Funding Circle’s slide continues

The SME-focused peer-to-peer lending platform has had a tough first week in public markets.

It is still early days for the first big UK P2P lender to list on public markets. Nonetheless, Funding Circle’s first week in public markets has been a challenging one for investors.

The peer-to-peer lending platform’s shares have fallen nearly a quarter (24 per cent) during the worst of the sell off but have since somewhat recovered. Today, however - at the time of writing -  the share price is sitting around 338p from a 440p listing price.

Commenting on the listing last Friday Samir Desai , co-founder and CEO of Funding Circle, said the firm was feeling confident and focused on growth.

“We have always believed Funding Circle would be well-suited to the public markets and today’s listing is recognition of the strength and global impact of our model.”

“Funding Circle is a very ambitious company and we are excited to continue growing our business over the coming years. The UK is a great place to start and grow a fintech business and we are proud to have listed on London Stock Exchange today.”

The IPO followed some bullish news flow for the company with two separate funding deals announced, one via Alcentra, part of the Wall Street banking giant BNY Mellon, which will purchase $1bn of US loans over the next few years.

Secondly, via The £348m Funding Circle SME Income Fund which published a prospectus ahead of a new share issuance programme that could see the listed portfolio raise up to another £500m in the next 12 months.

Aston Martin, another UK firm to IPO this week has similarly had a tough teething period on public markets, falling on its first day of trading.