For an international company already listed in its home market, joining AIM can provide access to a broader investor base, increase its profile and create new options for future growth. It can also create another significant workstream for the CFO.
AIM’s new Express Market route is intended to reduce some of that friction.
Introduced as part of the revised AIM Rules that came into effect on 5 August 2026, it offers eligible overseas-listed companies a more streamlined route to AIM by recognising the public-market track record and disclosures they already have.
For CFOs, this could make a dual admission faster and more proportionate. But it does not remove the need to prepare the business for operating successfully across two markets.
What is the Express Market route?
The Express Market route replaces and broadens the former AIM Designated Market Route.
It is available to qualifying companies whose securities are already traded on an “Express Market”. Broadly, this means a regularly operating equity market overseen by a regulator or other body belonging to the International Organization of Securities Commissions, or IOSCO.
This opens the route to companies listed across a wider range of international markets, including major exchanges in Australia, North America, Europe and Asia.
To qualify, a company must:
- have had its securities traded on an eligible Express Market for at least three years;
- have undergone no fundamental change to its business or board during the preceding 12 months;
- expect to have a market capitalisation of at least £20 million on admission to AIM; and
- have published the relevant admission documents and home-market disclosures in English.
The company must also appoint a UK Nominated Adviser, or Nomad, which will assess its suitability for AIM and guide it through the process. Admission ultimately remains at the discretion of London Stock Exchange.
What has been streamlined?
The new route recognises that an established listed business should not have to reproduce information and processes unnecessarily.
An express applicant must provide a draft Schedule One announcement at least three business days before its expected admission date. Under the former Designated Market Route, the corresponding period was 20 business days.
Whether the company must produce an AIM admission document depends on its existing market and the securities being admitted. Where the company is traded on an Express Market that also meets the FCA’s definition of a “specified market”, and the same class of securities is being admitted to AIM, a separate AIM admission document will generally not be required.
In other circumstances, the company will usually need to produce a simplified admission document rather than the full document required through the standard route.
There is also a new route for companies seeking admission to AIM and an Express Market simultaneously. Subject to the eligibility requirements and an equity fundraising of at least £6 million, a dual-market applicant may be able to use the document prepared for its other admission, supplemented with the information required by AIM.
The potential benefit is clear: less duplication, a shorter formal timetable and potentially lower admission costs.
Why does this matter to international companies?
The attraction is not simply a quicker admission. It is what an additional market presence could enable.
Many growth markets are primarily domestic, both in the companies they serve and the investors they attract. AIM offers access to an established community of institutional and individual investors, analysts, brokers and advisers experienced in supporting smaller and growing businesses.
Marcus Stuttard, Head of AIM and UK Primary Markets at London Stock Exchange, explained in a recent interview with HaysMac: “Growth markets globally tend, by their nature, to be quite domestic in terms of both the companies and their investors. An admission to AIM gives access to a much broader set of international investors.”
A dual admission may help a company to broaden its investor base, increase liquidity, raise its profile with UK customers and commercial partners, support acquisitions or create additional options for future fundraising.
Marcus identified life sciences, natural resources, technology and renewables as sectors that are international by nature and have historically generated strong flows of overseas companies to AIM.
North America may be a particularly important source of future admissions. Marcus noted that AIM already has more than 50 US and North American businesses, a figure that often surprises people. While US capital markets are deep and highly developed, smaller growth companies can find it difficult to achieve the visibility and investor attention available to the largest issuers.
For those businesses, AIM can provide access to an ecosystem experienced in supporting companies at an earlier stage of development. As Marcus explained: “We would expect continued strong flows from North America.”
However, a second market presence also creates additional demands. The decision needs to be supported by a clear commercial case and an honest assessment of whether the organisation is ready to meet the expectations of two markets.
What should CFOs consider?
1. Start with the strategic purpose
The first question is not simply whether the company qualifies. It is what an AIM admission is expected to achieve. Is the priority access to UK capital, greater liquidity, increased visibility in an important operating market or a stronger platform for acquisitions? Is there evidence that UK and international investors will engage with the company’s equity story?
The answers should shape the timetable, investor proposition and choice of advisers. AIM should support the growth strategy rather than become an objective in isolation.
2. Map the reporting and cross-border implications
The finance team will need to understand how the home-market and AIM requirements interact. This includes accounting standards, audit requirements, reporting calendars, disclosure obligations and the information expected by UK investors.
The wider cross-border implications may include group structure and tax residence, transfer pricing, intra-group financing, withholding taxes, employee incentives, reporting currencies and the movement of funds between jurisdictions. These issues should be considered together.
Decisions made to solve one part of the admission can have unintended consequences elsewhere in the group. Overseas companies may be able to apply to use local accounting standards where they are materially equivalent to International Accounting Standards, but this should be discussed early with the Nomad and Reporting Accountant.
3. Test the operating model, not just the documents
AIM companies must have sufficient systems, procedures, resources and controls to identify developments that could materially affect the business or its prospects. They must also keep their Nomad informed and consider its view when assessing the market impact of those developments. For an international group, relevant information may originate in different subsidiaries, currencies and time zones before reaching group finance, the board and external advisors.
CFOs should therefore test how quickly information moves through the organisation, who owns escalation decisions, whether management information is consistent and whether the finance team has sufficient capacity and listed-company experience. The aim is to prepare for the business the company will need to run after admission, not simply the transaction it needs to complete.
4. Protect business as usual
An accelerated admission route should not encourage an accelerated readiness exercise. Marcus advises companies to undertake an IPO “at a pace that means you can continue to run the business alongside the IPO process”. Management should not arrive at admission to find that performance has slipped or important issues have been missed because attention was focused on the transaction. That matters particularly for a dual-listed company, which must continue to meet its existing market obligations throughout the AIM admission process.
Admission is the end of the beginning. The company must then deliver against its growth story and build the confidence of a new investor community. As Marcus put it: “For me, it all comes down to one word, in a way, and that’s trust.”
What does Bravura Solutions tell us?
HaysMac acted as Reporting Accountant when Australian financial technology company Bravura Solutions Limited completed its dual admission to AIM on 28 July 2026. Bravura remained primarily listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, while adding an AIM presence to broaden its access to capital and increase its visibility in the UK and Europe. Bravura did not use the new Express Market route. Its admission took place shortly before the revised AIM Rules came into effect and used the former AIM Designated Market Route.
It is nevertheless a strong example of the commercial rationale behind the reforms. Marcus described the Bravura Solutions case as: “A really good example of a company expanding rapidly in this time zone that wanted to build its profile and visibility, broaden its investor base, and use AIM to do that.” The new route is intended to make this opportunity available to a broader range of established international businesses.
A faster route still requires the right preparation
The Express Market route is an important signal of AIM’s international ambition. It should make admission more proportionate for companies that already have an established public-market track record. But streamlined does not mean automatic or free from complexity. CFOs should establish the strategic rationale, confirm eligibility with a Nomad and assess the financial reporting, tax, governance, controls and operational work required to support life across two markets.
Considering whether an AIM admission could support your international growth plans? Our Equity Capital Markets team brings together reporting accountant, audit, tax, transaction services and risk expertise to help you assess the opportunity and prepare for what comes next.
