The proportion of women holding directorships across Alternative Investment Market (AIM) company boards has remained almost unchanged at just 16.4% over the past year (up from 15.6%), a new report has found, while the number of all male boards is 38%, a stark contrast with the FTSE350.
The AIM is a sub-segment of the London Stock Exchange (LSE) tailored to help smaller, riskier, or high-growth companies secure significant capital from the public market. Unlike FTSE-listed firms, AIM companies are not subject to formal diversity targets or reporting requirements that have driven considerable improvements in board diversity in recent years.
The third annual report on Gender Diversity in AIM Company Boards by Addidat and Indigo: Independent Governance also shows that just 11% of AIM companies would meet the 40% female board representation target expected of FTSE350 firms.
The report also found that while the number of AIM companies with more than one female director has increased to 29%, up from 26% in 2024 and 21% in 2023, almost three-quarters (72%) still have no women in key leadership positions (Chair, SID, CEO, or CFO) and only 5% have more than one woman in a senior board role.
Real estate remains the worst performing sector - 75% of companies have no women on their boards. While this is an improvement from 81% in the previous year, only 8% of real estate firms have at least one woman in a senior role.
Utilities firms outperform other sectors, with 26% female board representation, still well below the 40% FTSE350 target, and although 50% of such firms have at least one woman in a senior role, 25% of them have no female directors at all.
Companies with a market cap below £500m saw almost no progress, and in the £10m–£50m range, gender diversity actually declined. In contrast, larger AIM firms (£500m–£1bn) saw modest gains, with board gender diversity increasing by 5-7%.
“AIM companies need to consider adopting clearer diversity ambitions and more inclusive board recruitment policies so that their leadership reflects contemporary expectations and their board structures are optimised to create richer debates informed by different perspectives and experiences,” Said Bernadette Young, Founder of Indigo: Independent Governance. “It is disappointing that many AIM companies appear to still have their heads buried in the sand when it comes to modernising their board compositions.”
