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On 12 June 2020, Hawkwing plc announced its intention to cancel its listing on AIM and apply for admission to the standard segment of the Official List and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

The company, formerly known as TLA Worldwide plc, became a cash shell in September 2019 upon completing the sale of its Australian businesses. It also became subject to AIM Rule 15, which required it to complete a reverse takeover within six months or be re-admitted to trading on AIM as an investing company. On 6 March, the company announced that, having failed to do either, trading in its ordinary shares on AIM had been suspended.

In its announcement of the proposed move to the Standard List, Hawkwing stated:

‘The Board is of the view that this suspension inhibits the Company's ability to successfully secure an acquisition or to raising funding by issuing shares.  The Board therefore considers that the Company, and its shareholders, would be better served if the Company's Ordinary Shares were admitted to the Standard List, as such a move would remove the suspension of trading in the Company's shares.’

The company’s departure from AIM follows a particularly difficult year for the junior market, which saw only ten new listings in 2019, a record low since its launch in 1995. 2019 also saw an increase in listings on the standard segment of the Official List, with over half the companies listing on the Official List in 2019 opting for a standard listing. Market Tracker explores the resurgence of standard listings and the decline in AIM IPO activity in more detail in its upcoming trend report on Equity Capital Markets (ECM), which aims to provide insight into the current dynamics of ECM activity in the UK by reviewing the IPOs and secondary offerings that have taken place on both AIM and the Main Market over the last three years. The report will be published later this month.