Livewire Markets | Emerging companies are delivering the growth. Investors still won’t pay for it

Emerging companies are delivering the growth. Investors still won’t pay for it

Over the past few weeks, the NAOS team has travelled the country for our 2026 national Investor Roadshows under the theme “Honey, we shrunk the emerging companies.” The idea behind it is simple but striking: the ASX is worth about 20% more than it was three years ago, yet it has around 200 fewer listed companies.

Livewire Markets’ Keith Ford has summarised the key messages from CIO Sebastian Evans’ presentation, including why the market is shrinking from the bottom up, why quality IPOs have become so rare, how takeovers are picking off some of the best cash-generating businesses, and the role passive investing plays in widening the valuation gap.

In Sebastian’s words, emerging companies are providing most of the growth, yet people aren’t willing to pay for it. Read the full article to find out why, and what we believe could change that.

‍Read the full Livewire Article - 4 November 2026