Softcat opens trading on LSE

Marlow-based reseller admitted shares for trading on main market of London Stock Exchange this morning

Softcat opened trading on the London Stock Exchange this morning as it made its full debut as a public company.

Chief executive Martin Hellawell is pictured alongside the firm's longest-serving employee, head of human resources Shelley Ferrigno; and chief financial officer Graham Charlton as the Marlow-based reseller got action under way.

Softcat last Friday priced its IPO at 240 pence per share, valuing the firm at £472.3m, with trading in its shares on a conditional basis getting under way on the same day.

This morning, the entire ordinary share capital of 196,776,260 ordinary shares was admitted to trading on the LSE's main market, under the ticker SCT.

At the time of writing, its share price stood at 282 pence, up a penny on the opening value.

Softcat first hinted of its plans to take the plunge in an IPO to CRN in June 2014 and in an interview with CRN in October, Hellawell said the firm's strategy as a public company would not change.

"The basic message we have put out to the market is 'more of the same'," he said.