5 high-quality Aim shares

You know it’s been quite a special 12 months for the market when a 33 per cent total return can be classed as disappointing. However, that’s the case with my High Quality Small Cap screen, which saw its return over the past year trounced by the 51 per cent return from the FTSE Small Cap. At least it just about beat the 31 per cent from the Aim All-Share, though.

The performance of the main small-cap index was a result of the strong recovery sparked by news of vaccine breakthroughs last November. Small-caps are seen as particularly sensitive to the wider economy. As such, they generally benefit substantially in the early stages of a recovery. The same is true of the type of 'value' plays that the market has a habit of prematurely writing off during times of strife.