One of the world’s biggest anti-opioid addiction companies is planning to move its primary listing to the United States in the latest blow to London’s status as a leading financial hub.
Indivior, the FTSE 250 pharmaceuticals company that specialises in treatments for substance abuse disorders and serious mental illnesses, is to consult shareholders about making the switch this summer.
The company dual-listed on Nasdaq last June, but now plans to have only a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.
Indivior was spun off from Reckitt, the FTSE 100 consumer goods group, in late 2014 and has its European headquarters in Slough, Berkshire, a legacy of Reckitt’s ownership. It has a manufacturing site and research and development centre in Hull, where buprenorphine, the active ingredient behind its best-selling Suboxone products, was discovered.
Indivior’s decision comes at a time of concern about the strength of London’s appeal: a number of large UK-listed companies have opted for New York.
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Among the most high-profile have been Arm Holdings, the chip designer, whose shares have soared since opting for a $52 billion Nasdaq listing. Last month Flutter, the owner of Paddy Power, said that it planned to move its primary listing to New York, subject to a shareholder vote in May.
This month the travel group Tui’s shareholders approved the decision to abandon its London listing and focus on Germany, while the building company CRH opted to move its primary listing from London’s FTSE 100 index to the US.
The government and regulators have been trying to improve the UK’s appeal, with the Financial Conduct Authority outlining proposed reforms in December.
Indivior, whose global headquarters are in Virginia, believes a primary US listing would “reflect the group’s current and future growth opportunities” for its treatments, including Sublocade, its oral anti-opioid drug and Perseris, for schizophrenia. About 83 per cent of Indivior’s group revenues are generated in America, which is battling an opioid addiction epidemic.
It also expects to attract more US investors and equity research analysts “by further elevating the group’s leadership profile in addiction treatment in the US capital markets”.
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The move would allow Indivior eventually to be included in big US indices, it added.
Roughly half of Indivior’s share capital is owned by US investors. They include Scopia Capital Management, which has a stake of about 5.9 per cent and a representative on the board. An analyst at Scopia had asked Indivior’s management four years ago whether it might revisit a US listing.
“The board is aware that this is an important topic for shareholders and is mindful that a resolution to move forward requires the support of 75 per cent of shareholders,” Indivior said. “If the consultations indicate a strong level of support from shareholders, the group intends to put forward a formal resolution that would facilitate a primary US listing in the summer of 2024.”
When Indivior first raised plans to have a listing in the US in 2022, Mark Crossley, who was promoted to chief executive in June 2020, acknowledged the UK was “part of our heritage”, but said the company had received “quite a bit of inbound traffic from shareholders with regards to a dual listing”.
Crossley, 54, insisted at the time that Indivior remained committed to its UK business, saying “we have a strong footprint in the UK. We don’t anticipate that to decrease”.
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Indivior is emerging from a tumultuous period of costly patent litigation and US regulatory investigations, including a $600 million settlement with US authorities and the imprisonment of Shaun Thaxter, its former chief executive.
The listing plans were announced alongside strong full-year results and sent shares rallying 22.42 per cent, or 304p, to £16.60 in London.
Net revenue rose 21 per cent to almost $1.1 billion and adjusted operating profit 27 per cent to $269 million. Including continued provisions from legal settlements in the US, Indivior made an operating loss of $4 million, compared to a loss of $85 million in 2022.
Last year Indivior moved to resolve allegations from groups of claimants in the US that it violated antitrust and consumer protection laws in marketing Suboxone. In October it reached a $385 million agreement to resolve outstanding legal claims with direct purchasers or drug wholesalers. That followed a $30 million resolution with insurers in America in August and a $103 million deal in June to resolve claims brought by more than 40 states.
Max Herrmann, an analyst at Stifel, said Indivior had delivered a “very strong” trading performance and “surprisingly strong guidance for 2024 with revenues expected to be in the range $1.24-$1.33 billion … [and] about 32 per cent earnings growth in 2024, ahead of most market estimates”.
