Adds shares in paragraphs 1 & 4, details in 7-9

June 5 (Reuters) - Money transfer company Wise WISEa.L on Thursday said it intends to move its primary listing to the U.S. from London, the latest British company to do so, sending shares up over 8%.

Wise, which will maintain a secondary listing in London, had been exploring its listing options lately - a shift seen across the London markets due to stunted growth opportunities and lower valuations.

"We believe the addition of a primary U.S. listing would help us accelerate our mission and bring substantial strategic and capital market benefits to Wise and our owners," Kristo Kaarmann, co-founder and CEO of Wise said.

Shares of the money transfer firm were up 8.7% at 1,177 pence in early trading. They have risen about 40% in the last 12 months.

Metals investor Cobalt Holdings, backed by Glencore GLEN.L, also scrapped its plans for a London IPO on Wednesday, which, according to one source, was driven by a lack of demand.

In recent months, Unilever ULVR.L chose Amsterdam for the primary listing of its ice-cream business while fast-fashion firm Shein has been considering Hong Kong after plans for a London IPO were met with Chinese regulatory hurdles, according to sources.

Wise plans to tap domestic institutional and retail investors in the U.S., the largest global constituent of investors, to shore up global demand for its services, notably Wise Platform - a money transfer service that Wise markets as fast and low-cost.

British peer Revolut, which competes Wise on pricing and features, has also been aggressively pushing into the U.S., taking advantage of a lucrative playing field which houses some of the world's largest financial institutions.

Wise also reported its annual earnings, where underlying pretax profit rose 17% to 282.1 million pounds ($382 million) in the period, benefiting from strong customer growth and account adoption.

($1 = 0.7371 pounds)

(Reporting by Dhanush Vignesh Babu, Yamini Kalia and Prerna Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Christopher Cushing)

((DhanushVignesh.Babu@thomsonreuters.com;))