Six firms joined the junior market last month, five of which were new admissions to its PLUS-quoted market for growth companies.

 

PLUS’ listed market, an EU monitored market for listed firms seeking eventual admission to the Official List, attracted its first listing; housing maintenance company Mears Group Plc dual listed on PLUS when it switched from AIM to the Official List in June this year.

 

Other new companies joining the PLUS-quoted market included oil and gas pipeline services company Fluid Leader Group with a market cap of £70 million; low-cost helicopter supplier Pegasus Helicopter Group with a market cap of £23 million; and Pulse Group, a provider of outsourced research processes within the Asia-Pacific region, capped at £9 million.

 

So far this year 24 new companies have been admitted to the PLUS-quoted market with ten applicants seeking entry. PLUS said it is enjoying a steady increase in the net number of companies versus other growth markets which are “seeing a decline”. It added that fundraising levels continue to grow year on year with the first six months of 2008 recording £42.4 million raised by PLUS-quoted companies, a 38 per cent increase on last year’s figure of £30.7 million.

 

“PLUS Markets is enjoying robust primary activity in M&A and fundraising”, said PLUS’ head of capital markets, Paul Haddock. “More importantly, many new companies are looking for straightforward and cost-effective access to London’s capital markets. Even in these current challenging market conditions, we’re enjoying a strong and busy pipeline.”