Two more UK companies have announced they will delist their shares from the New York stock market to avoid the burden of complying with legislation such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.

Both United Utilities and ICI expect to cut their compliance costs by millions of pounds a year by dropping their secondary listings in the US.

Warrington-based United Utilities, which operates electricity and water networks, said today it was running up “significant costs” by complying with the US Securities Exchange Act and Sarbanes-Oxley.

[1] Business Guardian: United Utilities and ICI drop New York listings