Pinsent Masons has topped the AIM adviser ranking table for the last quarter, pushing Gowling WLG into second place.

According to data for the three months to 5 April, the firm led the way in terms of the number of AIM-listed clients.

Pinsent Masons topped the table, despite a fall in client numbers from 58 in the fourth quarter of 2015 to 55 this quarter.

Gowling WLG slipped from joint first in the fourth quarter of 2015, when it had 58 clients, to second place with 53 clients in the last quarter.

The top five is rounded out by Carey Olson on 40 clients, DLA Piper on 39 and Memery Crystal on 37.

The rankings, compiled by finance data provider Adviser Rankings using Morningstar data, award a single point for each client relationship, regardless of whether it is a sole or joint appointment.

Pinsent Masons corporate partner Jon Harris said: "It's a demonstration of the firm's commitment to the AIM market and the effort we put in to maintaining and growing our AIM practice. There are lots of us doing it and we are keen to remain the number one firm for AIM."

DLA Piper continued to lead the ranking for the biggest clients by market capitalisation, although this had fallen since the last quarter.

DLA's AIM clients had a market capitalisation of £5.285bn, compared to £6.17bn in the previous quarter.

Gowling WLG also took second spot in the market capitalisation rankings, acting for clients with a market capitalisation of £4.893bn, down from £5.728bn in the preceding quarter.

Berwin Leighton Paisner was in third spot, Carey Olson in fourth and Pinsent Masons in fifth, acting for clients with market capitalisations of £4.255bn, £4.006bn and £3.8bn respectively.

Tough quarter
Stock market data indicates that the first quarter (Q1) of 2016 was weaker than the same period last year. In Q1 2016 a total of £802.65m was raised on AIM in comparison to £915.73m in Q1 2015. In addition there were 39 de-listings in Q1 2016 compared to 31 in Q1 2015. Admissions fell slightly from 16 in Q1 2015 to 15 in Q1 2016.

Partners attributed the tough trading conditions to the wider economic climate, the commodity slowdown and the uncertainty stoked by the upcoming referendum on Britain's place in the EU.

Harris said: "The market is choppy and there are a lot of companies in trouble as well, not just on AIM [but] also on the main market and private companies, so whilst we can see green shoots it's not a plain sailing-type market at the moment."

Travers Smith corporate finance and M&A partner, Adrian West, said: "It is a challenging market, not just AIM but the main market as well, [which] is a function of the Brexit referendum."

The market is choppy and there are a lot of companies in trouble

However, he added: "We are acting on IPOs at the moment and we are hopeful a few we are doing pre-summer will get away."

Travers added one client during the quarter, taking it to 26 clients with a market capitalisation of £2.154bn.

Adding clients

Other firms to add clients during the quarter include Fieldfisher and Charles Russell Speechlys, which both moved to joint eighth on the list having added two and three clients respectively to take both their tallies to 30.

Charles Russell Speechlys corporate partner Tom Shaw said: "It has been a tough quarter; in absolute terms the numbers of clients on the market aren't going up, we have just held onto a greater share."

The firm advised broker N+1 Singer Advisory as the nominated adviser to Harwood Wealth Management Group on its initial public offering (IPO) in March, as well as acting for property developer Circle Property on its admission to AIM in February.

Economic activity has stalled, Brexit looms and most practitioners are busy in secondary issues

Fieldfisher corporate partner, Neil Matthews, also noted the market slowdown. "Economic activity has stalled, Brexit looms and most practitioners are busy in secondary issues, raising money for existing clients," he said.

Despite this, he noted that the firm is currently working on two IPOs, one of which is for the Upham Group, a pub company that last week announced its intention to float on the AIM market.

In terms of sectors, Watson Farley & Williams had the most oil and gas clients on 10, Pinsent Masons the most industrial clients on 12 and Gowling WLG led the way in the financials sector with 12 clients. 

Gowling WLG, which inherited the mining expertise of Canadian firm Gowlings after its combination with Wragge Lawrence Graham & Co in February, led the way in the basic materials category with 15 clients, Osborne Clarke has the most consumer goods clients with four and Pinsent Masons had the most consumer services clients with eight.