Malin Corporation, the life sciences investment firm, and Cairn Homes stood out as the top gainers on the Iseq All-Share index in 2024, as the Irish market suffered from some heavyweight defections to Wall Street.
With only a half day of trading left this year, the Iseq has risen by 11.3 per cent so far in 2024.
That is well off the 25.9 per cent surge posted by the S&P 500 in New York, which has been turbocharged by strong performances by tech giants such as chipmaker Nvidia, amid soaring demand for its artificial intelligence chips, and carmaker Tesla.
However, it has fared better than the 5.4 per cent advance by the FTSE 100 in London and 6.8 per cent gain by the pan-European Stoxx 600 index.
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Malin’s share price has doubled in 2024, driven as the company behind its most valuable investment – Poseida, in which it holds a 12 per cent stake – agreed in November to be taken over by Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Roche in a cash deal worth up to $1.5 billion (€1.4 billion). The deal will accelerate Malin’s strategy of returning excess cash to investors – and its ultimate wind-down.
Housebuilders Cairn Homes and Glenveagh Properties have advanced 76 per cent and 31 per cent respectively in 2024 – making them the second-best and fifth-best performing Iseq plays of the year – as demand for new homes continued to outstrip supply.
Newry-based FD Technologies claimed third spot on the list of advancers, rising 54 per cent, following a major restructuring. This saw it sell off its former core First Derivatives division to US software group EPAM earlier this month in a £236.1 million (€283.9 million) deal and spin another business, called MRP, into a merger. It is in the middle of a £120 million share buyback programme.
AIB was the fourth-best performer of the year – rising 34.4 per cent – as it continued to benefit from heightened interest rates and the Government sold down its stake in the bank at pace. Taxpayers currently own less than 19 per cent of AIB.
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Of the three former Iseq behemoths that have departed the Irish market in the past 16 month as part of listing rejigs that saw their main quotations move to New York, Flutter Entertainment was the best performer, rising 50 per cent in 2024. CRH advanced 37 per cent, while Smurfit WestRock has advanced 17 per cent since it was created through the merger of Smurfit Kappa and US rival WestRock in July.
Corre Energy was the worst-performing stock on the Iseq in 2024, sliding almost 94 per cent, amid concerns over its funding position as it continued a search for a big investor.
Mincon, which makes drilling tools for the oil and gas exploration sector, was the second-weakest stock, declining 39 per cent, while Uniphar took the third spot, down 20 per cent.
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