Since the GrowthBusiness AIM Adviser Index was last updated, Cenkos Securities has become the pre-eminent nominated adviser on London’s junior market.
It has 75 clients worth an aggregate £5 billion, while the previous holder of the top spot in the nomad tables, Seymour Pierce, has slipped to fourth place with 64 clients. Cenkos has been growing its AIM client list, adding a net 13 companies since last year.
Also ahead of Seymour Pierce are finnCap, with 71 clients worth £1.1 billion, and Canaccord Genuity, which represents 66 AIM companies valued at a combined £9.4 billion. The latter firm would top the table if it was arranged in order of clients’ total market capitalisation.
The vast majority of AIM companies employ the same firm as both nomad and broker, so the first two tables below contain many of the same names. However, the order of precedence is slightly different: Canaccord Genuity is the leading broker, with 79 clients worth £10.5 billion, followed very closely by finnCap, which boasts the same number of clients but represents only £1.8 billion of AIM market value. Two brokers that do not appear among the top ten nomads are Shore Capital and Daniel Stewart, each of which has 42 clients.
Since we began compiling this ranking in 2007, Grant Thornton has remained at the top of the AIM auditor rankings, and retains a comfortable gap over second-placed KPMG by number of clients served (175 versus 132). However, PricewaterhouseCoopers is the number one auditor by market capitalisation of its clients: they are worth £12.3 billion, compared to £10.8 billion for Deloitte and £8.4 billion each for Grant Thornton and KPMG. A new entrant in the auditor table this year is Crowe Clark Whitehill, now the tenth most significant AIM accountant with 22 clients worth £414 million.
As ever, the market for AIM lawyers is more fragmented than that for nomads, brokers and accountants. Lawrence Graham maintains its lead, with 39 clients worth £4.6 billion, followed by Memery Crystal and Eversheds, whose positions have reversed since 2011. Fourth-placed, as last year, is Pinsent Masons, while fifth comes Fasken Martineau, the only legal firm not to appear in last year’s ranking.
The AIM Adviser Index will be updated on a twice-yearly basis, in June and December.
| Leading brokers | No of clients | Clients’ mkt cap (£m) |
| Cenkos Securities | 75 | 5,021 |
| finnCap | 71 | 1,117 |
| Canaccord Genuity | 66 | 9,387 |
| Seymour Pierce | 64 | 3,080 |
| WH Ireland | 60 | 934 |
| Westhouse Securities | 52 | 1,081 |
| Panmure Gordon | 43 | 2,483 |
| Numis | 38 | 3,698 |
| Grant Thornton | 37 | 2,385 |
| N+1 Brewin | 35 | 1,530 |
| Total | 541 | 30,717 |
| Leading nomads | No of clients | Clients’ mkt cap (£m) |
| Canaccord Genuity | 79 | 10,495 |
| finnCap | 79 | 1,757 |
| Cenkos Securities | 77 | 5,135 |
| Seymour Pierce | 64 | 2,998 |
| WH Ireland | 60 | 830 |
| Westhouse Securities | 58 | 1,854 |
| Numis | 55 | 6,339 |
| Panmure Gordon | 52 | 3,117 |
| Shore Capital | 42 | 860 |
| Daniel Stewart | 42 | 676 |
| Total | 608 | 34,120 |
| Leading auditors | No of clients | Clients’ mkt cap (£m) |
| Grant Thornton | 175 | 8,385 |
| KPMG | 132 | 8,370 |
| BDO | 129 | 6,755 |
| Deloitte | 105 | 10,787 |
| PricewaterhouseCoopers | 104 | 12,360 |
| Ernst & Young | 67 | 5,593 |
| Baker Tilly | 67 | 2,606 |
| PKF | 36 | 1,221 |
| Nexia Smith & Williamson | 25 | 754 |
| Crowe Clark Whitehill | 22 | 414 |
| Total | 862 |
57,245 |
| Leading solicitors | No of clients | Clients’ mkt cap (£m) |
| Lawrence Graham | 39 | 4,627 |
| Memery Crystal | 32 | 2,769 |
| Eversheds | 29 | 1,938 |
| Pinsent Masons | 29 | 917 |
| Fasken Martineau | 26 | 1,551 |
| Field Fisher Waterhouse | 26 | 703 |
| Norton Rose | 25 | 1,068 |
| Stephenson Harwood | 24 | 2,866 |
| Berwin Leighton Paisner | 23 | 5,108 |
| Osborne Clarke | 21 | 2,357 |
| Total | 274 |
23,905 |
Source: Vitesse Media Research (correct at 26/6/2012, except for market capitalisation data which is from London Stock Exchange statistics correct at the end of the previous month). The GrowthBusiness AIM Adviser Index (previously known as the Business XL AIM Adviser Index) is intended as a snapshot of the market and Vitesse Media Research is not responsible for errors or omissions in the information provided by AIM-listed companies about their advisers.
