Dublin-based energy and distribution company DCC will cancel its listing on the Irish Stock Exchange in favour of a full listing in London in the coming months.
The move comes as the company says it is attempting to “increase awareness of DCC among the international investor community”.
It’s a further blow for the Irish Stock Exchange, which has seen the departure of major companies Greencore and United Drug in favour of full listings on the London Stock Exchange in the past year.
ISE weighting
DCC has a market cap of €2.2 billion and a 4.2 per cent weighting in the ISE overall index.
The company added that the decision to stop trading on the ISE was due to a reduction in its profits coming from Ireland and increased trade in Europe and the UK.
DCC chief executive Tommy Breen said the move comes as “a majority of DCC’s revenue and profit is now derived from the UK” and there has been a “reduction in the proportion of DCC’s revenue and profit earned in Ireland”.
Mr Breen added that the changes are a natural progression for the company, “given the internationalisation of DCC’s operations and shareholder base over the last number of years”.
However the ISE in a statement said it rejected “any suggestion that trading and listing on the ISE limits a company’s ability to attract international investment”.
It added that DCC had the majority of its trade, 83 per cent, on the ISE compared to 17 per cent on the LSE. During that time it had also achieved a 77 per cent institutional investor base.
An ISE representative said that “evidence also indicates that Irish companies with a dual listing arrangement have a more diverse international base than companies with a solo listing”.
However, United Drug and Greencore both delisted their shares from the exchange in the past year, citing the need to attract more international investors.
Building materials company CRH also moved its primary listing to London in 2011.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VR3765MFOBH2NMV2QNICYDF67M.png)