Returning the listing proceeds to the market instead of buying into America (1999)

Raising the money, then handing it back

Gathering money through a listing and then returning it unused looks, at first glance, like a contradiction. But the company’s aim appears to have been less to seize the American market in one stroke through acquisition than to widen its ground steadily with its own technology and partner network. Avoiding the goodwill and the integration burden that come with buying — keeping the balance sheet light — is what can be seen, in the event, to have prepared the debt-free, high-margin constitution that followed.

That said, the decision to hand the money back did not amount to a purely defensive management. Having preserved its cash for years, the company eventually stepped into a large acquisition — the TippingPoint business in 2016. The picture drawn at the time of listing, of growing by buying, was not so much withdrawn as executed in a different form nearly two decades later. The consistency that lies between the decision not to use the money and the decision to use it is something that still leaves room for interpretation.