The coronavirus pandemic had a very negative impact on the activity in the IPO area, while the number and value of secondary offers, under which investors supported listed companies in the fight against the effects of the pandemic, increased – these are the conclusions of the latest report ‘IPO Watch Europe’ prepared by the consulting company PwC.

The value of initial public offerings (IPOs) conducted on European exchanges in the first half of 2020 amounted to €5.4 billion, a decrease of 56 percent compared to the same period last year (€12.2 billion).

In the first half of 2020, five IPOs were recorded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, compared to nine of them  in the same period last year. The total value of the IPOs carried out on the WSE in the first two quarters (jointly on the regulated market and NewConnect) amounted to PLN 27.0 million (€6.1 million), which means a decrease by nearly 50 percent compared to the first half of 2019. The only debutant on the main market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange was the producer and publisher of computer games, the company Games Operators, who made its debut in April 2020 and obtained PLN 24.2 million (€5.4 million) as part of the offer.

Among the four IPOs carried out on the alternative NewConnect market, the highest value of offers was recorded by Plantwear (PLN 1.5 million / €0.4 million) and Drageus Games (PLN 1.2 million / €0.3 million). The other debutants were Spyrosoft and SimFabric.

(WBJ)