Shipping Shares and the London Stock Exchange

by Bridget Hogan

Few, if any, London Stock Exchange (LSE) issues fit the description “typical bulk shipping,” but that does not mean Britain’s shipping shares do not compose a considerable market.

The capitalization of P&O alone is larger than the total market capitalization of either the Oslo and Stockholm Stock exchanges. And London’s total equity trading in 1994/95 reached 1,275 billion pounds. The same year was the exchange’s busiest for foreign equity trading, reaching a record 696 billion pounds. While shipping’s contribution toward these unprecedented statistics was admittedly minor, present and future opportunities exist.

To some extent, the lack of representation of shipping companies is a reflection of the state of the British shipping industry in general. Long-traded traditional names have disappeared, victims of consolidation following the switch to containerization from multipurpose vessels in the 1960′s and 1970′s.

To be a successful world player in any sector – passenger, liner, specialized bulk, such as reefers or chemicals, or even in the basic wet and bulk trades – requires major capital injections. The only shipping company to appear in the 100 largest-listed companies on the London exchange is P&O; and this group has demonstrated the “large is beautiful” success story in all sectors. With 600 million shares valued at six pounds each, it dominates all consideration of the London exchange in the shipping sector.

This is only an excerpt of Shipping Shares and the London Stock Exchange

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