IPO plans rewarded with share price gains
Firms have been quick to withdraw listing plans from the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) this year, but those companies that stuck with their plans have been rewarded with share price gains.
The latest HLB Mann Judd IPO Watch Australia Mid-Year report found there were only 12 IPOs during the first half of the year with only three taking place in the second quarter of 2020.
These listings raised $132 million, a significant decline from the $823 million raised in the first half of 2019 and $2.5 billion raised in the first half of 2018.
Atomo Diagnostics was the only large-cap company to list during the six months with the remainder in the small-cap space.
The full list of companies that chose to list on the ASX were Nyrada Inc, Happy Valley Nutrition, Cosol, Cobre, Emerald Clinics, Thedocyard, Castile Resources, Little Green Pharma, Kaiser Reef, Atomo Diagnostics, AML3D and Intelicare Holdings with most taking place in January and February.
The best-performing stock was software company Cosol which listed on 24 January and returned 102% in the period since it listed to 21 July. This was followed by gold resources firm Kaiser Reef which returned 44% and healthcare company Intelicare which returned 28%. Kaiser Reef listed in February while Intelicare listed in May.
Since the start of 2020 to 21 July, 2020, the ASX 200 had lost 6.5% while the Small Ordinaries index lost 5%.
Only three of the 12 stocks had seen losses since listing; tech firm Thedocyard, copper firm Cobre and healthcare company Emerald Clinics which lost 10%, 28% and 61% respectively. Thedocyard and Emerald Clinics listed in February while Cobre listed in January.
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