34 Monday January 3 2022 | the times
Business
Short-sellers are targeting two of the
highest-profile recent flops on the
London stock market.
Made.com, an online furniture seller,
and Alphawave, a technology group,
were among businesses that were listed
in London last year. However, unlike
other debutants, such as Dr Martens,
the boot company, and Oxford Nano-
pore, the biotechnology business, that
have surged above their float prices,
shares in Made.com and Alphawave
languish below their initial public
offering levels.
Disclosures to the Financial Conduct
Stock market flops are in short-sellers’ sights
Ben Martin Senior City Correspondent Authority show that three hedge funds
— GLG Partners, which is part of
Man Group, Ennismore and Benn-
Bridge — have built short positions
against Made.com, signalling that they
expect its shares to fall further. Five
short-sellers, including Tiger Global
Management, an American hedge
fund, took bets against Alphawave,
FCA filings show.
Trustpilot, the online consumer re-
views website that was listed in March,
is being shorted by JP Morgan Asset
Management, even though its shares
are above their 265p flotation price.
Short-sellers seek to profit from fall-
ing share prices by borrowing stock in a
company from another institutional in-
vestor for a fee and selling it. The aim is
to buy back the shares at a lower price
and pocket the difference before re-
turning them to the original owner.
Almost 8 per cent of Alphawave’s
share are out on loan, making it one of
the most-borrowed stocks in London,
according to IHS Markit, the data
provider. More than 3 per cent of
Made.com’s shares have been loaned.
The hedge funds’ bets take the shine
off a busy year for UK flotations.
However, investors balked at some
valuations that companies sought from
their IPOs. Deliveroo, the online take-
away ordering platform, immediatelyfell from its 390p initial price when it
was floated in March. Though the
shares picked up significantly during
the summer, they have fallen back to
only 209¾p.
Both Made.com, which was floated at
200p a share to clinch a £775 million
market value in June, and Alphawave,
which was listed in May at 410p a share,
valuing it at £3.1 billion, fell sharply in
their first days of trading. Made.com
shares ended last week at 140p and
Alphawave at 199¾p.
Stock market valuations have been
pushed higher since 2009 by ultra-
loose monetary policies adopted by
central banks that in turn have stokeddemand for equities. “Vendors and
investment banks are delighted to try
and keep feeding the appetite that is out
there through some pretty richly
valued companies,” Richard Buxton, a
veteran City fund manager at Jupiter
Asset Management, said.
John Stevenson, at Peel Hunt, the
broker, said that short-sellers may be
betting that consumers’ worries about
inflation and tax rises due in April will
curb demand for the big-ticket items
sold by Made.com. Alphawave has
faced questions about whether it
properly disclosed related party trans-
actions, which knocked its share price
in September.David Beckham is in talks to sell about
half of his management business to an
American branding company, leaving
the former footballer in line for a
substantial payout.
A deal is being discussed with
Authentic Brands Group, which owns
rands including Reebok and Juicy
Couture, as well as the image rights for
historical figures including Muham-
mad Ali and Marilyn Monroe.
The former England captain, 46,
could receive an investment of about
£200 million from the sale of a 55 per
cent stake in DB Ventures.
Since he stopped playing football in
2013, Beckham has built a portfolio of
commercial interests. DB Ventures
receives payments from Beckham’s
brand tie-ups, which include adidas,
AIA, the life insurer, and Tudor, the
watch brand.
The company, which is owned by
Beckham and his wife Victoria, paid adividend of £14.5 million in 2019, ac-
cording to its accounts, up from
£11.1 million the year before. They could
be in line for tens of millions of pounds
from a deal with Authentic Brands,
which was first reported by The Mail on
Sunday. They are already worth
£380 million, according to The Sunday
Times Rich List.
Victoria Beckham’s fashion and
beauty business failed to pay a dividend
in 2020. Victoria Beckham Holdings,
which owns her fashion label and a
majority stake in her beauty business,
has made more than £30 million of
losses over the past three years.
It is understood that DB Ventures has
been seeking a partner in recent
months for the next stage of its growth.
The company previously had a long-
standing partnership with XIX Enter-
tainment, the talent management firm
run by Simon Fuller, 61, who created
Pop Idol. However, Beckham paid a
reported $50 million in 2019 to buy out
XIX’s stake in the brand company.Beckham set to net millions
from DB Ventures stake sale
Louisa Clarence-SmithThe junior stock market enjoyed its
best fundraising year in 13 years in 2021
thanks to strong demand for initial
public offerings.
Boosted by high-profile listings,
including those of Victorian Plumbing
and Made.com, the total of equity
capital raised on Aim was more than
£9.4 billion, according to the London
Stock Exchange. That was the most
since 2007, when the Alternative
Investment Market raised £14.8 billion.
Last year 64 companies were
admitted to Aim, the market’s most
active year for floats since 2014 and a
sharp jump from when the pandemic
hit, which brought such activity almost
to a halt.
With banks and oil compa-
nies, which dominate
London’s stock market,
among those hit badly
by the coronavirus
outbreak, investors
have been turning
to healthcare and
technology, as
these sectors have
fared better. They
also have domin-
ated Aim.
“We’ve seen a
broad range of
companies from the UKCompanies raise £9bn
in boom year for Aim
Jessica Newman and internationally join the market,
from small companies with valuations
in the tens of millions to some of the
largest companies ever to float on Aim,
from sectors including tech, healthcare
and those supporting the transition to
the green economy,” Marcus Stuttard,
head of UK primary markets and Aim
at London Stock Exchange Group, said.
Some floats disappointed, notably
those of Deliveroo, musicMagpie and
PensionBee.
The junior stock market was set up in
1995 as a venue for smaller companies
to raise capital to fund their expansion
plans. Over the years it acquired some-
thing of a Wild West reputation, but has
since moved on, according to Charles
Hall, head of research at Peel Hunt, the
broker. “The quality on Aim is now
really good,” he said. “You’ve
got a much greater focus
on growth and we’re in
an environment
where growth com-
panies are much
more desired than
value companies
— and Aim has
more than its fair
share of growth
companies.Victorian Plumbing
was floated on the
junior market in Juneoil compa
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