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The London Stock Exchange could be dealt another blow as one of the oldest engineering firms in Britain is reportedly drawing up plans for a New York IPO. Leeds-based Doncasters Group, a key supplier to Boeing, is understood to have approached banks over the share sale and is eyeing a 2026 float. Doncasters, which was founded in 1778, has yet to make a final decision on the plan, according to Bloomberg. The company, which has around 3,000 employees, delivered revenue of £585m in 2024, its latest accounts show, while pre-tax earnings stood at £81.6m. Less than 10 per cent of Doncasters’ revenue derives from the UK, while around a third comes from the US. London not calling Should it press ahead with the plans, the move would add Doncasters to a growing list of British businesses who have snubbed the London Stock Exchange in favour of a New York float. In June, London fintech Wise ditched its London listing in favour of a primary listing in the US, while pharma giant Astrazeneca recently upgraded the status of its US shares to a direct listing in a bid to give it “the flexibility to access the broadest possible available pool of capital.” Just £184m was raised on the London Stock Exchange in the first nine months of the year, a far cry from the roughly £17bn raised as recently as 2021 and making 2025 set to be the worst year for listings in more than three decades. The amounts raised represent a tiny fraction of the roughly £40bn that has been raised in the US over the same period. The ranking placed London, once Europe’s premier listing destination, behind Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, Poland and Germany and only marginally ahead of Greece and the Netherlands, according to figures compiled by Bloomberg. But the results also reveal a widespread listings drought across the continent, with Sweden the only country that had been able to raise more than £1bn. Doncasters’ plans mark a dramatic turnaround for the metals engineering business, after a period of growth following the successful refinancing of its $500m debt facilities.
