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Just one firm -- pharmaceutical data analytics provider Diaceutics Ltd. -- listed on AIM in the first quarter of 2019, representing the slowest IPO activity on that market in a decade. The U.K. had been scheduled to leave the EU on March 29, but this has since been delayed until the end of October under a plan to avoid a chaotic no-deal scenario.
Despite the slowdown in floats, AIM companies raised almost 1.1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) in the first three months of the year from IPOs and secondary issues, compared with a combined 424 million pounds raised on eight other junior markets in Europe, according to UHY Hacker Young.
“While investors in growth businesses are still comfortable in taking part in AIM’s secondary fundraises, Brexit seems to have led to a wait-and-see approach among companies considering floats,” Laurence Sacker, a partner at the firm, said in a statement.