Scottish firms lack AIM appetite

Robert Hannah, transaction services partner at Grant Thornton Scotland, said:

"It would be nice to think that given the number that have done well recently, there would be more of an appetite."

New UK companies listing on AIM raised almost 10 billion last year, a record amount and more than 50 per cent higher than 2005. It is also more than AIM's first ten years of fundraising put together, according to Grant Thornton.

Existing AIM firms raised a cheer with secondary fundraising at an all-time high. More than 5.1bn was raised in 2006 - more than twice the 2.48bn attracted in 2005.

Scottish companies floating in 2006 were Clyde Process Solutions, Corsie Group, General Capital, Glen Group, Invocas and Vialogy.

Hannah said: "We've seen money raised in the technology sector as well as property. The one float last year outwith those sectors was Invocas, the debt solutions company."

He added that the performance of the new Scottish floats had been "a mixed bag".

"General Capital, which was a real estate deal, has a market cap of about 21m. Its share price has continued to rise and it has not done badly."

Invocas, the debt solutions company, has also performed well, with its share price closing at 187.5p last night, up from its low point last year of 146p.

But smaller IT companies such as Glen - run by former Atlantic Telcoms boss Graham Duncan - have not seen their share prices move significantly.

Hannah added that more private companies should consider flotations while looking at other options when they become established.

"It's a matter of trying to encourage more businesses to realise that they don't necessarily have to sell out after setting up," he said.