North a listings powerhouse as it makes up 60pc of funds raised

There were six Northern company IPOs on the London Stock Exchange’s main and AIM markets in the first quarter.

The listing of Manchester-headquartered Auto Trader, which raised £1.36bn, was the largest and made up the lion’s share of the £1.61bn generated by Northern company IPOs.

There were 16 listings in total across the main and AIM markets in the first quarter of 2015, raising cumulative funds of £2.67bn, down 55 per cent on the £5.98bn generated during the first quarter of 2014.

The fall followed decreased AIM activity and a decline in main market values.

On the main market, there were 10 IPOs over the first three months of 2015 – up from seven in the first quarter of 2014 – raising £2.62bn.

Four of these were Northern firms, including Auto Trader, Doncaster-based DFS Furniture, Sunderland-based SCS Group and Manchester-based Revolution Bars Group.

Northern businesses Premier Technical Services Group (Castleford) and Redx Pharma (Merseyside) collectively raised £23m, contributing almost half of the £48m of funds raised across six IPOs on AIM in the first quarter.

David Buckley, partner and IPO leader at EY in Yorkshire and the North East, said: “In what is traditionally a quiet period for IPOs, the first three months of this year benefited from a high number of businesses keen to float on the main market before the General Election in May.”