By Andrew Winterbottom
LONDON (Reuters) - Shares in British tool hire firm HSS Hire Group Plc fell on their stock market debut on Wednesday, after being priced at the bottom end of their previously set price range.
The company's parent, private equity firm Exponent, maintains a 50.4 percent stake. "It's a sound business, but ... there's a much larger overhang than people may have liked from Exponent," said Mark Howson, analyst at Canaccord Genuity.
The stock traded around 200 pence by 0922 GMT on the London Stock Exchange (L:LSE), having been priced at 210p against a range of 210p to 262p.
The flotation price had valued the company at 325 million pounds ($493 million). HSS is Britain's second-biggest tool hire firm behind Speedy Hire (L:SDY) and its listing was the London main market's first in 2015.
Chris Davies, HSS Hire's chief executive, said the company's growth plans involve expanding its small branch presence to 500 sites across the UK and Ireland while deepening its outsourcing relationships with facilities managers and large supply chains.
The company has 265 locations across the UK and Ireland and is opening a new small branch at the rate of one per week.
HSS's revenue for the year ended Sept. 27, 2014 was 271.6 million pounds with adjusted gross earnings (EBITDA) of 67 million. It has around 2,900 employees.
The company is trading at an enterprise value/EBITDA multiple of around six times, similar to Speedy Hire.
"The UK hire sector is attractive for investors, given the recovery potential in the construction sector," said Stephen Rawlinson, an analyst at brokerage Whitman Howard.
JPMorgan (N:JPM) acted as global co-ordinator, joint bookrunner and sponsor for the float, while Numis Securities (L:NUM) also acted as joint book runner. The group raised primary proceeds of around 103 million pounds from the listing.
HSS said 19 percent of the shares on offer had been allocated to retail investors.
London was the fourth most active market in the world for IPOs in 2014, with $18.8 billion raised in 43 listings in the year to Dec. 15.