German auto giant Volkswagen announced today that it plans to withdraw its shares from trading on the London Stock Exchange from late October.
VW, which has been listed in London since 1988, said in a statement that it has applied to the Financial Conduct Authority “to request the cancellation of the trading of the shares on the main market of LSE... with effect from October 28.”
The last day of trading in London would be Friday, October 25.
A company spokesman said that VW regularly reviewed its different listings every few years.
“It’s simply a cost matter. The various outlays we have — the financial reporting obligations and so forth — aren’t reflected by the trading volumes generated there. It simply wasn’t economical,” he told AFP.
VW had withdrawn from the Tokyo stock exchange a few years ago for similar reasons.
“It’s a normal process,” the spokesman said.
VW shares are traded on all German stock exchanges, most importantly Frankfurt, as well as in Basel, Geneva and Zurich in Switzerland and in Luxembourg and New York.