Trying to raise money in the public equity markets has, for most of the past 18 months, been very challenging. Those hoping for an end to the drought – which spread even as Visa staged the largest ever float by a US company with a $17.9bn offering last March – are likely to be disappointed.

With equity markets still displaying heightened volatility, and as scandal and woe in the financial and corporate worlds continue to dominate the news, companies have decided to put any plans to go public on ice.