Business
London Stock market bounces back after late flurry of IPO listings
London’s stock market has experienced a significant resurgence, recording its most robust year for new listings since 2021, driven by a late surge in activity.
Industry experts anticipate this positive global market momentum will persist through to 2026.
According to analysis by PwC, the London Stock Exchange welcomed 11 initial public offerings (IPOs) in 2025.
This figure specifically accounts for transactions raising a minimum of $5 million (£3.7 million) and does not include companies transitioning from the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) to the main market.
The IPOs raised £1.9 billion in total proceeds, making it the strongest year since 2021 when £16.8 billion was raised in a record year for the London Stock Exchange (LSE).
It is also more than double £700 million raised last year.
A late flurry of IPOs helped deliver a boost to the market with £1.3 billion of the total proceeds raised during the final quarter of the year, marking a shift following a dearth in activity.
IPO activity gained momentum over the final months of the year, which saw the flotations of tinned tuna maker Princes Group and small business lender Shawbrook on the main market.
Princes raised about £400 million from its listing, giving the 150-year-old firm a valuation of £1.16 billion, while Shawbrook raised £348 million and clinching a £1.92 billion valuation.
Other notable flotations included Texas-based Fermi, which develops electric grids, and Beauty Tech Group which owns beauty gadget brands used by the likes of Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams.
Vhernie Manickavasagar, the UK’s IPO leader at PwC UK, said: “London has delivered its strongest year for IPO and listing activity since 2021.
“In addition, global multi-billion-pound companies selected the London Stock Exchange for their international listings in 2025, the largest of which had a market capitalisation of £16 billion in December 2025.
“These developments underscore the resurgence of London’s capital markets and its returning appeal as a leading listing destination.
“Looking ahead, momentum is set to continue into 2026, with a robust pipeline of large-cap IPOs expected across the consumer, financial services and TMT (technology, media and telecoms) sectors.”
Around the world, proceeds totalled 143.3 billion US dollars (£106.2 billion) from 1,014 IPOs over 2025 – about a fifth more than in 2024, according to PwC’s analysis.
The biggest of the year was the 6.3 billion US dollar (£4.7 billion) blockbuster IPO of medical supplies giant Medline which had its Wall Street debut earlier this month.
In terms of sectors, financial services led the charge with the biggest proportion of proceeds raised globally.
Momentum in the IPO market comes as the UK has been introducing new measures to help revive the London market after a prolonged drought in activity.
This includes a three-year, stamp duty holiday on shares bought in new UK flotations to help London compete for IPOs on an international stage.
In one such case, 29 state attorney generals are pushing a California federal court to demand that the platforms make a number of changes immediately, before any trial, including forcing Meta to remove all accounts known to belong to users under 13 years of age.
Business
India eyes diversification of crude oil sources; Piyush Goyal says would ‘love’ high-quality coking coal from US – The Times of India
India is looking to diversify its sources of crude oil, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal has said. Goyal’s comments assume significance in light of the India-US trade deal joint statement which lowers tariffs on Indian exports to 18%. The Donald Trump administration has also removed the 25% penal tariffs on India on the condition that it stops buying crude oil from Russia.India’s crude imports from Russia have dropped since the US imposed sanctions on two major Russian oil firms in late 2025. According to reports, the share of Russian crude in India’s oil imports has dropped to the lowest level since late 2022 and analysts expect the numbers to drop further in the coming months.
India would ‘love’ high-quality coking coal from US
Piyush Goyal said India is looking to broaden its sourcing of crude oil and coking coal and would welcome supplies of premium-quality coking coal from the United States.Also Read | 18% tariffs, boost to exports, agriculture protected: How India benefits from trade deal with US? Explained“We want to diversify our oil sources. I want to diversify the source of coking coal for example. I am dependent on 2 or 3 geographies (for that) and prices keep fluctuating. I would love to have American coking coal which is high quality coming to India,” he said according to a PTI report.He noted that the US is well positioned to supply several products that are critical for India’s economic growth, including graphics processing units used in artificial intelligence, infrastructure and equipment for data centres, and high-performance computing systems.Goyal said India can produce goods in areas where US manufacturers may not be competitive, while America can serve as an important provider of technology and investment capital.Also Read | Trump removes 25% penal tariff: What happens if India stops buying Russian crude oil?He added that demand for aircraft from the US is already estimated at about $100 billion over the next five years, with additional capacity required to expand domestic aviation and help lower fares.Under the proposed interim trade pact with the United States, India has conveyed its intent to procure goods worth $500 billion from America over the next five years. An Indian delegation is scheduled to travel to the US next week to conclude the legal drafting of the agreement, which is expected to be signed in March.Piyush Goyal said entering into a trade agreement with the US would be beneficial for India, noting that it would create significant opportunities for domestic businesses, particularly in labour-intensive sectors and technology-driven services.Referring to India’s free trade agreements, Goyal noted that nine such pacts have been concluded over the past four years. He added that these deals were negotiated from a position of confidence, emphasising that India now engages in trade talks assertively, without defensiveness, and with a focus on long-term interests.
Business
FDA chief Marty Makary says ‘everything should be over the counter’ unless drug is unsafe or addictive
Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary told CNBC that he believes “everything should be over the counter” unless a drug is unsafe, addictive or requires monitoring – doubling down on a push that some in the pharmaceutical industry have questioned.
In an interview Wednesday in Washington, D.C., Makary said the FDA aims to make changes this year that allow more companies to offer their prescription medicines over the counter, or OTC. He noted that the agency is going through “the proper regulatory processes” to update OTC monographs – the rulebooks that determine which drugs can be sold without a prescription.
Makary said the FDA is looking at “basic, safe” prescription drugs like nausea medications and vaginal estrogen, which is used to treat menopausal symptoms like dryness and pain.
“In my opinion, everything should be over the counter and not requiring a prescription, unless it’s unsafe, unless you need laboratory tests to monitor how it’s being received by your body, or if it could be used for some nefarious purpose or it’s addictive,” Makary told CNBC after the PhRMA Forum, a one-day event organized by the pharmaceutical industry’s largest lobbying group.
“If it doesn’t meet those criteria, why shouldn’t a drug be over the counter? So we should be asking, why not? Instead of, ‘Oh, you want to move over the counter, you got to go through a long, tedious process,'” he added.
Marty Makary, U.S. President Donald Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner, testifies before a Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Senate Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
The FDA has long considered making some prescription drugs available OTC to improve accessibility, reduce health-care costs and help patients stay on their medications. For example, patients wouldn’t have to take time off work to see a doctor for a prescription or could refill a drug without delay.
Congress boosted the effort through legislation in November that streamlines the regulatory process for prescription-to-OTC transitions, including full, conditional and partial “switch” pathways.
Makary framed the FDA’s latest push to expand OTC access as another way to lower drug costs, a key priority of the Trump administration. He argued that placing medications directly on store shelves would bypass insurers and pharmacy benefit managers, eliminating the rebate-driven system that often obscures a drug’s true price.
He also said selling drugs over the counter promotes transparency that “keeps prices in check.” In some cases, Makary said cash prices for OTC medicines are lower than patients’ copays for prescription drugs “when there’s a money game going on behind the pharmacy counter,” with employers and insurers sharing the cost.
Pharma questions OTC push
Some in the pharmaceutical industry have pushed back on that argument. Most OTC drugs are not covered by insurance, meaning their prices could eclipse those of generic prescription medicines and potentially make them less affordable for patients who rely on coverage.
In comments to the FDA earlier this month, the Association for Accessible Medicines argued that “the shift of many prescription drugs to nonprescription status could actually increase costs to patients, thereby decreasing patient access to treatments.” That organization represents manufacturers and distributors of generic prescription medicines.
The FDA also doesn’t have the authority to regulate drug prices. In its own comments this month, PhRMA said the agency must respect “the core principle that pricing considerations may not factor into FDA regulatory decision-making.”
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America added that the FDA should not attempt to transition any prescription drugs to OTC without first consulting manufacturers. But the group emphasized that it supports the FDA’s effort to expand access to crucial medicines.
In its own comment this month, AstraZeneca said several previous attempts to transition cholesterol-cutting statins to OTC status have been “unsuccessful, with consumers consistently having difficulty making proper self-selection decisions.”
Meanwhile, Makary told CNBC on Wednesday that “we have to trust people to make their decisions. We’ve got to get away from this paternalistic mindset.”
The FDA removed the longtime director of the office of over-the-counter drugs, Theresa Michele, from her position in December, STAT news reported at the time.
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