Fashion retailer finds a cosy fit on Aim

With its focus on smaller growing companies, Aim is having an even worse time than the rest of the world’s markets.

Tough times ahead were signalled in January, when the FTSE Aim All-Share index fell below the 1,000 mark at which it started in 1995. The breach was significant because it was the first time the main index of London’s junior market had dropped below 1,000 since the bursting of the dotcom bubble.

Matters soon became worse. By May it was clear that listings on Aim were falling off a precipice. The index followed suit and fell below 500 on Thursday.

However, the show must go on, including the annual Aim awards, sponsored by PwC, which have run continuously since the market was launched. To come out on top this year, the winners must have shown the ability to thrive in the most torrid conditions.

Company of the Year is Asos, the online fashion retailer that has made light of the consumer woes affecting its traditional rivals in the high street. Founded in 2000, the company has also survived the bursting of the dotcom bubble and the direct effects of the largest peace-time fire in the UK, when the Buncefield oil depot exploded in 2005 and damaged its warehouse.

Earlier this month the company, formerly known as As Seen On Screen, told its annual meeting that sales had more than doubled in the six months to September 30, compared with 80 per cent growth in the same period last year. Nick Robertson, founder and chief executive, said he was positive about the long-term prospects, but sounded a note of caution.

“We still need to trade through the all-important Christmas period before we can accurately assess our performance for the full year,” he said. November and December typically account for half the group’s profits.

Back in 2003 the company was forced to raise £225,000 ($390,015) at 4p a share because, as a lossmaking dotcom company, it had proved impossible to borrow the cash for Christmas stock. The shares closed on Thursday at 270p.

International Company of the Year is SQS Software Quality Systems, the first German company to join Aim. Last month it reported strong demand for its services, which test software to eliminate any bugs. New clients won this year include Swiss Rail, Eon and Ebay and it has completed two acquisitions, taking it into the Scandinavian and Indian markets.

Entrepreneur of the Year for the second time is Kate Bleasdale, who founded Healthcare Locums in 2003 with the £2m paid out in one of the UK’s biggest sex discrimination settlements. She won her case against Sinclair Montrose, her previous recruitment company, with which she won the award in 1997.

Through a series of acquisitions, she has built Healthcare Locums into a staffing agency spread equally across the markets for doctors, social workers and associate healthcare professionals.

Ms Bleasdale said JCJ Locums, bought in the spring of 2007, would be the last acquisition.

“We have bought some good companies and now it’s time to put our foot on the gas and drive organic growth.” That resolution led to a 53 per cent rise in underlying profits to £7.8m for the first half, and payment of a maiden dividend.

Other award winners are May Gurney Integrated Services for best communication; Aero Inventory, the wholesaler of aircraft parts, for best use of Aim; Zenergy Power, the high-temperature superconductor specialist, for best technology; Jelf, the healthcare and general insurance broker that has received a cash injection from 3i and made three strategic acquisitions, for transaction of the year; TEG, the organic composting specialist, for achievement in sustainability; Kentz, the engineering contractor specialising in resources that raised £66.7m through a placing in February, for best newcomer; and Brewin Dolphin for best research.