AIM Adviser Index
Article Date: Mar 04 2009
Our research reveals AIM's top advisers
In association with Business XL magazine, we present our ranking of the brokers, nomads, auditors and lawyers most active on AIM.
A report from our sister title, Growth Company Investor, reveals that despite the virtual closure of the IPO market, £4.8 billion was raised for AIM companies last year in secondary fundraisings. That robust performance is a tribute to the efforts of AIM’s nomads and brokers, of which the leading lights are listed below.
Nevertheless, advisory firms have not been without their problems. The resignation of Seymour Pierce MD Richard Feigen in January following ‘errors’ reportedly occuring in a transaction he was leading brought an unfortunate end to his time at the helm of AIM’s leading adviser. The firm still tops both nomad and broker rankings, however.
Acquisitive Astaire Securities agreed the purchase of its City rival Hoodless Brennan for £3.6 million in February. Nevertheless, it saw a bigger fall in its list of AIM clients than any other nomad (from 68 to 59) and dropped from second to third place in our league table, usurped by Arbuthnot Securities. It retains second place as a broker.
Mayfair-based Strand Hanson is a new name in our list of leading nomads. The firm, which has an office in South Africa, represents 40 AIM-listed clients with an aggregate market capitalisation of £2.1 billion, earning it tenth place in our table.
The tendency of some advisers to work with a smaller number of larger-cap clients means that the broker and nomad which advise the biggest slice of AIM by market capitalisation are not listed below. They are, respectively, Mirabaud Securities and Canaccord Adams, which between them represent 63 AIM companies worth £7.5 billion, including many mining companies.
AIM’s top ten accountants represent more than two-thirds of the market. First-placed is Grant Thornton, with 189 clients, but sorting by market capitalisation KPMG has the bragging rights, representing companies valued at almost £9 billion.
The legal league is led by Lawrence Graham, Pinsent Masons and Norton Rose in that order, although Lawrence Graham has by far the largest share of the market by value, with clients worth some £4.8 billion.
| Leading brokers | No of clients | Clients' mkt cap (£m) |
| Seymour Pierce | 88 | 1,937 |
| Astaire Securities | 66 | 966 |
| Arbuthnot Securities | 63 | 1,599 |
| Evolution Securities | 57 | 3,930 |
| Cenkos Securities | 51 | 2,798 |
| Brewin Dolphin Securities | 51 | 1,823 |
| Numis | 50 | 3,785 |
| FinnCap | 49 | 846 |
| WH Ireland | 48 | 459 |
| Canaccord Adams | 43 | 3,802 |
| Total | 566 | 21,982 |
| Leading nomads | No of clients | Clients' mkt cap (£m) |
| Seymour Pierce | 94 | 2,119 |
| Arbuthnot Securities | 59 | 1,271 |
| Astaire Securities | 57 | 878 |
| Brewin Dolphin Securities | 53 | 1,893 |
| Cenkos Securities | 52 | 2,678 |
| Grant Thornton | 47 | 2,520 |
| Evolution Securities | 47 | 2,279 |
| FinnCap | 45 | 746 |
| WH Ireland | 45 | 424 |
| Strand Hanson | 40 | 2,105 |
| Total | 539 |
16,912 |
| Leading auditors | No of clients | Clients' mkt cap (£m) |
| Grant Thornton | 189 | 7,376 |
| KPMG | 157 | 8,933 |
| BDO | 152 | 8,508 |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | 121 | 8,156 |
| Deloitte | 116 | 8,320 |
| Baker Tilly | 85 | 2,463 |
| Ernst & Young | 80 | 3,480 |
| PKF | 42 | 1,046 |
| Mazars | 32 | 852 |
| Nexia Smith & Williamson | 29 | 548 |
| Total | 1,003 | 49,683 |
| Leading solicitors | No of clients | Clients' mkt cap (£m) |
| Lawrence Graham | 47 | 4,839 |
| Pinsent Masons | 44 | 1,333 |
| Norton Rose | 40 | 2,098 |
| Eversheds | 38 | 1,290 |
| Memery Crystal | 31 | 865 |
| DLA Piper | 30 | 1,077 |
| Berwin Leighton Paisner | 28 | 1,904 |
| Field Fisher Waterhouse | 28 | 676 |
| Fasken Martineau | 27 | 1,360 |
| Stephenson Harwood | 25 | 1,566 |
| Total | 338 | 17,009 |
Data sourced from The AIM Guide (published by Vitesse Media) on 26/1/2010. Market capitalisation data correct at end of previous month. The AIM Adviser Index is intended as a snapshot of the market and Vitesse Media is not responsible for errors or omissions in the information provided by AIM-listed companies about their advisers.
