landMARK highlights the principal characteristic that distinguishes regional companies from others traded on the London Stock Exchange - location.
A dedicated landMARK website (www.londonstockexchange.com/landmark) has been established to ensure easy access to detailed information about companies in each region, as well as information about the financial community that supports and advises them.
This should increase companies' visibility and enable investors, professional advisers, analysts, and journalists to identify local companies that are making a real difference. Tim Ward, the London Stock Exchange's Head of Issuer Services, explains: "The Exchange has successfully introduced a range of 'attribute-led markets' - such as techMARK, extraMARK and, more recently, landMARK in the North West - to meet the needs of traded companies and investors."
"Rolling out landMARK nationally should increase awareness and knowledge about companies in our regions, creating a higher profile for companies' shares and greater liquidity in the market."
landMARK has also attracted support from organisations that represent the private investor and retail broking communities.
APCIMS Chief Executive Angela Knight says: "There are many significant businesses in every part of the UK and landMARK can help investors to identify them and the investment opportunities they offer. It highlights the importance of local companies and stockbrokers to investors and is a welcome addition to any investor's toolkit."
Jeremy King, Director of Private Share Ownership at ProShare, an organisation that encourages wider share ownership, says: "Many investment clubs and private investors make a point of investing in companies that are local to them. They do this because it is often easier to understand what is happening in these businesses and because they feel a sense of affinity with them."
"landMARK represents a tremendous new resource for the investor who has a regional investment focus - it's a very impressive service which pulls together key information about this market."
The landMARK website will give companies a strong basis for their own locally-focused investor relations campaigns and provide a point of focus for press and broadcasters in their local and financial business coverage.
