London readies for Raspberry Pi’s first results as a public company

Raspberry Pi’s first set of results since its much-hyped London IPO will be in focus for UK investors this week in a test for the capital’s reputation as a listing venue for tech firms.

The company, which floated to much fanfare at a £542m valuation in June, is due to enter the FTSE 250 on Monday before reporting its maiden set of results as a publicly listed firm on Tuesday.

Raspberry Pi’s earnings statement for the first six months of 2024 will be a key moment for new shareholders in the Cambridge-based computer firm.

The firm’s IPO was hailed as a sign that London’s stock market is set for a listing rebound after a bruising few years.

London has struggled to attract big-ticket tech listings amid a broader drop-off in IPOs and big names snubbing the bourse for better returns overseas.

Most notably, Cambridge-based chip firm Arm chose to float on the tech-friendly Nasdaq in New York last September despite Rishi Sunak’s government’s major charm offensive.

Arm’s shares have rallied 127 per cent since it listed on the Nasdaq, giving it a market capitalisation of $146bn (£109bn) – bigger than all but four of the FTSE 100’s blue-chip companies.

Other big UK names have looked towards overseas markets this year. Betting giant Flutter moved its main stock market listing to New York, and German-owned Tui exited London for a primary listing in Frankfurt.

Jefferies and Peel Hunt have held “buy” and “add” ratings respectively on Raspberry Pi since July.

Some analysts have said that the firm, known for creating affordable computers designed to teach coding skills to children, could be poised for growth, reminiscent of big tech stocks such as Microsoft, Apple, and Nvidia.

Those stocks have boomed amid massive demand for artificial intelligence (AI) since last year.

Raspberry Pi makes single-board computers (SBCs), which are small, affordable computers with a built in microchip and memory.

SBCs are becoming crucial to the AI and machine learning revolution. This is especially the case in industrial applications such as Internet of Things and Edge computing, where data is moved from the cloud to nearer the user in order to speed up processing.

Raspberry Pi has sold more than 60m of its devices since launching in 2012, including 7.4m last year. The firm posted revenues of $265.8m (£211.1m) in 2023, with operating profits of $37.5m (£29.8m).

Investment research firm Third Bridge has calculated that Raspberry Pi’s revenue and profit jumped 47 per cent and 85 per cent respectively between 2022 and 2023.

However, analysts expect this growth to slow down, given it was boosted by pent-up demand and a return to normal operations after supply chain issues tied to the Covid-19 pandemic.