Reading: 80 attend AIM seminar hosted by The Business Magazine

More than 80 business executives, directors and professionals met at the Madejski Stadium, Reading, on Friday for the Thames Valley AIM Seminar, hosted by The Business Magazine.

Supported by the London Stock Exchange, Crowe Clark Whitehill, Cantor Fitzgerald and Business Growth Fund, the theme of the morning seminar was Funding Growth in Challenging Times.

Claire Dorrian, senior manager, London Stock Exchange, told the audience that just under 1,000 companies were currently on AIM. In the Thames Valley, our own listing, published in The Business Magazine, showed more than 50 businesses in this region on the market.

While the main market had seen some fluidity post-Brexit, AIM stayed resilient, said Dorrian. Described as the world’s most successful growth market, AIM had seen more than £98 billion raised by more than 3,600 companies since its launch in 1995.

Robin Stevens, partner and head of capital markets at Crowe Clark Whitehill, outlined the importance of preparing well in advance for flotation. In theory an Initial Public Offering could be achieved in four months, but sometimes planning could take three years – to ensure it was done right.

Tim Davis, senior adviser at Cantor Fitzgerald, said AIM was the international stockmarket for growth companies, but he stressed: “IPO is another stage of development, not the end of the journey.”

James Austin, investment director at BGF, said that as equity providers, BGF could be part of a hybrid solution for growing companies, where the business received equity funding while listing.

To date more than £100 million of investment had been invested in 24 quoted companies.

Full story in the Dec/Jan issue of The Business Magazine.

You can download a copy of the full Thames Valley AIM Listing from the AIM section of the website here.