April 15 (Bloomberg) -- A record number of companies canceled initial public offerings in the first quarter as stock markets fell and concerns about a recession sapped demand for new shares, a survey by Ernst & Young LLP said.

As many as 83 companies withdrew IPOs while a further 24 delayed share sales, the accounting firm said in a report published today. The number of companies going public declined 60 percent from the fourth quarter of 2007 and was down 38 percent from the first three months of last year.

``There isn't likely to be much change before the last quarter and that's probably an optimistic prognosis,'' Ernst & Young IPO Leader David Wilkinson said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. ``We're looking toward 2009 for when confidence might start returning.''

The MSCI World Index has slipped 13 percent since reaching a record in October as the surge in subprime-mortgage defaults sparked a worldwide credit crisis and threatened to send the U.S. economy into recession. Apax pulled its planned $2.5 billion IPO of fashion brand Tommy Hilfiger Corp. in January, citing ``market conditions.''

HSH Nordbank AG, the German state-owned lender specializing in ship financing, said last month it will postpone a planned IPO, saying the market environment had worsened. Cia. de Saneamento de Minas Gerais, a Brazilian sanitation company, and Denmark's Dong Energy have also shelved planned share sales.

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index climbed to a five-year high earlier this month.

To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Evans in London at at eevans3@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 15, 2008 05:14 EDT