After Hornby said it plans to delist from London's junior market, two arguments have been proposed about what it all means.
"The writing is on the wall for AIM," said Myles Milston, CEO of Globacap, which he would say as his company is a private market investing platform.
He says AIM is "plagued by a lack of liquidity, dwindling funding opportunities, low trading volumes and erratic share price movements" which is deterring companies from listing in favour of private markets.
"Powered by improved technology that enables public market-like efficiency, private capital markets are now able to offer boosted levels of liquidity and funding for investors and companies looking to raise funds.
"The UK government and LSEG are well aware of this shift, with both actively pushing the PISCES framework to boost private markets," Milston says.
He says people should not "nostalgically" cling to the "good old days" when there were more small listed firms, demand was greater and IPOs abounded, but instead the UK "should embrace the next frontier of capital markets".
The other side of the coin was a more company-specific argument, made by Russ Mould, a fan of public markets and employed by investment platform provider AJ Bell
He said Hornby’s decision to delist "is not a damning criticism of the UK stock market".
He notes that the model train maker's two main shareholders – Phoenix Asset Management and Frasers – own 91% of the company, so "it doesn’t make sense to be a listed entity".
Companies admit their shares for public trading to obtain a diverse shareholder base and access capital markets. In Hornby’s case, its shareholder base has become incredibly concentrated.
"Hornby has had a tough ride over the years and Phoenix has been an incredibly supportive and patient shareholder. Sometimes a business is better off away from the public markets and that looks to be the case with Hornby.”
Shares in the company fell 26% to 14p on the news, down 62% over the past 12 months despite a robust trading update earlier this year following restructuring in the past year.
Hornby is, however, joining an exodus of companies from AIM, with around a dozen companies having departed last month, while last year roughly 90 businesses left London's public market.