Value of AIM up 23% in twelve months, as new listings spike in 2014

• AIM total market value increases from £62,063 million in April 2013 to £76,425 million in April 2014, a 23% increase
• Increase in number of new listings - from 21 listings in four months to April 2013 to 37 in four months to April 2014, a 76% increase

The value of the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) increased by 23% in the 12 months to April 2014, according to analysis by Deloitte, the business advisory firm.  This was marked by an unbroken run of increases in eight consecutive months to February 2014. There has also been a rise of 76% in the number of new listings for the first four months of the year, 21 in 2013 compared with 37 this year.

After seven years of decline, the total number of companies on the AIM has also increased slightly from 1,088 in April 2013 to 1,096 in April 2014.

Richard Thornhill, equity capital markets partner at Deloitte, comments: “The much publicised pick-up in the IPO market is clearly pushing more companies to list on the AIM, London’s junior market.

“We have seen a number of high-profile AIM listings this year from Patisserie Valerie to Boohoo.com, with strong representations from the retail and technology sectors. This activity is consistent with that seen on main market activity in the quarter and marks a change from the position 12 months ago where strong main market activity contrasted with fewer small cap and growth company listings on AIM.

“The surge in companies of all shapes and sizes wanting to IPO in 2014 has led to a period of significant effort for investors assessing the quality of these opportunities, certainly the most intense such period for several years.  

“However, we anticipate a pick-up in activity again post summer break as those deferring their listing to the second half of the year compete to be amongst the first to announce. As IPO cycles mature there tends to be an increase in the potential for smaller deals to complete and we expect the levels of significant activity on AIM to continue through to the end of the calendar year.”

End

Notes to editors

The above data has been collated using information published by the London Stock Exchange.

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