AIM IPOs fall to lowest level since 2009 with just one in Q2 2022

The UK’s Alternative Investment Market had the lowest number of IPOs since 2009 in 2022’s second quarter. 

Only one company floated in Q2 and raised £6m, research by accountancy group UHY Hacker Young found. The last quarter to experience IPO activity this low was the first quarter of 2009, following the start of the financial crisis, with also just one IPO that raised £3m. 

In contrast, the second quarter of 2021 had 16 IPOs that raised £218m. UHY Hacker Young says interest in IPOs has been hit by declining stock markets in recent months, with the FTSE AIM All-Share Index down over 25 per cent so far this year.

“A lot of AIM IPOs have been shelved over the last few months,” Colin Wright, UK Group Chairman and Partner at UHY Hacker Young said. “Interest rate rises have seen a lot of investors hit pause on their investment in growth shares and rotate into value shares instead.”

The UK has seen soaring inflation, with the Bank of England hiking interest rates in order to tame this. 

The quality of companies on AIM, the London Stock Exchange’s market for small and medium-sized companies, has improved recently with fewer leaving due to insolvency, the group said, which puts AIM in a good position to recover.

“As yet there has been no wave of companies quitting the market or going insolvent and we expect IPOs to quickly return once this period of instability subsides,” Wright said. 

“AIM is in a different place to where it was following the financial crisis.”