Insights

What is the purpose of an IPO prospectus? A multi-hundred page legal disclaimer, or the key information document for investors? It should be the latter, but in our experience it is drafted as the former. The Financial Conduct Authority is asking for submissions on the question as part of its broader Investment & Corporate Banking […]

In this Insight we look at the FX moves triggered by the Brexit referendum decision, and how best to communicate the impact to investors, using ARM as a case study. This is not just about revenue mix. The press got very confused comparing stock market declines across Europe, forgetting that if currency is moving, you need […]

We’re excited to be hosting a valuation workshop for large and small company executives as part of London Technology Week at 8am on Tuesday 21 June in central London. Valuation is an opaque topic. Investors generally take a dim view of executives telling them what their company is worth but that does not mean you […]

The aim of investor targeting should be to ensure the managers of the largest possible pool of money know enough about your business that they are either already shareholders, or ready to invest at the right price. Companies often forget the low-hanging-fruit of reducing their red flag count, meaning action or inaction that turns off certain sections of the […]

The burden on investor education will continue to move from equity analysts to companies themselves judging by the trends in how equity analysts get paid.  Having already seen a 40% decline in UK broker fee income since 2008, there is going to be further scrutiny and separation of the research component of these fees. All but […]

BlackRock is the largest asset manager on the planet, with $4.7tr of assets under management, 12,000 employees, 135 investment teams in 70 offices in 30 countries. Earlier this year, CEO Larry Fink sent his annual letter to the CEOs of the S&P500 and largest international companies urging them again to focus on the long-term, citing “today’s culture […]

Share buybacks are frequently misunderstood as some sort of share support scheme. They are an alternative or complement to dividends as a way to return capital to shareholders. But they can destroy shareholder value even if they are accretive to earnings per share. Cue conflicts of interest when executive pay is tied to EPS growth.  So […]

“Operating a startup … requires a financial and operating discipline that we haven’t seen in startupland for quite a while”  writes Tomasz Tunguz, VC at Redpoint, in his recent post looking at the implications for the private funding world of the collapse in public company valuations. Businesses that last year might have attracted funding by growing […]

If your board or key executives are fretting about your share price (or private company valuation) so far this year, you are not alone. At time of writing, stock markets around the world are seeing their worst start to the year in decades. The European STOXX 600 index is down 11%, the S&P500 down 8%, […]

At the start of 2015, AIM listed online payments processor Optimal Payments PLC had a market valuation of £324m. Today the renamed Paysafe PLC is worth £1.6bn and has an enterprise value of almost £2bn, and moves to the main market of the London Stock Exchange tomorrow, 23rd December 2015. Alongside an acquisition and accompanying […]