The voice for smaller companies on the Alternative Investment Market en nick.tatt@tinderhouse.com Copyright 2009 2009-04-03T06:29:00+00:00 https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/fund-set-up-to-provide-investment-for-small-aim-companies/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/fund-set-up-to-provide-investment-for-small-aim-companies/ At last there is some good news for small, soundly based companies. Aim broker Alexander David Securities Group has launched a new EIS Fund, which will focus its investments on existing Aim companies that require cash to help them to grow their business. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/diamonds-lose-their-polish/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/diamonds-lose-their-polish/ Falling diamond prices are making many small diamond mines uneconomic and things are expected to get worse before they get better. Diamonds used to be very different from other minerals. They did not suffer from the cycles where prices soared and then slumped. Diamonds would steadily rise in price over the years. The risk was all in the exploration side where it can take many millions of pounds to find and develop a mine. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/how-patience-paid-off-for-asos/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/how-patience-paid-off-for-asos/ Online fashion retailer ASOS is an undoubted success story for Aim. The shares are trading at more than 17 times their flotation level and the business has gone from barely more than a concept to a thriving, well known retailer that is second to Next in the online women’s fashion market. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/ten-considerations-before-cancelling-an-aim-quotation/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/ten-considerations-before-cancelling-an-aim-quotation/ More companies decided to drop their Aim quotation in the first seven months of 2008 than for the whole of 2007. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/micro-takeovers-in-2007/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/micro-takeovers-in-2007/ Last year was a record for takeovers of Aim companies both in terms of numbers and value. The 75 companies taken over were valued at more than £10bn - four times the value of takeovers in 2006. Of course, a few large companies made up the majority of that value but there were also 26 Aim micro companies taken over. They were worth at total of just over £333m. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/time-to-consider-the-annual-report/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/time-to-consider-the-annual-report/ It is time for many companies to think about their annual report. The majority of companies have a December year end so they will be sending out their annual reports in March and April. This is an important opportunity to inform shareholders and other interested people about the business. However, many companies don’t take full advantage of it. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/switching-markets/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/switching-markets/ When it was launched in 1995 Aim was seen as a feeder market for the main market of the London Stock Exchange. There have been 117 companies that have made that move, although more than two dozen of these have found their way back to Aim. There have been many more companies moving the other way. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/comparison-crash-repair-centres/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/comparison-crash-repair-centres/ Micro companies have their larger equivalents and it is an interesting exercise to compare how they are faring in comparison. In this edition we are analysing crash repair centres operator Just Car Clinics and its much larger rival Nationwide Accident Repair Services. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/staggered-fundraisings/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/staggered-fundraisings/ Raising money is an important part of most companies’ expansion strategies. Debt or an issue of new ordinary shares are the obvious ways of obtaining more cash. Sometimes it is difficult to raise money that way and companies have to think of more innovative ways of raising cash. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/micro-companies-make-aim-awards-shortlist/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/micro-companies-make-aim-awards-shortlist/ It is time for the annual Aim Awards and while there is only one company within the Aim Micro universe that is up for an award there are a number of nominees that were worth less than £25m just over one year ago. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/what-investors-are-looking-for/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/what-investors-are-looking-for/ At the recent Growth Company Investor Show at the Barbican in London Peter Webb of Unicorn Asset Management talked about what he looks for in companies and why he might decide to sell one of his shareholdings. He also outlined his preferred shares for the current year. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/ir-website-countdown/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/ir-website-countdown/ It is a matter of weeks before the Aim website deadline. Aim companies need to make sure that they have all the requisite corporate and financial information on their website by 20th August. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/technology-company-performance-prompts-concern/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/technology-company-performance-prompts-concern/ Academic research funded by venture capital firm MTI Partners* appears to show a disappointing performance from technology companies that have joined Aim. This could have an effect on the ability of small technology companies to raise money. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/three-months-and-counting/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/three-months-and-counting/ There are less than three months to go before the 20th August deadline by which time Aim companies have to include a fully functioning investor relations section to their website. Many companies seem to be taking their time over complying with this new Aim regulation. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/aim-embraces-clean-technology-companies/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/aim-embraces-clean-technology-companies/ Aim is an increasingly important source of finance for clean technology (cleantech) companies and they are becoming a significant sub sector of Aim. The companies’ are spread over a number of stock market sectors - carbon credit traders are in the financial sector while others are included amongst industrial engineering or utilities. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/aims-long-tail-shortens/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/aims-long-tail-shortens/ Dawnay Day, in a provocatively titled piece in its Aim Directory called the "dross", draws attention to the large number of tiny companies on Aim. It argues that Aim and the market’s participants need to worry about what is happening to these small companies especially as many have lost their way. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/aim-ir-websites/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/aim-ir-websites/ Aim companies now know when they have to comply with new regulations concerning websites. They have until 20 August 2007 to make sure that they have a website and it includes all the relevant financial information. https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/mopping-up-small-stakes/ https://www.aimmicro.com/articles/mopping-up-small-stakes/ Some small companies can have thousands of shareholders. While that may not sound bad it does not necessarily mean that the liquidity of the shares is good. Servicing these shareholders is costly and many may have tiny shareholdings which aren’t worth much. If that is the case then companies’ need to try and rectify the situation.