at around £50bn. The company, founded in China and headquartered in Singapore, filed confidential documents last year for a proposed IPO and is still waiting regulatory nods in Great Britain and China.
It’s in October reclusive billionaire founder Sky Xu met with investors in the UK and US in anticipation of the launch. If Shein gets the green light for an IPO, it will likely be in the first half of this year, a person familiar with the meetings said at the time. It initially targeted New York, but switched to London after being rebuffed by US regulators. The company may also target dual listing in Hong Kong.
Unilever ice cream
Unilever plans to list its €15 billion ice cream division, but has not confirmed where the IPO will take place.
“We are talking to governments, authorities, but also stock exchanges, banks, etc.,” CEO Hein Schumacher told the FT, adding that the door remained open to potential buyers. The company will confirm its plans in the first half of this year.
The listing could revive the old rivalry between London and Amsterdam over Unilever. The Magnum and Marmite maker was previously listed in both cities, but ended its dual corporate structure in 2020, moving to a single listing in London.
Additional reporting by Laura Onita, Madeleine Speed and Philip Georgiadis in London
