LSE aims new market at high-growth SMEs The London Stock Exchange is launching a niche market that will allow the founders and owners of fast-growing companies to list shares and raise money while retaining as much as 90 per cent of the shares. The new so-called High Growth Segment is intended to be a stepping stone for companies, many of them technology businesses, wanting a premium listing in the main market. It has been designed to attract medium-sized companies, valued at between £300m and £600m, that can demonstrate fast revenue growth in recent years. The High Growth Segment is being introduced amid increasing worries about the diminishing numbers of new companies, particularly technology companies, floating their businesses in London. There have been no initial public offers by European technology companies on the LSE's main market since 2010. This has prompted concerns among UK government ministers, investors and exchange officials that the UK is missing out on companies that could become technology giants and household names to rival the likes of Apple and Google. A number of European technology companies have in recent years decided to float their shares on Nasdaq in the US where they say they are rated more highly and achieve higher values on flotation. Nasdaq's rule book allows companies with a free float - the proportion of freely tradeable shares that are not owned by company insiders and management - as low as 10 per cent. In September, the UK government outlined plans to ease the listing rules for technology companies including easing free-float requirements. The High Growth Segment will have a lower free-float requirement of 10 per cent, against a 25 per cent minimum free float for the main market. The LSE says its new market will exclude companies incorporated outside the European Union and UK and also mineral and resource companies at exploration stage. This, explained the LSE, will trigger investor protections under EU law. Entrants must show a history of revenue growth over three years of 20 per cent or more. And they must indicate that they plan to join the main market and acquire a premium listing in time. The High Growth Segment will sit alongside the Alternative Investment Market, London's junior market designed to attract small companies, says the LSE which published its draft rule book today. It is seeking views on it before the official launch of the High Growth Segment in March.