- Indivior to delist on 25 July
- Move aligns with US market focus
- Shares down 35% over one year
Global pharmaceutical firm Indivior (INDV) is to become the latest company to delist from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) in favour of the US market in the latest blow to Britain’s embattled bourse.
Headquartered across the pond in Richmond, Virginia, the opioid addiction treatment specialist will cancel its secondary listing in London on 25 July in order to cut costs and ‘fully align’ the firm on the US market that accounts for over 80% of its revenues.
Following a review, Indivior has concluded Nasdaq now ‘far outweighs liquidity on the LSE’ and that a single primary listing on the US exchange ‘best reflects the profile of Indivior’s business’.
Indivior’s imminent departure is another headwind for the LSE in trying to reinvigorate the UK stock market, and means the pressure is on the exchange operator to attract new names to the market and keep existing ones.
REASONS FOR DELISTING
Besides eliminating the cost and complexity of maintaining a secondary listing, Indivior argues the delisting fully aligns with the firm’s ‘most attractive and valuable opportunity set’, namely its lead treatment Sublocade in the US.
As of 27 May 2025, noted Indivior, trading on the Nasdaq now accounts for approximately 75% of total trading volume across both exchanges over the last 30 days, while the delisting will also permit the timing of material news announcements in line with the group’s US peers.
David Wheadon, chair, said: ‘We are pleased to announce this key milestone for Indivior following our evaluation period. A single primary listing on Nasdaq best reflects the profile of Indivior’s business. We appreciate the support received from shareholders for this initiative and look forward to capitalizing on the expected benefits of this move, including reductions in cost and complexity.’
The £1.2 billion cap listed its shares on the LSE in early 2015 following a late 2014 demerger from consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser (RKT), then listed its shares on Nasdaq in 2023 before shifting its primary listing to the tech-oriented exchange in June 2024.
Just over a year ago, on 3 May 2024, Indivior’s board said planned to maintain the secondary listing in London ‘for as long as it is considered to be in the best interests of Indivior and its shareholders as a whole’, but the situation has clearly changed.
At the current 939.6p, Indivior’s UK-listed shares are up over 200% on a five-year view but down 35% over one year amid increased US competition from generic drug companies for its treatments and with Sublocade revenues facing ‘near-term impacts from funding gaps among certain justice system customers’.
NATURAL EVOLUTION
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said Indivior’s decision to close the door on a London listing isn’t a shock as Indivior had already given enough hints that its future was entirely Stateside.
‘It had already switched its main stock listing to the US and effectively said it would monitor the relevance of the secondary listing in the UK,’ said Mould. ‘The latter remark was essentially Indivior only propping open the door for an ongoing London presence with its foot. It was just a matter of time before it walked away entirely.’
Mould continued: ‘Its business is focused on the US and that’s where most of its shareholders are based and where its stock predominantly trades. The London listing only existed because Indivior was spun out of Reckitt, which itself is a London-listed entity. At the time, it made sense to offer a seamless transition and support a London listing for the spun-out entity. Plenty of time has now passed. The demerger happened 11 years ago, and Indivior’s shareholder base is likely to have gone through natural evolution in that time.’
DISCLAIMER: Financial services company AJ Bell referenced in this article owns Shares magazine. The author of this article (James Crux) and the editor (Steven Frazer) own shares in AJ Bell.
