London, the city of the Square Mile and Canary Wharf, has historically been Europe’s business hub and financial epicenter. In recent years, however, it’s lost its appeal for some company owners, who’ve chosen to list in the U.S., dealing a blow to the British capital’s standing.
But the Fortune 500 Europe list demonstrates London’s continued role as a leader in continental Europe—and central place in the business world. The U.K. capital boasts 44 companies on the Fortune 500 Europe rankings, which ranks companies by revenue—the most of any city in Europe.
Among list-leaders, London serves as the headquarters of oil and gas giants Shell (ranked #1) and BP (ranked #6), and is also the home of retail and pharmaceutical giants, such as Unilever and GSK. London’s companies make up about 9% of the list’s total aggregate revenue of $13.94 trillion.
Paris comes second in the list of cities with the highest number of Fortune 500 Europe companies with 39 of them—a closeness that signals the intense rivalry between the cities. Last November, London lost its title as Europe’s biggest stock market to Paris, though the U.K. capital recently regained it. Earlier this year, London lost its spot among the top cities with Fortune Global 500 companies—the French capital city ranked higher than it.
By country, Germany ranks highest with 80 companies on the Fortune 500 Europe list, while Britain comes a close second with 76. The German city with the highest number of companies in the ranking is Munich, with 11.
London’s IPO tragedies
As strong as London is as a home base, it’s had little luck with IPOs this year. Softbank-owned British chipmaker Arm Holdings shunned the U.K. in favor of listing on the U.S.-based Nasdaq. The IPO was valued at $55 billion, which could’ve been a major boost for Britain’s stock exchange if Arm listed in its home country.
“We are currently in a doom loop, where valuations are low, liquidity is reducing, investors are seeing withdrawals and there is little desire to IPO,” Charles Hall, Peel Hunt’s head of research, wrote in an October report. “If this continues, the U.K. could lose a crucial part of its financial ecosystem.”
Many of those who have listed in London have fallen flat, further spooking investors and companies looking to IPO. For instance, fintech group CAB Payments’s shares plunged 72% on one day in late October—just four months after its IPO.
“This is one of those IPO-gone-wrong stories that is worth noting – is this really all that London can offer?” analysts at market.com said in a LinkedIn post, referring to CAB Payments.
In recent years, other IPOs have failed to grow wings as hoped, including food delivery group Deliveroo and shoemaker Dr Martens.
But there’s more to it—London’s slide against its peers in- and outside of Europe has been years in the making. The Euro zone crisis, trade and export hurdles associated with Brexit and sluggish economic activity following the COVID-19 pandemic are some factors that have contributed to this.
“For a long time London had an economic growth premium over the U.K. and matched or exceeded other major global cities,” Tim Lyne, associate director in the cities team at advisory firm Oxford Economics, told Fortune in August. “Its position has been eroded and we expect its growth premium compared to the U.K. and other global cities to be much smaller in the future than it has been in the past.”
Britain’s companies have also struggled to attract top talent across industries due to lower pay standards compared to their American counterparts, London Stock Exchange’s CEO Julia Hoggett pointed out last month.
“The U.K. has gradually, over the last 20-30 years, stopped investing in itself,” Hoggett said in a Bloomberg podcast.
The government, for its part, has tried to make some fixes to structural barriers that often penalized innovative companies. Proposals to make “significant changes to the listing rulebook” to make London a magnet for international business would aim to make listings less daunting and complicated, according to the U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority. Revamped regulations and attractive pay packages could return London to its glory as a business juggernaut.
