The Alternative Investment Market (AIM), the London Stock Exchange’s junior market, saw its value increase by nearly a quarter in the 12 months to April.

AIM said the 23 per cent annualised growth came after eight consecutive months of expansion and a 76 per cent rise in new listings on the market in the first four months of the year.

And after seven years of declining total numbers of businesses listing on AIM, last year saw a rare increase, taking the total from 1,088 in April 2013 to 1,096 a year later.

High profile listings this year included Patisserie Valerie and Boohoo.com, with strong representation from the retail and technology sectors, said Richard Thornhill, equity capital markets partner at accountancy group Deloitte.

He added: “This activity is consistent with that seen on main market activity in the quarter and marks a change from the position 12 months ago where strong main market activity contrasted with fewer small cap and growth company listings on AIM.

“The surge in companies of all shapes and sizes wanting to IPO in 2014 has led to a period of significant effort for investors assessing the quality of these opportunities, certainly the most intense such period for several years.”