SEC Newgate UK and the London Stock Exchange Group IPO Forum

SEC Newgate has been happily working with the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) over the past few weeks as part of LSEG’s flagship IPO Forum event taking place on 14 November London Stock Exchange's IPO Forum, November 2024 | Issuer Services | LSEG 

The event is aimed at C-suite executives and investors in companies that are considering a potential IPO on the London markets. Leaders of some of the companies already listed in London will be sharing their experiences of the IPO process, as well as life managing a listed business. Alongside these will be advisers, such as brokers and lawyers, providing insight into what to be aware of when considering a listing, how to prepare for IPO. and how to ensure the IPO is a success. SEC Newgate will be the representative financial communications experts at the event, with Elisabeth Cowell speaking on one of the panels on the day. 

In the build up to the IPO forum SEC Newgate has also been working with LSEG on a series of related events and materials.   Last week I joined an online panel entitled New Solutions for IR Teams discussing some of the more novel channels for reaching and communicating with investors, such as sponsored social media campaigns. The webinar can be viewed here by filling out the registration form Webinar on Demand: New Solutions for IR Teams | Issuer Services | LSEG  

In addition, experts from across our business, including in financial, corporate, digital, leadership and crisis communications, as well as specialists in national advocacy and responsible business, have recorded a series of five videos with LSEG. In these we discuss how each of these disciplines is relevant to an IPO, and how SEC Newgate coordinates them to ensure success. It is this integrated approach that won SEC Newgate three “Best IPO Campaign of the Year Awards” shortly before the UK’s ongoing hiatus in IPOs beginning in 2022.  

The video series is listed below. Each can be viewed by following the relevant links: 

Ensuring Your Communications are Fit for Float 
It is essential to raise the profile of your company and communicate its strengths well ahead of your flotation. That way, when it comes to raising money at IPO, the investment community will already be familiar with your business and its growth potential and be far more likely to consider an investment.  

Effective investor engagement for your IPO  
To effectively communicate to today’s investors and ensure you maximise the reach of your campaign, multiple communications channels have to be leveraged. Coverage in traditional media outlets such as investment magazines and national newspapers remains a key part of any campaign but the use of digital channels, including social media, is essential to amplify the media coverage you receive and maximise the number and variety of potential investors in your business.  

Protecting your reputation in preparation for an IPO 
Reputational issues can negatively affect any business and the effects are magnified as a public company, where you will have a far higher public profile and will need to ensure shareholders concerns are managed alongside those of other stakeholders while keeping the markets aware of anything that might materially affect your business. It is, therefore, essential your reputation is watertight ahead of IPO and you have a clear crisis communications strategy in place to deal with any issues that may arise in a timely and professional manner.  

How important are responsible business principles to investors? Responsible business practises are becoming ever more important to investors, who increasingly want to know that that their money is being used for the wider good and not simply to turn a profit. Demonstrating that you have strong credentials in terms of your environmental, social and governance practises will be essential to ensuring you maximum the number of potential investors that see your company as a viable investment proposition, both at the time of IPO and in the aftermarket.  

Successful leadership communications around an IPO 
Public companies are, as their name suggests, in the public eye more than private companies and an IPO is one of the most high-profile events in the evolution of any company. At the time of IPO the senior management team will be called upon to present a cogent and compelling investment case to many institutional investors and it is essential that they can communicate with the confidence and gravitas expected of the leaders of listed businesses.  

Hopefully, our timing in partnering with the LSE has been impeccable and the IPO market is set for a resurgence in 2025. With the seismic events of the UK elections, UK budget and the US elections all now behind us, a period of relative certainty should now lie ahead, which may also help to reverse the extended decline in equity valuations. This surety in the macro outlook, combined with an improved pricing environment, may well encourage company leaders to consider a flotation.