New companies joining London's smaller companies market, AIM, have raised £1bn (€1.5bn) in the first half of this year, more than the whole of 2003.

During the second quarter of 2004, the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market saw a record 58 new issues - the highest number of new admissions for a single quarter since the market started in 1995, included eight international companies. In the whole of 2003 new AIM companies raised £1.1bn according to research by Grant Thornton Corporate Finance.