Loveholidays poised to delay £1bn London IPO after Gulf travel chaos

Loveholidays, the online travel agent tipped to be the London Stock Exchange’s first major listing of 2026, is preparing to delay its flotation amid market turmoil and travel chaos caused by Iran’s retaliation after US and Israeli strikes.

The company had been expected to announce its intention to float in early March, targeting a valuation of up to £1bn, but is now discussing a possible delay, according to people familiar with the matter.

Loveholidays could now target the period following the travel-heavy Easter holiday, one of them said.

“There is still a strong desire to do a London IPO, but it’s obvious that discussions have been on whether this is the right time to do it given the wider sell-off of its sector peers,” said another person familiar with the matter.

The business has been working with advisers at Rothschild, Barclays, JPMorgan and Investec. It declined to comment on the listing delay.

Discussions on whether to push back the listing have come as shares in Loveholidays’ closest listed peer, On The Beach, have shed about 4.2 per cent in the past week, while tour operator Tui has lost 11 per cent.

Shares in airlines such as British Airways owner IAG, Lufthansa, Ryanair and EasyJet have all dropped as the conflict in Iran has led to more than 10,000 suspended flights across the Gulf, including to tourism hotspot Dubai.

Some commercial flights to and from Cyprus have also been cancelled after the runway at a British RAF base was hit in an Iranian drone strike.

Loveholidays, which sells package holidays, including to Dubai and Cyprus, served 4.7mn customers last year. It has been owned since 2018 by private equity firm Livingbridge, which acquired the business for about £190mn.

The delay would be a setback for the London Stock Exchange as it hopes for a reopening of the market for significant initial public offerings.

Norwegian software business Visma may also push back its €19bn listing, the FT reported last month, after a brutal sell-off in the sector triggered by fears about disruption caused by advances in AI. The group has discussed postponing its listing past the first half of this year.

Meanwhile, Japanese payments business PayPay has also delayed the launch of its New York IPO roadshow after market disruption in the wake of the conflict in Iran.

However, some City of London advisers said investors were still broadly willing to back businesses seen as resilient and the equity sell-off has not been as severe as the rout in gilts.

German defence technology group Vincorion is pushing ahead with its investor roadshow for a Frankfurt listing, according to a person close to the company, amid expectations that defence companies will benefit from the situation in Iran.

Meanwhile, Rosebank Industries, led by former Melrose boss Simon Peckham, completed a £1.9bn capital raise on Tuesday to fund two US acquisitions.

Tom Johnson, global head of capital markets at Barclays, said of the Rosebank raise: “Moments like this matter. They reinforce confidence in UK markets and help set the tone for future investment and growth across the economy. Cross-border transactions of this scale reinforce the UK’s role as a leading international financial centre.”

Additional reporting by Laura Pitel in Berlin