Reminder issued on advantages of London listing

The London Stock Exchange is keen to remind its member companies in Ireland that London remains a good place to have a listing…

The London Stock Exchange is keen to remind its member companies in Ireland that London remains a good place to have a listing even though Britain remains outside the euro zone.It has taken out large advertisements in a number of Irish publications in recent weeks, reminding companies that it lists in euros as well as dollars, sterling and other major currencies.The bulk of companies quoted on the Irish stock market maintain a London listing but in addition to keeping existing members happy, the LSE is eyeing potential new market entrants.In particular, it is targeting the emerging Irish technology sector, especially as many Irish companies considering a listing have looked to the Nasdaq in the US rather than exploring the possibilities of a dual listing on the Developing Companies Market (DCM) and London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM).The LSE may be able to promise young companies a steadier ride than the Nasdaq where the presence of momentum investors has led to a roller-coaster ride for some companies in the past.But it will find it hard to match the multiples on offer in the US where investor interest in, and understanding of, technology companies is more advanced than in Europe.Meanwhile, the larger companies will no doubt be interested in the potential arising from the growing co-operation between the London exchange and the Deutsche Boerse. Inclusion in a possible pan-European index down the line might go some way to making up for their continued exclusion from the FTSE indices.It all seems like perfect good sense. After all, what business manager would expand in a way which would put the future of the company at risk by building in unsustainable extra costs? However, no sooner was the report out that the employers and trade unions were pitching in and a full-scale debate was under way, based to a large extent on sound-bites from the report, rather than a sober assessment of what the ESRI actually said.All a sign, perhaps, of fraught nerves as limbering up starts for a renegotiation of the Partnership 2000 pay deal.