Trading activity on the PLUS market continues its strong upward trend with a record first quarter. For the first three months of the year, PLUS posted total bargains of 1.1million, representing 6.26 billion shares valued at £8.83 billion. During the whole of 2007, 1.07 million trades valued at £7.5 billion were transacted on PLUS.
In March, 364,030 bargains took place on PLUS, representing almost 2.9 billion shares, valued at just over £3 billion. The March trade value and number of shares totals were both new record highs, with the latter showing a gain of 75 per cent on the previous month.
Trading activity exceeds AIM
For the past three months, PLUS has exceeded the AIM average daily trades, with March recording an average of 19,159 trades per day against AIM at 16,554* per day. Additionally, in March the majority of trades (50% or more) in over 600 small and mid-cap companies took place on PLUS (comprising over 380 small and mid caps listed or quoted on other markets and some 220 PLUS-quoted companies).
By number of shares, March also saw PLUS hit a high of 66% market share in FTSE Fledging stocks, while maintaining a 44% market share in the 80 AIM stocks dual-trading on the PLUS platform. In addition to its strengthening position as the UK’s leading small and mid cap stock exchange, PLUS is also achieving penetration in FTSE 100 stocks, including:
(on-exchange total trade value)
Stock (FTSE 100) |
March 2008 |
February 2008 |
January 2008 |
Royal Bank of
Scotland |
3.52% |
3.25% |
2.51% |
Experian Group |
3.53% |
3.52% |
2.38% |
Standard Life |
4.88% |
3.18% |
4.30% |
Alliance &
Leicester |
3.62% |
3.92% |
2.40% |
Increased fundraising activity
In its primary markets, PLUS-quoted companies raised around £20 million compared with £66 million in the whole of 2007. Fourteen companies joined the PLUS-quoted market in Jan-March. Notable fundraisings in March included Woodspeen Training plc (joined raising £2m) and Devilfish Gaming plc (joined raising £1.2m).
“We continue to capture very strong market share in small and mid-cap trading activity, as well as a growing presence in large caps. Even in often challenging market conditions, there is an increasingly compelling argument for investment firms to be accessing best execution possibilities on the PLUS market.” said Business Development Director Cyril Théret.
*(Source: London Stock Exchange AIM market statistics fact sheet, March ’08)
Background
PLUS Markets is an independent stock exchange in London, with “Recognised Investment Exchange” status, and classed as a Market Operator under MiFID. Its offering includes the full range of stock exchange activities, namely: trading execution, the provision of proprietary market data and listing/quotation destinations.
Month |
Bargains |
Trade
value |
Number
of shares |
October ‘07 |
64,311 |
£ 404.50 m |
537.76 m |
November ‘07 |
206,442 |
£1,613.69 m |
948.43 m |
December ‘07 |
207,113 |
£1,792.22 m |
1,020.22 m |
January ‘08 |
397,419 |
£2,893.84 m |
1,738.03 m |
February ‘08 |
354,066 |
£2,897.62
m |
1,638.44
m |
March ‘08 |
364,030 |
£ 3,038.04 m |
2,879.98 m |
