Schroders' head of equities Rory Bateman: Is the UK stockmarket doing its job?

Many companies have successfully raised new capital during the pandemic, but more is likely to be needed.

Stockmarkets serve a number of functions. Chief among these is that they allow companies to raise money, whether to finance future growth or to repair balance sheets. In the UK, many companies have been making use of this function of equity markets in the first six months of this year.  On our analysis, the number of companies raising fresh capital has leapt to around 130, far above the usual figure for a six-month period, as the chart below shows. And the amount raised has far outstripped the norm too.    It's not hard to figure out why more companies are raising more money than u...