Technology companies listed on the Alternative Investment Market have surged in value since the EU referendum vote, a report by accountancy firm Moore Stephens has found.
The company’s research found the average enterprise value of a technology stock listed on AIM has risen 51 per cent since the EU referendum vote, and 21 per cent on a year to date basis.
Enterprise value is an accounting measure often used to value a company for merger and acquisition purposes. It is typically calculated as the market cap of a company, plus debt, minus cash.
AIM technology stocks have stoutly outperformed the wider AIM market, which is up 14 per cent since the referendum, and the FTSE All Share, which is up 3 per cent.
Just one new technology company listed on the AIM market in the first six months of 2017, down from eight in 2016. The one new company to come to market was Ethernity Networks.
The growth in enterprise value for AIM technology stocks has been led by hardware companies, which are up an average of 35 per cent in the first six months of the year, support services increased by 21 per cent and software by 20 per cent, according to Moore Stephens research.
The average enterprise value of a technology company on AIM is, according to Moore Stephens, £88.9m.
Dougie Hunter, associate director at Moore Stephens commented: “The research shows not only the resilience of tech companies on the AIM market – outperforming the major UK share indices – but also that investors are expecting tech companies on AIM, the majority UK-based, to grow as a result of earning opportunities from the weaker pound rather than just benefiting from reporting international earnings.”
