Deliveroo’s IPO was a dish that arrived stone-cold in London on Tuesday, with humble pie on the menu for London’s ambition of attracting future big tech listings.
The shares of the food delivery company have closed 26 per cent lower than the 390 pence asking price, at 287 pence for a market capitalisation of £5.2bn, in the worst first-day performance for a London IPO above £1bn on record. Compare that to the pop enjoyed by its US counterpart DoorDash, whose share price jumped more than 86 per cent on its first day of trading in New York in December.
Compare also with online second-hand car sales company Cazoo, which opted this week for a float in New York through a “Spac” blank-cheque company at an $8.1bn valuation. Its founder said high-growth companies were better understood by US investors.