DIY InvestorMagazine
/
March2014
DIY InvestorMagazine
/
March2014
22
23
AIMCOMESOFAGE
WITH ISAADMISSION
BUTHOWWAS IT FORYOU?
FIGURES RELEASED BY BROKERHARGREAVES LANSDOWN SHOW THAT INVESTORSHAVE
EMBRACED THE GOVERNMENT’SDECISION TOALLOWAIM STOCKS TO BEHELD IN ISAs,
BUTWITH SEEMINGLYMIXED FORTUNES.
MOSTPOPULARAIM SHARES TRADEDON
VANTAGEYEARTO 30TH JAN 2014WERE:
NAME
1YEARCHANGE
SIRIUSMINERALS
-53%
GULF KEYSTONE PETROLEUM
-22.7%
FASTJET
-93.8%
QUINDELL
105.3%
MONITISE
92.3%
XCITE
-2.5%
RARE EARTHMINERALS
400%
IGAS ENERGY
24.6%
IOFINA
-34.3%
RANGE RESOURCES
-66.6%
Figures released by broker Hargreaves Lansdown
show that investors have embraced the government’s
decision to allow AIM stocks to be held in ISAs, but
with seeminglymixed fortunes.
7% of its 577,000 clients lodged AIM shares in the
tax-efficient wrapper in the sixmonths after the rules
changed on 5th August 2013; perhaps a wiseminority
given that during the period the LSE’s junior market
soared 18.9% compared with a rise of just 2.1% on
the FTSE All-Share. Once considered not for the faint
hearted, the ‘diggers and drillers’ of old are being
eclipsed on AIM by companies at the cutting edge of
technological development and the index is expected
to benefit further when stamp duty is abolished on
purchases in April 2014. However, investors need to fully
embrace caveat emptor as a philosophy because AIM
small company shares can display extreme volatility and
be harder to sell on due to lower levels of secondary
market liquidity.
Those seeking the higher potential returns available
from AIM companies necessarily expose themselves to
higher levels of risk and potential capital losses than if
they stuck with the blue chips – the classic risk/reward
conundrum.
Hargreaves revealed themost popular AIM shares on its
Vantage platform during the year to 30th January 2014,
and also offered a rundown of the top-performing AIM
shares overall during the same period.
Steve Haysom looks at the effect that ISA admission
has had on the AIMmarket (first published on
