Following one of the most subdued starts to the year in decades for London’s capital markets, brokers shared a common refrain: second-half recovery.
Everything would improve in the second half, they insisted, as reported by City AM.
Just wait and see, they said.
If the opening of the second half serves as any indication, those brokers might find themselves waiting considerably longer than anticipated.
The most recent monthly capital markets report from Investec reveals that total equity raised in the UK reached merely £810m in July – a decline of more than 40 per cent compared to the corresponding month last year.
Remarkably – and perhaps rather awkwardly – the seventh-largest transaction by value involved a company that generated just £176,000 in turnover between January and April.
That company was Smarter Web Company, which secured funding solely to purchase Bitcoin.
At £9bn, total equity raised thus far in 2025 represents less than half of last year’s figure.
The number of deals has fallen by a third to 63 – though this figure masks the reality, as it appears more favourable once you exclude other small-cap firms mimicking Smarter Web’s Bitcoin acquisition spree.
Brokers have already begun – discreetly – to adjust their expectations.
There’s rather less talk of “second half” and more murmurs of “perhaps next year.”
Last month’s Investec report suggested UK IPO volumes were anticipated to be “second half weighted” – this month’s edition was amended to read “second half weighted and 2026”. What’s behind the lacklustre performance?
“Six words – backed by long term supportive shareholders – is quite powerful…[but] there’s been a lack of that for the last three years when companies have been feeling a bit more vulnerable rather than opportunistic,” stated Steven Fine from Peel Hunt in the firm’s most recent podcast, adding that renewed shareholder confidence in listed companies’ growth strategies would be crucial for a market resurgence.
However, “perhaps there’s been a bit of a shift,” Fine suggested, pointing to recent transactions by FTSE 250 members Coats and Hammerson, with the former raising capital to acquire US company OrthoLite for £570m.
A few more manoeuvres like these and London will be back on track. But when?
My bet is on the latter half of the second half.
