It has not been the most auspicious of starts to life as a listed company for Bakkavor. The supplier of fresh foods to most of Britain’s big supermarkets was set for a £1.7 billion flotation on the London stock market last October.
Weeks later it pulled the listing, citing market volatility, only to resurrect the plan a week later at a sharply reduced issue price of 180p, down from the initially guided range of between 195p and 235p.
Only 25 per cent of the company is freely tradeable on the market, meaning that the shares can be volatile. Having touched a high of 212½p during the months after the listing, which valued Bakkavor at just over £1 billion, the shares have plumbed a low of