SME IPOs are outliers this year despite a sharp sell-off in the market

Initial public offerings (IPOs) by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have fared better than those on the mainboard this year in terms of post-listing performance. Sample this: The stock prices of 47 companies that have listed on SME bourses this year are up 32 per cent on average. Nearly 60 per cent of these are currently trading above their issue price.

Shares of five companies are currently trading at double that of their issue price, despite a sharp sell-off in the market. These companies are Empyrean Cashews (shares up 656 per cent over IPO price), Globesecure Technologies (265 per cent), Cool