Uranium floats boost WA's IPO record: Deloitte

Recent Western Australian floats have performed strongly, with uranium listings giving the market a special glow up until the end of October.

According to data in the Deloitte WA Index's monthly review of WA stocks and indices, IPOs between July 1 and October 31 went against the commonly accepted wisdom that new floats, on average, fare poorly.

In fact, the share market debutants performance was all the more marked because most were mining or reources related stocks doing well in a market where commodity-related companies were hit badly during a brief ASX slump.

Deloitte Partner Peter McIver said that there was a significant increase in Western Australian IPO activity in the period reviewed.

"There was a total of 23 IPOs in Western Australia in the past four months and ten during October and they've performed well," Mr McIver said.

The average share price increase from listing date was 13.1% with the highest return to shareholders from Segue Resources Limited (up 635.9%), Energy Metals Limited (452%), Eldore Mining Limited (387.8%), Quickstop Holding Limited (281.02%) and Monaro Mining NL (200%).

Four of the 23 new IPOs were uranium and returned an extraordinary average share price increase of 105% since listing, the Deloitte figures showed.

Other highlights during October included the increased market capitalisations of local companies Aquila Resources Limited (up $76.7 million), Amadeus Energy Limited ($27.6 million) and Integrated Group Limited ($13.4 million).

See below for the full Deloitte release:

The capitalisation of Western Australian listed stocks dropped during October for the first time in six months, according to the Deloitte WA Index's monthly review of WA stocks and indices.

At October 31, the capitalisation of WA companies dropped $5.8 billion to $79.3 billion, a fall of 6.82% compared with the ASX All Ordinaries' decrease of 3.92% over the same period.

Deloitte Partner Peter McIver said the good news was that despite a tough October, the Deloitte WA Index had still risen 21.5% over the last six months compared to an ASX-wide increase of 11.9%.

"The October fall was a direct result of the easing of the oil and base metals prices. The oil and gas sector fell by approximately $3.4 billion and the mining sector by $1 billion," Mr McIver said.

"Consistent with the Deloitte WA Index, resource based stocks such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton fell heavily as did the diversified financial services sector, driven by Macquarie Bank and Babcock and Brown."

The fall in the Australian market was mirrored in most major markets around the world with the United States' S&P 500 and the United Kingdom's FTSE 100 both recording falls. Japan's Nikkei index recorded a slight gain during October.

Mr McIver said that over the four months to October 31, 2005 there was a significant increase in Western Australian IPO activity.

"There was a total of 23 IPOs in Western Australia in the past four months and ten during October and they've performed well. The average share price increase from listing date was 13.1% with the highest return to shareholders from Segue Resources Limited (up 635.9%), Energy Metals Limited (452%), Eldore Mining Limited (387.8%), Quickstop Holding Limited (281.02%) and Monaro Mining NL (200%).

"Four of the 23 new IPOs were uranium, the "new gold", and returned an extraordinary average share price increase of 105% since listing compared with 13.1% for all IPOs in the Western Australian market," Mr McIver said.

Other highlights during October included the increased market capitalisations of local companies Aquila Resources Limited (up $76.7 million), Amadeus Energy Limited ($27.6 million) and Integrated Group Limited ($13.4 million).