Kingspan gives the City another black eye

Don’t call it an exodus just yet. But coming, as it did, a little less than two months after CRH announced its own departure, the news this week that Kingspan is pulling its London listing certainly won’t be any comfort to anyone of a nervous disposition in the City of London.

Not quite buried but certainly towards the end of the insulation giant’s first quarter trading update on Friday was the detail that it plans to seek the backing of its shareholders to exit the London Stock Exchange, citing the “negligible” amount of trading in its shares that takes place there. Apart from the cost associated with the listing, the London trade in its shares has all but collapsed post-Brexit, from about 10 per cent to closer to 1 per cent recently. Unlike CRH, which confirmed this week that it also plans to exit the Dublin exchange, Kingspan said it remains committed to its Irish listing.

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While it’s something of a boost for the beleaguered Dublin exchange — which has seen its fair share exits in recent years — equally, it could be taken as a worrying sign for London. Apart from CRH, the City was also shunned last month by SoftBank, which opted instead for a New York listing for its Cambridge-based chip subsidiary Arm. In 2021, Ryanair also gave notice of its intention to quit. Paddy Power owner Flutter could be next, although The Irish Times reported this week that the gaming giant is more likely to keep its primary listing in London and ditch Dublin after its move to Wall Street takes shape.

All of this has set tongues wagging in the UK where the government is attempting to shore up the City of London’s reputation for punching above its weight globally. Last December, UK chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a package of changes, aimed at loosening regulations to make London a more attractive destination for global firms to list their shares against stiff competition from the US and contenders like India and China. But while Britain remains an important exporter of financial services, its future in that sphere remains far from certain in a post-Brexit world, its reputation scarred by years of political instability and incompetence.