Our Capital Markets team has extensive experience of acting as reporting accountant on IPOs on the London Stock Exchange and other international exchanges.
Over the past three years we have supported over 40 businesses in a variety of transactions leading to a public listing. Every transaction is different, and we will work closely with you to foresee any issues and head them off.
Floating on a public market enables a company to achieve a range of goals, including:
Raising funds
Acquiring shares
Growing the company
Increasing profile
Exit strategy
Incentivise employees
Raising funds
Any company listing on a capital market will have access to funds through equity raises rather than relying on debt. This is usually the primary reason for listing outside of the other benefits gained.
Enabling growth of the group via acquisitions for shares rather than cash
By becoming a publicly traded company, the share capital in the business will have an inherent value attributed to it (the share price). As a result, a company can use its own share capital as consideration to purchase assets or other companies. This alleviates the need for large amounts of cash on hand to fund acquisitions.
Growing the company
Whether through raising capital via a share issue or issuing shares as consideration, a company can grow through acquisitions or asset purchases. Becoming a listed company can open doors to larger customers, suppliers and banks. They may need to see publicly available or audited information before working with new companies.
Increasing profile
Part of being listed includes making regular announcements to the market and the shareholder base. With this comes an inherent increase in visibility to the industry you are in and an increase in profile compared to your non-listed competitors. We have close relationships with corporate public relations firms who specialise in listed companies and can provide guidance during and after the listing process.
Provide an exit strategy for current shareholders
Owner managed businesses can sometimes find it hard to exit for a variety of reasons. Listing on a stock exchange allows the incumbent shareholders a partial exit with an expectation of a full exit over time. This allows the value of the business to be maximised and also offers the sellers a potential increase in value in the remaining shares held.
Incentivise employees
Providing valuable incentives to employees that are not cash based can be difficult. Share options can be a great incentive for employees, particularly when on a listed market.
As the reporting accountant we carry out the required due diligence on your financial history and forecasts to provide comfort to the various advisors involved. This process is invaluable in helping your business prepare for its IPO, identify the necessary IFRS reporting requirements and support the overall transition.
We provide the full range of reporting accountant services including accountants’ reports on historical financial information, long form reports, working capital reports and all comfort letters.
For companies that are already listed, we will assist with a range of post-listing transactions including reverse acquisitions, secondary placings, disposals and de-listings.
