It reveals the amount earned in professional fees was down from £487million to £333million for the year to May — a drop of 32 per cent.

The fall closely mirrored that in the number of companies listing on Aim, down 33 per cent from 260 to 175 in the same period.

But the research found Aim was bearing up relatively well in the wake of the market onslaught sparked by the credit crunch.

UHY Hacker Young partner Laurence Sacker said prospective Aim floats were suffering from institutions being more reluctant to invest in equities. “Smaller and mid-cap companies are normally the first to suffer from a buyers’ strike,” he said.

“In fact the Aim market has not done too badly. It has fallen 19 per cent over the last year, compared with 16 per cent for the FTSE 100.

“That is a far less savage a fall compared with previous corrections on Aim.”

Aim’s appeal to international companies should serve to insulate the market better, he added.