PSX witnessed only 3 IPOs in 2018

Only 3 new organizations got listed at the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) as an initial public offering. PSX has trading floors in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad.

At the start of 2018, five IPOs were in pipeline but the political uncertainty forced 2 companies to delay their IPOs.

The new government must show some clarity when it comes to economic policies to get rid of this temporary economic downfall. The market is relied upon to regain its worth after a normal International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout of 6-8 billion dollars.

3 new stocks (other than Modarabas) recorded this year raised Rs. 4.3 Billion Rupees. This 4.3 Billion is 49% lower than the sum brought in 2017. During 2017, 3 IPOs worth Rs. 8.6 Billion were witnessed and 3 IPOs worth Rs. 4.2 Billion in the year before that.

A pharmaceutical company, AGP Limited, accounted for 65% of the total raised in 2018. The company offered 35 million shares whereas OBS Pakistan, and Muller and Phipps Pakistan sold 20 million and 15 million shares, respectively.

MFL, a basmati rice exporter remained the best performing IPO with IPO-to-date return of 16%, trailed by AGP with 1% return while PREMA demonstrated a decay of 6%.

The market is hoping for at least 8 new listings (other than Modarabas) for the year 2019, whereas the largest IPO is expected to be from the textile sector in “Interloop Limited”, one of the largest sock providers to world’s driving players like Nike, Adidas, and so on.