AIM membership shrinks again in March

For the second month in succession, 11 companies left AIM in March while seven new companies joined London's junior market.

As a result, the number of companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) dipped to 1,118 at the end of March from 1,122 at the end of February.

According to a report issued by broker Allenby Capital, the seven new entrants raised a total of £35.8m on admission to AIM.

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More worryingly for the likes of Allenby, which is a nominated adviser (Nomad) to many companies on AIM, total funds raised in the first quarter of 2012 through new listings were down 51% on the corresponding quarter of 2011, suggesting that the junior market is going through a subdued phase.

Three of the 11 companies which exited AIM did so as a result of takeovers, with Allenby calculating that the average bid price premium for the 20 AIM companies taken over so far in 2012 has been 53.5%; a bid price premium is the difference between the take-out price and the price of the bid target's shares before the bid was announced.

Another three companies decided they no longer needed a stock exchange listing and went private. One stock moved to the main market, one entered administration, one was the subject of a merger and two were involved in reverse takeovers.

The seven new admissions to AIM in March were: Papua Mining, Qannas Investments, Bullabulling Gold, Bushveld Minerals, Croma Security Solutions, Rare Earths Group and Premier Management Holdings (as was; now known as Premier Gold Resources).

As per usual, a fair few of those are mining or resource companies.

"Continuing the trend of 2011 Natural Resources has so far accounted for over

half the new joiners to AIM and over half of the new money raised. As with prior

years the international representation of companies on AIM remains strong," Allenby Capital notes.

Thus far in April, Auhua Clean Energy, Naibu Global International and Rialto Energy have started trading on AIM.

Solar power firm Auhua raised £1m through a flotation of shares at 40p each. The shares started trading on April 2nd.

Naibu, the Chinese sports shoe company, raised £6m through its flotation. It started trading on April 5th, since when it has been going backwards, having floated at 148p a share.

Rialto Energy is an oil and gas firm which is also quoted on the Australian Stock Exchange. No new funds were raised as a result of the new listing.

Since being quoted on AIM on April 12th, the shares have traded between 24.75p and 27p.

JH