Average value of daily trading of AIM shares surges 41% in 2017/18

Publications that covered this story include the Mail On Sunday on 30 September 2018 and City AM and This Is Money on 1 October 2018.
  • Popular listings such as Asos and Boohoo push value of share trading to an all time high

Companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) have seen the average value of the daily trading of their shares rise by 41% over the last twelve months to £327,580 in 2017/18 from £232,140 in 2016/17, our research shows.

The sharp increase in AIM liquidity has been driven by increasing investor interest in the growing number of institutional investor grade companies listed on AIM. These include:

  • Online fashion and beauty retailer Asos
  • The premium drinks producer Fevertree
  • Online fashion and lifestyle retailer com
  • Litigation funder Burford Capital

The London Stock Exchange has put a lot of effort in the last few years into ridding AIM of its ‘wild west’ reputation. Further reforms take place on 28 September, when companies on the AIM market will be obliged to comply* with a corporate governance code in the latest of a series of regulatory reforms in the past few years. The reforms are aimed at improving investor confidence in AIM.

The improved reputation of AIM has helped encourage larger and more financially stable UK-based businesses onto the market. Nomads and brokers have also been more reluctant to list more speculative companies on AIM.

Over £250 million trades on AIM on a daily basis

The volume of trading on AIM has increased fourfold from ten years ago, when only £77,440 is shares was traded on average per company per day in 2008/9.

Laurence Sacker, managing partner in our London office, says: “The fact that businesses on AIM are now regularly attracting institutional investors, and not just small cap specialists, is a real game changer for the whole of the market.”

“The market is now fulfilling the potential that it has always had.”

“AIM may well face further challenges in the future, most notably Brexit, and tech sector volatility. However, the market has withstood everything that has been thrown at it. That was not a given even a few years ago.”

Average value of daily share trading per AIM company skyrockets in past two years

*Comply or explain
**Boohoo.com figure calculated using all available data from the London Stock Exchange AIM monthly factsheets. Average based on 10 months data rather than 12 months

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