KPMG, together with Business XL magazine, has released a study looking at companies that have delisted from the Alternative Investment Market in the past three years.

The survey revealed that 152 companies of the 360 companies were involved in reverse takeovers and were subsequently re-admitted to the market. A further 19 companies moved to a full market listing.

Of the remaining 189, 81 were taken over by other public or private acquirers. The remaining 108 left for more negative reasons. These included companies that cancelled their listing when the market's index plunged to a record low in April 2004, and those that breached AIM rules. For others, the costs of complying with the AIM rules, increased corporate governance or the large amount of senior time needing to be spent on investor relations outweighed the advantages of being on the market.

Commenting on the findings, David Simpson, head of the UK quoted companies team at KPMG, said the growth in takeovers acts as a reminder that AIM offers potential acquirers a range of targets.

"Transfers to the full list from AIM are still relatively infrequent compared with the flow of movement in the opposite direction," Simpson added. "This suggests that AIM is no longer perceived as a risky market and will remain attractive to active companies looking to benefit from improving liquidity, the lighter touch of the AIM rules and lower regulatory costs."