This is the second in our ‘Meet the Players’ series where we look at the roles of the various parties that make up the AIM marketplace. Last month we looked at the role of the Financial Public Relations company and gained an understanding of the many activities that these companies become involved in. This month we look at the role of the Nominated Advisor (Nomad).

Unlike the Financial PR company, Nomads are not optional. Every AIM listed company must have one. In fact should an AIM company cease to have a Nomad its shares will be suspended immediately. The AIM Rules state:- 

‘If an AIM company ceases to have a nominated adviser the Exchange will suspendtrading in its AIM securities. If within one month of that suspension the AIM companyhas failed to appoint a replacement nominated adviser, the admission of its AIMsecurities will be cancelled.’ 

This rule would deter most AIM companies from removing their Nomad! Even changing Nomads requires a lot of management time and extra costs as the new Nomad completes its due diligence process. So, choosing the right Nomad in the first place is very important.

What do they do?

The Nominated Advisor is responsible for advising and guiding an AIM listed company on its responsibilities under AIM rules. The Nomad is required to stay in regular contact with the AIM Company at all times and has a number of specific ongoing responsibilities:-

1. To review all Regulatory News Statements (RNS) statements made by the company prior to their release. In fact, the Nomad may not review every routine announcement if it is satisfied that the directors have ‘appropriate knowledge and experience’
   
   
2. To monitor the trading in the company’s shares particularly when there is price sensitive information that is not yet in the public domain.
   
   
3. To advise the company on any changes that it may wish to make to its board of directors. This would include ensuring that proposed new directors are suitable for the company and are fit to be a director of a public company. The Nomad may, for example, check some of the information supplied on a director’s CV.
   
   
4. Where an AIM company is in breach of any of the AIM Rules the Nomad is required to inform the London Stock Exchange (LSE) immediately of the breach.

To be able to carry out this role the Nomad needs to have a thorough understanding of the AIM Company’s business and the major issues that are affecting the company.

The basic annual retainer fee for a Nomad is of the order of £25,000 per annum. On top of this there may be additional charges for extra work on specific transactions. 

AIM Admissions

In respect of new issues on AIM the Nomad is effectively the ‘Project Manager’ for a floatation. They are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that the company and its directors are suitable for an AIM listing. This responsibility will include checks on directors and investigations into substantial shareholders i.e. those holding more that 10% of the shares.

The Nomad oversees the production of the AIM Admission document and is responsible for ensuring that the directors are aware of their responsibilities under the AIM Rules. Full details of a Nomad’s responsibilities, both for ongoing companies and new admissions, can be found in Part Two of the document ‘AIM Rules for Nominated Advisors’ - click here to view this document.

Chinese Walls

Frequently the Nomad is also the company’s broker. However, since the Nomad will frequently be in possession of confidential price sensitive information, it is required that there is a clear separation of responsibilities, so-called ‘Chinese walls’, in the Nomad/Broker company.

Aimzine will be looking at the role of the Broker in a future ‘Meet the Players’ article.

The Nomads

Nomads can be either an independent corporate finance firm, an accountant or a broker. Each Nomad is required to employ at least four ‘Qualified Executives’ with each of these people needing to be approved by the London Stock Exchange (LSE).  There are approximately 40 Nomads for AIM companies to choose from with some of these specialising in particular industry sectors.

Each Nomad is required to pay an annual fee to the LSE. This fee ranges from £10,500 for Nomads with less than 6 AIM companies to £31,500 for those with over 40 AIM companies.There are some well known names amongst the list of Nomads including Arbuthnot, Blue Oar, Brewin Dolphin, Collins Stewart, Evolution, Grant Thornton, KBC Peel Hunt, Landsbanki, Numis, Seymour Pierce and W H Ireland.

Lehman Brothers are listed as Nomads but with only 2 clients, namely Clipper Windpower and Burani. At the time of writing, it is not clear whether these companies will need to look for a new Nomad following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

In this issue of Aimzine we are looking at one Nomad company, Dowgate Capital. Dowgate are themselves listed on AIM. As well as being a Nomad Dowgate offers corporate finance advisory services and private client and corporate broking services. Click here to read the article on Dowgate.

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Written by Michael & Carol Crockett

Copyright Aimzine Ltd

Spread betting experts specialising in AIM stock trading (click on logo above for more information)

To be able to carry out

this role the Nomad

needs to have a

thorough understanding

of the AIM Company’s

business

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