Consultant plans 拢200m flotation for 11 February, despite falling share prices at rival firms

Consultant Turner & Townsend plans to float on the stock exchange within days, despite the market turmoil.

It is understood that the 拢173m-turnover group will begin trading as a listed company on 11 February after signing a deal next week. City experts speculated at the end of last year that it would have a market value of 拢200m.

The move is well ahead of its original flotation deadline at the end of March and comes as share prices at recently floated consultants Baqus and Cyril Sweett are struggling (see graph).


Since Baqus floated in December the share price has fallen from 12.25p to 10.25p. Cyril Sweett鈥檚 has dropped from 拢1.10 to 87.5p since October.

A Turner & Townsend spokeswoman dismissed the poor performance of rivals and impact of the credit crunch. 鈥淒espite everything that鈥檚 going on in the market we are still on track with the flotation.鈥�

The move has raised eyebrows in the City. One analyst said valuations had fallen by about 30% after the credit crunch, which would give a value closer to 拢150m.

Another analyst said: 鈥淚鈥檓 surprised because the peer group ratings are so low. I would have thought the expectations would have reduced significantly and must be much lower than 拢200m now.鈥�

Another said: 鈥淭he general news from the consultancy sector isn鈥檛 too bad but that doesn鈥檛 mean the stock market will put money on the table for a float.鈥�

Richard Steer, senior partner at Gleeds, said it was surprising because the stock market did not appreciate how consultancies worked. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not the most brilliant performers. Investors have never been interested in the vagaries of our industry.鈥�