Sahres in Raspberry Pi have accelerated their gains after retail investors started trading the computer firm’s stock, which made its London Stock Exchange debut earlier this week.
The company’s shares rose as much as 20 per cent on Friday, hitting 499p. This number marks a 78 per cent premium to Raspberry Pi’s IPO price of 280p.
The shares had already soared 47 per cent since Raspberry Pi listed on the market on Tuesday. The firm said its listing would raise £166m.
However, until this morning trading the stock was conditional, meaning that it was only available to institutional shareholders.
“Big demand for the get-go meant some retail investors didn’t get everything they wanted in the IPO offer, so they might have come back for more at a higher price, hence why the shares are still motoring higher,” Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, told City A.M.
“There is an element of FOMO with Raspberry Pi. Plenty of investors have seen that others managed to get a slice of the IPO offer and have enjoyed quick share price gains.”
News of enthusiasm for Raspberry Pi among retail investors is a rare reprieve for London’s beleagured stock market, which has struggled to attract tech listings in recent years
Most notably, Cambridge-based chip firm Arm chose to float in New York last September, despite a major charm offensive by Rishi Sunak’s government.
Arm’s shares have rallied 160 per cent since it listed on the Nasdaq, giving it a market capitalisation of $165.6bn (£130.3bn) – bigger than all but two of the FTSE 100’s blue-chip companies.
Other big London names have chosen to move their listings overseas for better returns. Betting giant Flutter moved its main stock market listing to New York this year, while German-owned Tui approved a plan to delist from London in February.
Coatsworth added: “Any tech company previously sitting on the fence about a potential UK stock listing might look at Raspberry Pi’s success and finally gain enough confidence to press ‘go’ on an IPO, particularly as we’re only days away from knowing the lay of the land from a political perspective, which removes a big uncertainty.”
Raspberry Pi is known for creating affordable computers designed to teach coding skills to children.
The business is subsidiary of the Raspberry Pi Foundation – a UK charity founded when the company was established in 2008 to promote interest in computer science among young people.
As a major shareholder in Raspberry Pi, the foundation has received around $50m (£39.7m) in dividends since 2013, which has been used to advance its educational mission globally, according to the group.
Raspberry Pi reported revenue of $265.8m (£211.1m) last year, with an operating profit of $37.5m (£29.8m).