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The value of initial public offerings (IPOs) on AIM in the first quarter of this year was £339 million, 70 per cent less than in the same period of 2007. Overall, companies on AIM raised £1.13 billion, 60 per cent less than last year’s £2.815 billion, according to research from advisory firm Grant Thornton.

Philip Secrett, international director of capital markets at Grant Thornton, says that the beginning of the year has provided ‘one of the most challenging backdrops for [AIM] since its inception’.

Secrett adds: ‘The surprise with [AIM’s first quarter performance] 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.’

The number of new companies listing also dropped to 34, down from 54 in Q1 2007.

Secrett says several sectors remain popular among AIM investors, especially energy and commodity firms, which accounted for over half of the cash raised through IPOs during the quarter.

He concludes: ‘AIM continues to be open for business, but only for those companies with stories that are in line with the very specific demands of investors at present.

‘Investors are now sitting on their hands, and while they may be more willing to participate in secondary issues for AIM-listed firms they already know, raising substantial sums of money for new companies will only be an option for a select few.’

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