Cantillon: Vote of confidence for Dublin exchange

One swallow may not a summer make, but the Irish Stock Exchange will not be too picky. After six years when the exchange was notable more for its lack of activity, any upturn is welcome. So moribund was the Dublin market in equities that the exchange took to focusing almost exclusively on its role as a hub for investment fund listings.

Ahead of the crash, seven companies listed in Dublin in 2007. By last year that had slumped to one. In that context, the recent spate of flotations that has seen four new companies raise money in the market – with possibly more to come – is clearly good news.

The arrival of mining equipment group Mincon on the Dublin market was the second listing this week after gaming software and content group Game Account Network raised €27 million to fund its move into the US online casino market.

And in a move that hopefully does not signal a return to the bad old days, Irish fund manager Setanta Asset Management has taken a 5.8 per cent stake in Mincon.

Irish fund managers have spent much of the past decade trading down what was a deeply unhealthy over-reliance on the Irish market, a process that was only accelerated by the collapse of the Irish market value in the wake of the financial crisis.

With about €6.5 billion under management and describing itself as a value investor which holds stocks for the long term, Setanta's vote of confidence is the sort of boost that any fledgling company would welcome. And, as part of the Irish Life stable of Canadian insurer Great West Lifeco, you would expect it would have a better than average insight into the mining sector.

But, for the exchange, it would be unwise to read too much into the move.

The indications are that companies are once again prepared to tap funds in the Irish market at least in some sectors – notably Reits (real estate investment trusts) that all ow investment in a property portfolio rather than by direct investment – but there is little evidence of a return to the "good old days" for Dublin's venerable market, or a "green jacket" approach from fund managers.

Indeed, most headlines even this year have gone to those companies decamping from Dublin in search of greater market liquidity.