The London Stock Exchange probably hadn’t seen – or heard – anything like it.
The parent company of CurrentBody was welcomed to the London Stock Exchange on Friday morning as the sounds of Oasis filled the air.
Cheshire-based The Beauty Tech Group plc launched with a share price of 271p – valuing it at £300m.
The company’s share price peaked at 287.70p – although it has since dipped to 280p after early Monday morning trading.
On Friday, Liverpool-based foods group, Princes, also announced its plan to float on the LSE.
This comes a year after another Liverpool-based company – Applied Nutrition – floated.
The company, which was founded by Tom Ryder, successfully raised £157.5m through an oversubscribed placing, giving it a market cap of around £350m.
Despite all the doom and gloom around the LSE, Applied Nutrition’s share price has risen from 140p to its current figure on Monday of 162p – given it a market cap of £405m.
The Beauty Tech Group’s IPO comes amid a slow year for London listings, marking one of the first significant floats of the quarter.
The feel-good factor at the LSE was boosted still further this morning with the news that digital banking platform Shawbrook is considering an initial public offering (IPO) of its own on the LSE after rumours surfaced last week.
Although it’s early days, the reaction to The Beauty Tech Group’s initial trading has been broadly positive.
Bod Buckby, head of UK Primary Markets – North, London Stock Exchange, has rarely sounded so giddy.
Buckby, who previously spent seven years at Rothchilds, is well liked and has just been appointed chair of The Christie Charity after being treated for a brain tumour.
Writing after The Beauty Tech Group plc listed he said: “Great to hear the Gallaghers blasting out across the LSE at 8am for this brilliant Northern IPO.
“Co-founder/CEO Laurence Newman has taken The Beauty Tech Group (CurrentBody, ZIIP and Tria) from nothing to over £300m on flotation, in the largest IPO of a UK business in 2025. Shares were immediately trading up 5 per cent on opening.
“Massive congratulations to Laurence and his talented team, including co-founder/CTO Andrew Showman, CFO Samuel Glynn, chair Elaine O’Donnell, head of comms Emily Buckwell, and head of marketing Kat Myers.
“Huge credit to the brilliant team of advisors who have delivered a superb IPO which shows what can be achieved even in challenging markets. I hope this inspires many others to see what is possible. D’yer know what I meeeeean?!”
Co-founder Andrew Showman admitted: “When Laurence approached me in 2009, he said he thought there would be a growing demand for home-use beauty tech. I’m not sure either of us would have envisaged this.
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“I’m incredibly proud of the journey we’ve been on – from that early belief in a new category to becoming a global leader in beauty tech.”
Despite a solid start, nobody at the The Beauty Tech Group or the LSE will be kidding themselves that they’re home and hosed.
It will be lost on no-one that one of the LSE’s biggest critics in recent years has been Matt Moulding, CEO of Manchester-headquartered retailer THG.
In 2020 THG was valued at £5.4bn when it floated on the LSE – compared to today’s share price of 38p and a market cap of £527m.
However, after a bruising few years, there’s a feeling that the North has saved the LSE – for the time being at least.