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Building materials group CRH is leaving the London Stock Exchange entirely, dealing another setback to the UK’s position as an equities trading hub.
The move comes two-and-a-half years after CRH moved its primary listing to New York from London, which has been hit by a series of large companies shifting to overseas trading venues, particularly in the US.
CRH, which has a market capitalisation of about $67bn, decided in 2023 to move its primary listing to New York but retained a secondary listing in the UK.
The group said on Monday that its board had decided that it was in the “best interests of CRH and its shareholders” to delist from the London Stock Exchange entirely following a review announced last month.
The Ireland-based company said that it had taken into account the low level of trading of its London-listed shares as well as “the additional cost, regulatory and administrative obligations” associated with maintaining the UK listing.
The group, which employs 83,000 people, will request the delisting by the Financial Conduct Authority and expects to be removed from the LSE by April 20.
It will also ask shareholders to vote in May on a plan to cancel its remaining 7 per cent preference shares listed on the LSE and 5 per cent preference shares listed on the Euronext Growth Dublin exchange.
CRH’s London exit follows a series of companies moving their main listings to the US in search of more trading liquidity and higher valuations.
Online payments company Wise announced last year that it would switch its main stock market listing to New York, while AstraZeneca in September opted to elevate the status of its US listing in a move that will result in the Treasury losing as much as £200mn in stamp duty annually.
Gambling company Flutter also moved its primary listing to New York in 2024 after saying it was the “natural home for the business”.
Last year Rupert Soames, then chair of the CBI business lobby group, suggested that the London market’s best chance of revival could be to ditch “snobbishness” around secondary listings and target them as a way to bring more trading volume to the City.
But Charles Hall, head of research at Peel Hunt, said that CRH’s departure underlined that “a secondary listing might just be notional after all and of little value to the UK”.
He added: “We shouldn’t delude ourselves that it is a sop to keep everyone happy when a company can simply just cancel it. It matters more where the bulk of trading is, and for CRH that was clearly the US.”
Three years ago, CRH set out an aggressive growth strategy in the US and has pursued a series of deals including last year’s $2.1bn acquisition of Utah-based Eco Materials Group.
CRH increased its annual revenues by 5 per cent last year to $37.4bn while net income rose 8 per cent to $3.8bn.
