Shares in Quiz sparkle on market debut

Shares in Glasgow-based womenswear retailer Quiz made an impressive debut when they started trading on the Alternative Investment Market (Aim).

The stock rose as high as 198p, compared to the placing price of 161p, before edging back to finish the session at 190.4p, valuing the company at more than £236 million.

The company raised more than £100m in its initial public offering with the funds earmarked for investment to accelerate growth.

Quiz founder Tarak Ramzan said yesterday: “With our unwavering focus on providing fantastic occasion wear and dressy casual wear at value for money prices, Quiz has a very exciting position in the fast-growing fast fashion market.”

The FTSE 100 index closed the session down by 74.64 points at 7,368.37 as tobacco stocks were dragged lower following news that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may force companies to cut nicotine in cigarettes down to non-addictive levels.

British American Tobacco shares plunged 362p to 4,960p and Imperial Brands tumbled 130.5p to 3,315.5p.

A decision to lower nicotine levels would be a major blow to the tobacco industry.

Neil Wilson, a senior market analyst at ETX Capital, said: “It’s hard to overstate what this could mean for the companies affected: nonaddictive levels of nicotine would likely mean a lot fewer smokers and of those people who do still light up, smoking a lot less. This will blow a hole in their earnings and forces a fundamental re-evaluation of earnings.”