Flood of flotations starts quarter

THERE were mixed signals from the new issues market today, after the announcement of a raft of flotations which got the second trading quarter of the stock market year off to a big bang and whetted the appetite of investors and the City's fee-earning advisers.

Catlin Group, the biggest float for some months, today came to market priced at 350p a share valuing the company at £540m.

However the pricing is right at the bottom of the price range of 350p to 420p that the company indicated last month, with share traders muttering there had been restrictions on access to the company's prospectus.

When trading got going, founder and chief executive Stephen Catlinsaw his stake worth £11m.

Another company to disappoint on its pricing was Dignity, Britain's largest single provider of funeral services.

It said its newly-issued shares would be offered at 230p each from tomorrow when dealings begin, valuing the company at £184m. But the company, which has a network of 500 funeral homes around the country, had previously indicated that it expected a debut price at between 230p and 270p.

There was better news over on the Alternative Investment Market, where Floors-2-Go, a fast-growing retailer of hardwood and laminate floors, made its debut on the junior market today and saw its share immediately leap to a 13% premium.

Having expanded five-fold over the past three years, the £44m turnover company which last year made underlying profits of £4.6m. It priced the shares at 48p and saw them leap to 54 1/2p, valuing the company at £71m.

Dexion Equity Alternative, an £85m hedge funds investment trust, got off to a solid start on its first day on the market. The stock, placed at 100p, rose to 102 1/2p.

PKL, a provider of mobile kitchens and operating theatres, said it plans to debut on Aim after Easter with a valuation of around £40m, right at the top of a range previously indicated.

Pinewood Shepperton, the studios put together by media mogul Michael Grade and venture capital house 3i, said it plans to go ahead with a full listing by the summer.

The studios, responsible for the Harry Potter, James Bond and Lara Croft films, will come to market with its debt and equity, putting a value of about £140m on the company, a little down on initial estimates. Grade's stake will be worth around £5m and 3i is expected to make a tasty profit on its 60% holding.

The group said it made operating profits of £10.9m in 2003 on turnover of £37.9m.