The first major IPO in Europe for months could give new impetus to business with new issues in Germany.

The web hosting and cloud provider Ionos officially announced its IPO plans on Tuesday.

The subsidiary of the Internet service provider and telecommunications group United Internet is aiming for a listing on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in the course of the first quarter.

An IPO is the "next logical step," said CEO Ralph Dommermuth

According to the usual time frame, the first listing is expected in mid-February.

Therefore, the company is expected to release the price range in which the shares will be offered in the coming weeks.

As the Bloomberg news agency reported in December, United Internet is hoping for an Ionos valuation of up to 5 billion euros.

Ionos generated sales of 1.1 billion euros last year.

United Internet announced in September that it would list Ionos on the stock exchange.

At that time there was talk of 2023.

Since no capital increase is planned and United Internet says it intends to remain the majority shareholder, this results in an issue volume of up to EUR 2.5 billion.

The listing in the regulated market (Prime Standard) would make Ionos a candidate for inclusion in the M-Dax small-cap index.

The waiver of a capital increase is not necessarily a burden for the stock market candidate, said analyst Frederik Altmann from the brokerage house Alpha.

Because otherwise the free float could be somewhat small.

United Internet currently holds 75.1 percent of the shares.

The rest lies with the financial investor Warburg Pincus.

Use good vibes

Ionos has been flirting with jumping onto the trading floor for a long time.

In the past year, however, numerous companies had put their plans on the back burner because of the price turbulence on the markets.

The volume of emissions in Germany in 2022 was almost entirely due to the sports car manufacturer Porsche.

With around 9.4 billion euros, the Volkswagen subsidiary made the second largest IPO in the world.

In recent months, inflation and higher interest rates have weighed heavily on stock prices in general, bringing the IPO market to a virtual standstill.

The improved mood on the stock markets is currently playing into the hands of potential stock market candidates.

Since the turn of the year, the Dax has gained almost 9 percent, making up for a large part of its losses from 2022.

The titles of the Ionos parent company United Internet temporarily gained 3.6 percent in price on Tuesday after falling by almost 46 percent last year.

In Europe, Klarna, among others, is in the starting blocks for a stock market debut.

In a financing round in May 2022, the Swedish specialist for installment payments was valued at the equivalent of around 30 billion euros.

Relatively independent of economic fluctuations

Ionos claims to be the market leader in web hosting in Europe for small and medium-sized companies.

So far, cloud solutions have accounted for about ten percent of the business.

The Ionos business model is relatively immune to economic fluctuations, since about 90 percent of its revenue comes from subscriptions.

The company is forecasting growth of 15 to 18 percent for 2022 after a 19 percent increase in sales in the first nine months.

In the previous year, revenues were 1.1 billion euros.

In the medium term, Ionos expects annual sales growth of 10 percent on average and an adjusted operating profit margin of more than 30 percent.

The convincing numbers should make investors curious, said investment strategist Jürgen Molnar from the brokerage house RoboMarkets.

When it comes to acquisitions, Ionos is pursuing an opportunistic strategy, said CFO Britta Schmidt in a conference call.

"But there are no concrete plans at the moment."

Key Ionos rivals include GoDaddy and OVHCloud.