PLUS news

Retail-focused stock exchange PLUS has regaled investors again with news of upbeat trading volumes during January.

Kicking off the new year in style, some 471,098 trades took place on the PLUS platform, a 24 per cent increase over December 2009, with trade value running 30 per cent higher at £3 billion. With retail investors dipping their toes into the market again, the number of shares traded increased 26 per cent to nearly 6.2 billion month-on-month.

Building market share in equities at home, PLUS is also making moves overseas, having recently held seminars in China and Vietnam, attended by more than 400 growth companies interested in a London listing.

PLUS says it is targeting China, South-East Asia and the Middle East, where it reports burgeoning demand from ventures looking to access ‘the deepest and widest pool of capital in Europe’, namely London.

Somewhat surprisingly, some 25 per cent of the companies already listed on PLUS-quoted emanate from overseas. They include China CDM, the greenhouse gas reduction advisory and research services specialist, whose market cap has grown by almost 250 per cent since debut PLUS dealings, and also high-flying Avation, the Singapore-based supplier of aircraft and broadcasting equipment.

They may soon be joined by synthetic leather specialist China Hwaroung Advanced Material, poised for an imminent introduction.