IPO Advisor Bulletin

As we approach the midpoint of 2025, anticipation is building around the long-awaited final report from Sir Douglas Flint's Digitisation Taskforce. Meanwhile, the capital markets landscape continues to undergo meaningful transformation – driven by evolving regulatory frameworks, shifting market dynamics, and ongoing innovation across issuer services.

Based on this our bulletin outlines how we are working in close partnership with our advisor community to navigate these developments and support their clients in adapting to a rapidly changing environment.

Standout wins for the quarter

Following in-depth collaboration with the advisor group involved, we were pleased to support the successful migration of the shareholder register for Ashtead PLC, a FTSE 100 company.
RedCloud, the UK-based technology innovator, has successfully completed its IPO on Nasdaq. The company now benefits from our UK governance expertise, global entity compliance solutions, and US transfer agent services to support its continued growth and international expansion.
Wellnex Life, the Australian-based healthcare company, has recently completed its admission to AIM. We are supporting this milestone with UK-based depositary interest services, enabling seamless settlement through CREST.

We’re proud to be supporting a growing number of new clients with company secretarial services – ranging from private firms and AIM-listed companies to those in the FTSE 100. These organisations are choosing our flexible resourcing model to meet their evolving governance and compliance needs.

Georgeson defends trusts, shareholders respond

Our Georgeson team is proud to have supported four investment trusts – Keystone Positive Change, Baillie Gifford US Growth Trust, Henderson Opportunities Trust, and Henderson European Smaller Companies Trust (ESCT) – in successfully defending against Saba Capital.

Thanks to our strategic guidance and shareholder engagement expertise, all four trusts secured decisive majority votes and by a significant margin, reaffirming strong investor confidence in the current investment trust model.

As Saba Capital’s actions continue to fuel industry-wide discussion, Georgeson is seeing a growing number of trusts proactively enhancing their investor engagement strategies – an encouraging trend that underscores the importance of transparent, long-term value creation.

To learn more about Georgeson, a Computershare company, please read here.

Navigating the UK market through depository interests

As a greater number of international companies look to access the UK market, depository interests (DIs) continue to serve as a vital mechanism for facilitating cross-border investment.

With a long-standing track record and a strong and reliable global network, Computershare is uniquely positioned to deliver tailored DI structures that meet the needs of clients across a wide range of countries. We are proud to be the leading provider, currently supporting 67% of all DI arrangements across 30 countries.

We regularly assist advisors in the planning and execution of DI listings. If your clients are exploring this route, we’d be happy to support – please get in touch.

For more information: IPO Intelligently.

Governance Readout | Market update

To explore a summary of the latest regulatory and governance developments – including an update on the transition to T+1 settlement – please read our latest Governance Readout.

T+1 settlement

Computershare continues to support the UK’s transition to T+1 settlement as a key step in maintaining market competitiveness:

While not essential for T+1, we advocate for full digitisation of the UK’s 8-10 million certificated shareholdings to enhance efficiency and investor access.
Companies should also prepare for operational impacts in advance, including aligning dividend timetables with LSE guidance, adopting Electronic Election Entitlements for elective events, and adjusting processes for buybacks, treasury movements, and PDMR disclosures.
Crucially, Computershare is uniquely positioned to leverage its experience from North America’s T+1 transition to help guide clients through the UK’s shift with confidence and clarity.

Dividend Monitor

UK companies handed their shareholders £14.0bn in dividends in the first quarter of 2025. On the face of it, the 4.6% headline decline compared to Q1 2024 looks suboptimal, but it simply reflects lower one-off special dividends and a handful of large cuts rather than indicating broader weakness. Moreover, the Q1 headline outcome was better than we anticipated, as the reduction in volatile special dividends was less severe than we had pencilled in.

Underlying growth looked stronger than anticipated too. Regular dividends of £13.6bn were 0.2% lower year-on-year on an underlying basis* compared to our expectation of a 2.7% decline.

For a detailed analysis, please read the Q1 2025 UK Dividend Monitor.

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