Shareholders in Kingspan have overwhelmingly backed a plan by the insulation manufacturer to drop its London Stock Exchange listing due to low share trading volumes through that bourse.
Some 98.4 per cent of shareholders who participated in a vote on the matter at an extraordinary general meeting (egm) on Thursday cast ballots in favour of the company’s plan to delist from the London Stock Exchange.
[ Kingspan ‘committed to Dublin listing’ as it plots London Stock Exchange exitOpens in new window ]
The Cavan-based group will maintain the primary listing of its shares on the main market of Euronext Dublin. The shares will also remain tradable on other European exchanges, such as CBOE Europe.
Kingspan, led by chief executive Gene Murtagh, said in a circular in advance of the egm that less than 2 per cent of the average volume of trading in its stock in the 12 months to June had been conducted on the London Stock Exchange.
“In that context, the cost and the legal and regulatory burden associated with maintaining admission of the ordinary shares to trading on the London Stock Exchange is, in the board’s opinion, disproportionate to the benefits to the company and its shareholders,” it said in the circular.
The expected last day of trade for Kingspan shares in London will be Thursday August 17th.
Kingspan is among a small group of large Irish companies that have this year reviewed where their shares are traded. Building materials giant CRH is on track to drop its Euronext Dublin listing in September as part of a plan that will see it move its main listing from London to New York. Its shares will continue to be tradable in London.
Flutter Entertainment, parent company of bookmakers Paddy Power, secured backing in April for a plan to take out a listing on the New York Stock Exchange, in addition to its quotations in Dublin and London.
