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One of the UK’s leading blue-chip companies is preparing to shift its listing from London to New York, dealing yet another blow to Britain’s beleaguered stock market .

Ashtead, the FTSE 100 giant, which rents out equipment to construction firms, said it had concluded the US market was its “natural, long-term listing venue”.

With a value of £27bn, Ashtead’s planned departure marks one of the biggest to hit the Square Mile in the past year, coming days after Just Eat Takeaway said it would drop its secondary London listing.

Ashtead’s bosses said the switch was in the “best interests of the business and its stakeholders”, claiming it would give the company access to “deeper US capital markets”. They said the company would align its listing location with the majority of its business, with the move expected to take between 12 and 18 months.

The firm derives 98pc of its profits from North America and has most of its employees there.

The company said it would retain a listing in the UK, although this would be on the international companies segment of the London Stock Exchange.

Confirmation of the switch comes months after The Telegraph first revealed Ashtead was exploring the move , which blindsided officials after bosses had previously made a series of pledges to remain listed in Britain.

The London Stock Exchange has for years suffered from companies moving to the US in search of more investment. Concerns peaked last year when Cambridge-based chip designer Arm snubbed London in favour of a listing on the Nasdaq .

Flutter, the Paddy Power owner, and Tui, Europe’s biggest travel company, have ditched London for other stock markets overseas, while cybersecurity giant Darktrace was taken private earlier this year.

The number of companies leaving the London Stock Exchange due to takeovers has also hit its highest level in 14 years .

Ashtead’s £27bn market cap places it between Lloyds Banking Group and Tesco on the FTSE 100 index. It is the second-largest equipment rental outfit in the US, trading under the Sunbelt Rentals brand.

Ashstead has benefited from Joe Biden’s massive package of green subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act, with its chief executive previously saying the firm was winning business related to electric vehicle manufacturing plants and battery gigafactories.

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