AIM-quoted PLUS Markets, which runs the PLUS share market (formerly Ofex), increased turnover by 49 per cent to £2.17 million in a year that saw it offer a trading platform for many of the smaller companies already quoted on the full London Stock Exchange. Chaired by former fund manager Stephen Hazell-Smith and run by chief executive officer and ex-AIM boss Simon Brickles, PLUS (which has applied to the Financial Services Authority for Recognised Investment Exchange status) intends this year to trade the constituent companies in the FTSE 100 index, as well as those in the FTSE 250 not already traded on PLUS.

Shares in PLUS Markets Group, which raised £25 million at 14p in December, now trade at 22.5p, valuing the company at £70.5 million.