Improving quality of AIM - it’s a fact
In our regular monthly updates on AIM’s new arrivals and departures we have commented on the improving quality of AIM. With the summer lull in New Issue activity it seemed like a good opportunity to back up those comments with some hard facts. With the assistance of our associated investment management business Fundamental Asset Management, we reviewed all New Issues and Cancellations on AIM for the 7 months to end July. The facts seem to back up our view that the quality of businesses on AIM is improving, offering plenty of encouragement to investors, notably those with an eye on the inheritance tax planning benefits.
Over the 7 months to end July 2016 there were 60 cancellations from AIM and 30 new admissions. This excludes the impact of reverse takeovers, re-admissions and moves to the main market, which we comment on more below. We used Investor’s Champion’s AIMsearch tool to determine the qualifying status for inheritance tax (‘IHT’) planning purposes of all the leavers and new arrivals. Of the 60 cancellations, 33 of the companies qualified for IHT planning purposes and 27 didn’t. Looking at the last reported financial statements for each of these, only 14 companies were profitable but a significant 46 were loss…