Floats gloom lifts as Punch arrives
THE climate for floats appeared a little brighter today as Punch Taverns officially arrived as a listed company and Intertek continued to attract buyers.
Dealings in Punch, which was forced to slash its issue price in order to resurrect its flotation plans, went unconditional today as the pubs group was officially admitted to the Stock Exchange. The shares were unchanged at 247p in light trading, compared with an issue price of 230p last week, but still below the 250p-300p range that founder Hugh Osmond initially hoped for.
The other recent floater, quality control inspection group Intertek, added a further 15p to 448 1/2p as investors warmed to the company. In conditional trading on Friday Intertek rose 33 1/2p from a starting price of 400p. Brokers are cautiously confident floats can be got away if priced conservatively. Oil services company John Wood and directories publisher Yell are next on the slipway.
But sellers are having to accept seemingly cut-throat prices. Intertek was priced at only 16 times forecast earnings, compared to rivals which trade on price-earnings ratios of well over 20.
