“No AIM Minimum”
This week a corporate broker sent me an email in which he was happily proclaiming the news that there is now no minimum market cap required to be listed on AIM, one just needs an Admission Document. At first glance this “news” seems great, although I have not been able to find any fresh announcement, or get around to actually phoning AIM.
That said, the issue remains the same whether there is any relaxation of the rules, of which even Kafka could only dream of. Cost: it is around £500k plus a year to be listed on AIM, after you have spent the £500k to get there in the first place, with your Admission Document, prospectus, Nomad, City lawyers / accountants, brokers, all of whom you have to hope will not over charge.
Indeed, anyone encouraging private companies to go public and describing the experience as pleasant, either before or after must clearly have a great financial incentive to do so, or has never been listed themselves. It is not like a trip to Disney World, perhaps more like Alice In Wonderland. Unless you are making £1m profit a year, or raise this as a minimum from the market annually, there is no point being listed. This is apart from the bulletin board, social media, blogger abuse, and of course, responsibility to shareholders. Indeed, if the London Stock Exchange really wants a flourishing market, why does it not pay for Nomads et al, and provide boiler plate prospectuses and other paperwork that no one reads anyway? Being listed is currently like being a former celebrity without having been a celebrity, so not great.
Back From The Dead
Not far off completing the first month of 2025, and there are glimmers of hope as compared to 2024, even though the government’s deliberate sabotage of the economy is certainly having its effect, with job losses and the reported exit of WH Smith from the High Street. Against this was Diageo (DGE) finessing its recent Guinness shortage genius promotion, with rumours of it being set to divest the stout for £8bn. The FTSE 100 and FTSE All Share went to record highs this week, although it is of concern that the AIM All Share is back where it was this time last year, after falling 0.81% this week. This is horrific, helped along by the torrent of companies de-listing, and so they should, as discussed above.
What is interesting is that many of them have decided to throw away all the cost and effort of going public and go to JP Jenkins. The problem with this is that it is a one way street back to being private. It would be better to go to Aquis, nearly as cheap, but keeping the public status, ready for the next stock market boom. And for those who have had their eyes on the stock market for decades such as myself, there have been signs that the small caps are trying their best to join the FTSE 100 in record high territory. We have seen one day multi-bagger rises for companies such as Trellus (TRLS), Fiinu (BANK), Cel AI (CEL), Zenith (ZEN), ImmuPharma (IMM), and many more. The rise in crypto helped by Trump has had a decent effect on the likes of Valereum (AQSE:VLRM), Vinanz (BTC) and Blue Star (BLU), with QBT (QBT) getting a £2m raise away as well.
Finally, it is perhaps worth giving a mention to a couple of companies who perhaps have not had the love they deserved. Pri0R1Ty Intelligence Group (PR1), came to market just a couple of weeks ago. During the week it announced what appeared to be an excellent sounding partnership with Funding Circle (FCH), one of the UK’s leading providers of small business loans and finance, enabling Pri0r1ty’s customers to access alternative debt financing options seamlessly via the Pri0r1ty platform. It has to be said that the market should have marked the shares up, instead they have continued the decline we have seen from 13p. Presumably, once the weak hands / bed wetters have exited, which should not be long now, PR1 shares will be properly valued.
Georgina Energy (GEX) is a company where its story as a listed company since last summer has perhaps not been as happy as it should have been. This is despite the way that if one looks at the RNS trail the company has made decent progress, a point highlighted this week. GEX announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire 100% of EPA155 (Mt Winter) held by Mosman Oil & Gas’ subsidiary Oilco Pty Ltd. The purchase consideration for the deal is AU$350,000, which will be funded from Georgina’s current cash reserves.
Disclaimer & Declaration of Interest:
The information, investment views, and recommendations in this Zaks Traders Cafe interview are provided for general information purposes only. Nothing in this interview should be construed as a promotion or solicitation to buy or sell any financial product relating to any companies under discussion or referred to or to engage in or refrain from doing so or engage in any other transaction. Any opinions or comments are made to the best of the knowledge and belief of the commentator but no responsibility is accepted for actions based on such opinions or comments. The commentators may or may not hold investments in the companies under discussion.
