As expected, PLUS Markets now basks in the glow of Recognised Investment Exchange (RIE) status. In July, PLUS was granted RIE status by the FSA, at a stroke becoming a fully competitive UK-based stock exchange with the same status, rights and privileges as other European market operators.

PLUS Markets Group chairman Stephen Hazell-Smith says RIE status ‘is an important and substantial step forward’ for his company as it develops its UK and European equity market offering. ‘Not having this status acted as a barrier to our market for certain users,’ he explained, ‘and its removal makes us totally accessible to all equity market participants. This, together with the new trading platform and our new competitive tariff structure, will complete the picture of our offering under MiFID (Markets in Financial Instruments Directive).’

Meanwhile, recent PLUS entrants include mining venture Oracle Coalfields, which debuted via a St Helen’s Capital handled introduction and is exploring for and extracting coal in Pakistan, and Asia Medical Glass, which supplies packaging products and services to the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology industries in China. They join Matrix Valley, a provider of clean drinking water through vending machines, which debuted on PLUS following a private placing that raised £609,000.