London’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) saw just £3mln raised through IPOs in the third quarter of 2022, compared to £468mln a year earlier.
It is the lowest figure since 2009 according to accountants UHY Hacker Young, which complied the study.
Part of London Stock Exchange, AIM provides smaller companies with a more accessible way to raise public capital.
However, just one company floated on the market in the last three months, with many choosing to wait for current volatile conditions to subside.
“A period of market turmoil is a very difficult time to deliver a successful IPO,” said Colin Wright of UHY Hacker Young.
“At least two AIM IPOs that were confirmed as flotations for September have been paused. The same will have happened to plenty more floats that were further back in the pipeline.” Despite the sharp decline, Wright reassured that the market will be unlikely to suffer as much as in 2009, being more diverse and without many of the weaker companies it had then.
“AIM is a very different market now than it was at the start of the last recession. 2008 and 2009 saw a lot of the market’s weaker companies leave.”
“A concerted effort by the London Stock Exchange to improve the quality of governance on the market over the last decade coupled with a stronger, more diverse selection of industries represented on the market, has meant that AIM companies are now better able to weather storms.”