The London Stock Exchange just lost a hidden gem

There was a vital outflow of corporations from the London Stock Exchange lately. A lot so, the variety of delistings has been outpacing new IPOs, creating a worrying trajectory.

And whereas final yr noticed a good uptick of corporations going public, issues have floor to a halt once more in 2026. Solely a handful of corporations have taken the plunge up to now this yr (hopefully issues decide up within the second half if the Center East peace deal holds).

In distinction, there may be a hive of IPO exercise in New York, with SpaceX lately breaking information. OpenAI and Anthropic, the makers of ChatGPT and Claude respectively, are additionally planning to checklist throughout the pond later this yr.

I say ‘pond’, however the gulf that now exists between London and New York’s inventory exchanges is as oceanic because the Atlantic. Our largest listed agency, HSBC, would solely be the thirty fifth greatest stateside.

Admittedly, there’s one other UK agency — chip designer Arm Holdings — which is bigger than HSBC. However that was acquired by Japan’s Softbank a decade in the past, then floated on the Nasdaq in 2023.

Since then, it’s up virtually 500%!

Bye-bye

Which brings me on to Ramsdens Holdings (LSE:RFX), which can also be up round 500% since hitting a Covid low in March 2020. This contains a 30% soar at this time (23 June).

Ramsdens is a excessive avenue pawnbroker that gives foreign money alternate providers, buys valuable metals, and sells jewelry. Admittedly not as attractive as a tech/chip agency, but it surely’s one I’ve repeatedly highlighted as a hidden gem.

That’s as a result of it’s well-run, constantly worthwhile, generates sturdy returns on capital, pays a progressive dividend, and has typically appeared very undervalued.

And whereas the excessive gold value turbocharged H1’s pre-tax earnings (up 173%), the remainder of its enterprise has additionally been rising, together with its on-line presence.

Ramsdens was focusing on extra store openings (it has 174 at this time) and administration lately struck a bullish tone on the long run. Subsequently, I used to be fairly unhappy to see at this time’s information that it had agreed to be snapped up by US pawnbroker FirstCash.

Final yr, this agency acquired Ramsdens’ rival pawnbroker H&T. So, it now has a very giant presence throughout the UK.

To be honest, Ramsden’ ongoing earnings progress was depending on a excessive gold value, which isn’t guranteed. So maybe accepting the provide, which values the pawnbroker at roughly £206m, is the best transfer.

Is that this the following one to vanish in a puff of smoke?

A FTSE 250 agency that appears like a sturdy acquisition candidate to me is Oxford Nanopore Applied sciences (LSE:ONT). It’s a healthcare agency that makes gene-sequencing units.

I believe this for a few causes. First, the inventory’s down 81% since itemizing in 2021, giving us an enterprise worth of about £890m.

In at this time’s world of worldwide non-public fairness and enormous diagnostic corporations, this wouldn’t be a giant acquisition. The firm has grown income at an annualised charge of 28% over the previous 5 years, and ended 2025 with £302.8m in money.

Sadly, Oxford Nanopore continues to be closely loss-making, which provides threat and has at all times put me off. However its proprietary DNA and RNA sequencing expertise is taken into account world-class, so I believe vultures will come circling in some unspecified time in the future.

Threat-tolerant buyers would possibly wish to test it out at 115p.

Must you make investments £5,000 in Ramsdens Plc proper now?

When investing professional Mark Rogers and his crew have a inventory tip, it may well pay to hear. In any case, the flagship Twelfth Magpie Share Advisor e-newsletter he has run for almost a decade has supplied hundreds of paying members with prime inventory suggestions from the UK and US markets.

And proper now, Mark thinks there are 6 standout shares that buyers ought to contemplate shopping for. Need to see if Ramsdens Plc made the checklist?

Ben McPoland owns shares in HSBC.