Listing decisions by the two ‘Sh’ giants will be key

WHEN I started in financial journalism in the late 1980s, a flotation (as it was then known) on the London stock market was a huge occasion in the life cycle of a company, a moment of celebration and pride as shares were publicly traded for the first time.

How long ago that seems. The nomenclature has changed of course, “flotation” has long been ousted by the drab Americanism IPO, an abbreviation of the even drearier jargon Initial Public Offering.

The days when businesses queued up to join the public markets in the City also seem a long distant memory.

Our global IPO league table today makes depressing reading with, in football terms, London looking more Luton than Liverpool, even dropping out of the top 20 as ranked by money raised so far this year.

The short to medium term fortunes of the London market probably depend on the two “Sh” giants, Shein and Shell.

If the Chinese online retailer can be persuaded to list in shares in London — as it is hinting it will — that would be a huge fillip that could open the floodgates for other tech businesses that we know are eyeing an IPO here, such as

Zopa and Zilch.

But if that does not happen and the oil major follows through on chief executive Wael Sawan’s obvious frustration with its London rating with a move to New York, well that would be a shattering symbolic blow from which the City would find it hard to recover.

For a company to be able to say that its shares are traded in London should be a badge of honour that tells the world it is listed on one of the world’s most liquid and prestigious stock exchanges. It does not feel that way at the moment.