Aldermore share price jumps on its first day of trading
Shares in Aldermore rose 10 per cent to 212p as its first day of conditional trading began on the London Stock Exchange this morning.
The challenger bank priced its offering of 34.8 per cent of issued share capital at 192p per share, near the top of its 155p-195p range. The price gave it a market cap of £651m.
It's the second time the bank has had a go at floating, having put off its original plans in October as a result of market turbulence.
But market appetite for so-called challenger banks is strong: having postponed its plans to IPO around the same time as Aldermore pressed the pause button, Virgin Money pushed ahead with its flotation in November, raising £500m. Shares in the lender have risen from 285p on its first day of trading to a high of 352p, yesterday.
In a statement last month, Aldermore said it had grown from 50 employees, with £76m of lending to a "multi-product asset-based lender" with £5.6bn of assets, 160,000 customers and 875 employees.
Its last figures showed underlying profit before tax more than doubled to £56m in 2014.
This morning Phillip Monks, its chief executive, said the IPO was "an exciting moment for Aldermore".
The success of our IPO is testament to the strength of our story as a legacy-free bank focused on providing banking services to [small businesses] and homeowners. It’s also a clear demonstration that the investment community shares our confidence in our ability to continue delivering profitable and sustainable growth for our investors.