News this week that London’s Alternative Investment Market saw 16 new admissions during the first three months of this year was enough to get company advisers excited at the prospect of some sort of recovery for the recession-battered market. The fact that 51 companies decided to up-sticks and get themselves de-listed during the same period goes some way in illustrating how bad things actually got for AIM last year.

On the upside, the latest figures should give heart to management teams toying with a fundraising through the junior market. Industry-watchers certainly claim that money is available for the right company with the right management at the right time. Among the admissions in the early months of this year were oil and gas group Kea Petroleum (LON:KEA) , mining group Scotgold Resources (LON:SGZ) , food group Oxford Nutrascience Group (LON:ONG) , IT security group Digital Barriers (LON:DGB) and healthcare software company £EMIS.

Richard Thornhill, capital markets director at business advisory firm Deloitte, said: “Those transactions that have happened so far this year are across multiple industries – they are not confined to a specific sector. This suggests that the market is continuing to examine each and every company on a case by case basis for their individual stories, rather than there being any signs of momentum developing behind a particular sector.”

In theory, this emerging confidence ought to inspire more assurance among AIM company investors who, more than anyone else, have seen the ravages of the economic downturn impact on the value of their holdings. The trouble is, of course, that the impending general election, fears over the Government deficit and, to an extent, wider issues such as European sovereign debt, are all having a negative affect on confidence.

In a recent article, Octopus Investments’ Richard Power said that smaller company share prices have largely disappointed in the early part of this year – at a time when the news coming out of those companies has been mainly positive. So is there a major cause for concern? Not really, in his view. A protracted recovery by the AIM All-Share during the course of last year occurred despite ongoing economic concerns at micro and macro levels. Indeed, Power says that small-caps have been keen to keep their heads down and crack on, regardless…

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