Companies: PMK   

New tariffs from share market operator PLUS Markets Group are designed to ‘compete aggressively with other exchanges’ and ‘attract market share’. The company behind the alternative trading platform for many London Stock Exchange and European shares has abolished membership fees and exchange access fees. And in a direct challenge to the LSE, PLUS is also introducing an initially cost-free regulatory approval process for investment firms wishing to join.

Recent results from the AIM-quoted group for the half to June revealed an 80 per cent rise in revenues to £1.68 million, with losses of £802,000 entirely in line with the company’s plan as chief executive Simon Brickles invested ‘to build the foundations necessary to launch a wider challenge to the traditional exchange monopoly’.

Meanwhile, recent PLUS debutantes include CBM Oil, a Caspian, Black and Mediterranean Sea-focused investment vehicle with ambitions in the Ukrainian sector of the Black Sea – its chairman and chief executive is veteran oil and gas industry entrepreneur Michael Burchell. Wheelsure, brought to market by adviser Watlington Securities with a £3 million valuation, is looking to further prospects for its novel method of locking wheel nuts on commercial vehicles. And last but by no means least, SMARTiD, a software developer specialising in ‘single sign-on and identity management solutions’, debuted on PLUS, having raised £750,000 in tough market conditions.