UK retail investors are demonstrating a selective approach to new public offerings, according to recent data. Despite significant attention surrounding IPOs such as SpaceX, a survey conducted ahead of the SpaceX listing indicated that almost half of UK retail investors (49%) had no intention of investing.
The data also suggests that more investors considered Anthropic (35%) than SpaceX (24%) as an investment opportunity. This selectivity comes as more than a third of IPOs reportedly lose over half their value within three years of listing, while buying the average IPO at the close of its first trading day has delivered annualised returns of approximately six per cent over the subsequent three years, compared with roughly 11 per cent from a broad US equity index.
In contrast, there is a notable increase in interest in the domestic market. Average daily trades in FTSE 100 stocks on IG’s platform saw a 41 per cent year-on-year jump in July, coinciding with the index rising 3.8 per cent during the month. Furthermore, 20.9 per cent of UK investors plan to increase their exposure to UK stocks over the next 12 months, which is more than double the global figure of 9.1 per cent.