Cairn shares up marginally after stock exchange debut

Housebuilder has land bank of 12,600 units, over 91% of which is in the Dublin area

Builders at work on a Cairn Homes site in Dublin. Photograph: Bloomberg
Builders at work on a Cairn Homes site in Dublin. Photograph: Bloomberg

Irish housebuilder Cairn Homes was trading up marginally at €1.63 during late morning following its admission to the Irish Stock Exchange (ISE) on Wednesday.

Cairn has a land bank of 12,600 units, over 91 per cent of which is located in the greater Dublin area. It is currently active on eight sites there, which will deliver 3,250 units.

Cairn is also eligible for index inclusion for the first time and will be included in the ISEQ.

It joins with a market capitalisation of €1.18 billion making it one of the top 15 companies listed on the ISE.

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ISE director of strategy Aileen O’Donoghue said: “We are delighted that Cairn has chosen to take a primary listing on the ISE. We are clear that the ISE will provide additional liquidity and visibility to Cairn – as well as index inclusion.

Future

“The experience of UK-listed issuers taking a dual listing on ISE markets has been very positive. We wish Cairn every success in the future.”

Cairn Homes chief executive Michael Stanley said: “Cairn is an Irish company, headquartered in Dublin, and builds new homes exclusively for the Irish market, so we are delighted to now be dual-listed on the Irish Stock Exchange.

“It has always been our intention to list on the Irish Stock Exchange. This listing on an EU exchange will provide us with an increased exposure to a wider investor base, including Irish retail and European focused investors.

“The Irish Stock Exchange has been very supportive of our application and investor feedback has been very positive since we announced our intention to seek a dual listing earlier this year.”

Cairn's admission to the main securities market follows the admission of AIB in June. AIB was the biggest IPO in Europe in 2017 and market data shows that trading in the company's shares has been concentrated on the ISE.

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson

Colin Gleeson is an Irish Times reporter