As I sat down to write this, there were three significant stock market flotations due to announce pricing details next week. Shortly after that there were two. The price at which Hastings, the motor insurer, was due to float somehow was leaked.
Hastings is one of those companies — McCarthy & Stone, the retirement homes specialist, which may push the button next week, and Metro, the challenger bank, are two others — that seem to have been on the point of joining the stock market for ages. Its arrival is significant because it comes after a period when there was a dearth of market debuts, for reasons that will be obvious.
It is almost impossible to put a price on your business when