Stock market flotations on course for strongest quarter since 2007 …

Pets at Home invited pet-loving members of the public to join in the IPO dash. Photograph: Newspix/Craig Borrow / Rex Featu

Number crunchers in the City reckon the market for stock market flotations is on course for its strongest quarter since the 2007 credit crisis. This is no surprise given that talk of a queue of companies keen to pursue initial public offerings – IPOs – has been swirling for months.

They are hoping to tap into the cash sitting in the pockets of big City investors courtesy of Vodafone’s £49bn sale of its stake in Verizon. Improved sentiment among the public looking for potentially better returns in a low interest rate environment may also be encouraging companies to the market.

So far, the companies coming to market are recognisable names. The latest, Pets at Home, does what it sounds like it should do – sell stuff for pets, run vet surgeries and salons for pet grooming. Poundland? Yep, it sells products for £1. AO? sells appliances online.

Clearly, the name of a company should be no guide to buying shares. But how long before investors are cast back to the days of another boom – the dotcom bubble – and are scratching their heads trying to work out what the companies coming to market actually do?

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Stock market flotations on course for strongest quarter since 2007 …

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