John Paul Getty’s “rise early, work hard, strike oil” formula for success continues to ring true years after he stopped using it. Now, it appears to be the best possible advice for the growing number of companies hoping to raise money from the equity markets.

UK oil explorer Tullow Oil seemed to prove it this month by raising £400m (€444m) to finance future exploration within three hours of launching shares. Scottish and Southern also managed to raise £500m last month to repay debt while UK software company Autonomy Corporation raised more than £200m to fund an acquisition.