Massive enthusiasm from institutional investors led shares in Arm Holdings Plc to rise 46% or $13.50 to $42.50 on their first day of trading on NASDAQ. The Cambridge, UK embedded RISC chip designer sold 25.5% of its shares in a simultaneous offerings on the US and London markets, selling 5.8 million American Depository shares in New York and 3.28 million shares in London. In the UK its share surged from 375 pence to 820 pence. The company was valued at a staggering $1bn at close of trading Friday. Not bad for an outfit that only showed a net profit of around $5.44m on sales of $43.9m last year. ARM is 38% owned by UK’s Acorn Group Plc which said it would use the flotation proceeds to pay off debt and support the development of core businesses. It retains 12 million ARM shares. Conditional dealings in the shares have already begun but they will not be officially quoted on the London stock exchange until April 24. All the company has to do now is to live up to enormous expectations. While they have signed some important licensing deals recently, competition now looms in the formidable shape of Motorola Corp (CI No 3387).
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