The value of funds raised on AIM dropped by more than 60 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 compared with the same period the year before, according to research from Grant Thornton Corporate Finance.

The largest drop was seen in the value of primary issues, suffering a 70 per cent fall on the previous year. However, there was still more than £1.13 billion raised on AIM during what Grant Thornton’s capital markets director Philip Secrett described as: “One of the most challenging backdrops for the market since its inception.”

The value of new issues on AIM was £339 million in Q1, a drop of more 70 per cent on the previous year’s Q1 figure of £1.23 billion. Secondary issues also fell by 53 per cent to approximately £793 million compared to £1.69 billion during the same period last year.

In total, AIM raised primary and secondary issues of more than £1.132 billion in the first three months of the year, compared with £2.815 billion in Q1 2007.

Secrett said the value of funds raised in 2008 were in the short term unlikely to move back in line with the high fundraising levels of the past three years.

“The surprise with the performance of AIM during the first quarter of this year is not that it has suffered as a result of the credit crunch and resulting equity market turmoil, but that its constituents were still able to raise over £1 billion in primary and secondary issues,” Secrett added.