AIM is the London Stock Exchange's international market for smaller growing companies. These businesses range from young, venture capital - backed start-ups to well established, mature organisations looking to expand. The objective of AIM is to offer smaller companies - from any country and any industry sector - the chance to raise capital on a market with a pragmatic and appropriate approach to regulation.

Since its launch in 1995, over 2,900 companies have joined AIM - raising more than £35bn in the process, both through initial public offerings (IPOs) and further capital raisings. This capital has helped AIM-quoted companies of all kinds to fund their development and pursue their ambitions. Many companies have made the transition to the Exchange's Main Market following their success and positive experience on AIM.

The volume of secondary issues reached a new record in 2007 providing evidence of investor support for robust AIM companies. However, 2008 is likely to bring a year of consolidation on AIM in the aftermath of the credit crunch with the number of IPOs falling.

Our client service team has many years of experience in co-ordinating multi-national services for listed clients, and we offer a unique blend of commercialism, culture and capabilities which make us ideal advisers for smaller listed companies. Our services to AIM listed companies and to those of you thinking of going to IPO cover:

Reporting accountants and transaction support, including fundraising

Our team has acted as Reporting Accountants on the whole range of transactions, including IPOs, rights issues, Class 1 circulars and public-to-private transactions, and this familiarity means that we can add value to any transaction from day one. Five pieces of advice if you are thinking of IPO.

IFRS reviews

The implementation of IFRS is a critical issue facing public companies.  We help guide clients through the specific standards which are relevant to them, highlighting alternative treatments and developing “pro-forma” templates for the presentation of future income statements and balance sheets. Read more about IFRS conversion.

Tax planning

We offer an integrated audit and tax compliance service, minimising disruption to our clients and avoiding duplication of effort. We can provide advice on a wide-range of tax matters, covering employee incentivisation, international transfer pricing, transaction structing and VAT. Read more about Tax.

Corporate governance and risk management

Public focus on corporate governance has never been greater, and although an audit provides some assurance, we can undertake additional work to provide additional comfort to the board.  For example, we can undertake internal audit and system review assignments.

Strategic advice

Our commercial insight, combined with our extensive public company experience, means that we understand what our clients are trying to achieve and can focus on what matters to them.  Our partners have acted as Finance Director for a number of clients during fund-raising, and provide a high-level input into the issues facing our clients.

Is AIM right for my business?

• To join AIM, you do not need a particular financial track record or trading history. There is also no minimum requirement in terms of size or number of shareholders. The point about AIM was that it was designed specifically for smaller growing companies. It is precisely this flexible approach that has helped AIM to become the leading global growth market.

• Having said that there seems to be no longer an upper limit on the size of applicants to the market. With over 1600 companies on Aim at the beginning of 2008, the average market cap of AIM companies has grown to around £50m compared with only £15m in 2002.

• In a recent survey carried out, just over 60% of AIM companies said that the market's performance in 2007 was 'as expected', and most agree that the market is still meeting their requirements. In addition, most AIM companies and investors agree that the tightening of the AIM rules at the beginning of 2007 was beneficial to AIM's reputation and investor confidence.

• Although the AIM All Share index hardly moved in 2007 for the second year running and hence disappointed invesors, the AIM 100 index, which tracks the market's longest domestic and international companies outperformed the FTSE 100, rising 5% in 2007 compared with the Main Market's 2% gain.

Please contact Trevor Roberts if you would like to discuss floating on AIM or our services for listed clients further. See Contact Us for details.

Wingrave Yeats is also a sponsor of the Cityzone IPO Club. For further details and forthcoming events please visit www.city-zone.com