On 19 June 1995, the London Stock Exchange (LSE) quietly launched the Alternative Investment Market (AIM), replacing the previous Unlisted Securities Market that had been in operation since 1980. The event went largely unnoticed, with the population perhaps distracted by Robson and Jerome’s chart-topping rendition (butchering) of Unchained Melody.
Starting out with just 10 companies capitalised at c. £80m, “time can do so much” and AIM has since helped to support over 4,000 companies raise nearly £136bn1. For all the derision and negativity that AIM attracts, sometimes justified, this short missive instead looks to champion what has been a huge success story.
It may surprise some, but AIM is the most active growth market in Europe, and over the last 5 years, 54% of all capital raised on European growth markets has been on AIM. In 2023, companies listed on AIM contributed £68bn gross value-add to UK GDP and nearly 780,000 jobs. Additionally, per employee productivity is on average 50% higher than the national UK average.
That said, AIM can and must do better to be fit for purpose for the next 30 years. Like most of us, it has become a bit flabby, deviating from a low cost/light touch approach at inception to one today that is altogether too time and cost consumptive. Changes to Business Relief last year added further to the sense of morass, further impairing already low valuations. It is heartening, then, that the LSE is looking to throw off the ‘hairshirt’ by canvassing key stakeholders on how best to reinvigorate AIM; a market that has a pivotal role to play in the funding continuum of small, vibrant, and growing companies. A Righteous cause indeed.
