Bytes Technology Group PLC (LON:BYIT), which has been demerged from South African technology company Altron, saw its shares rise in conditional first-day trading after it set its flotation price at 270p per share.
Altron had indicated that the shares would be priced somewhere between 240p and 290p a share.
In the first hour of trading, Bytes’ share price rose to 325p, valuing the business at around GBP780mln, which currently would be enough to secure it entry into the FTSE 250 at the next reshuffle.
The initial public offering (IPO) will raise about GBP352.4mln, some of which will be used to pay the demerger stamp duty and IPO expenses, with the rest going into Altron’s coffers and to Altron shareholders; Bytes will not receive a penny from the IPO.
Altron shareholders will end up with shares in Bytes as a result of the demerger. The primary listing of the shares will be on the London Stock Exchange with a secondary listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
“It gives us great pleasure to welcome our new shareholders to the business. We believe listing as a standalone group gives us a tremendous platform to deliver on the strong growth opportunities we see in our markets. We are delighted by the level of interest shown by potential investors and are looking forward to this exciting next stage for Bytes Technology Group,” said Neil Murphy, the chief executive officer of Bytes in a statement.
“I am immensely proud of how far we have come as a business. We started life in a shop front just outside Epsom in 1982 and today we have offices across the country, over 600 employees and we join the ranks of blue-chip companies listed on the public markets,” Murphy said.
— Adds share price —
