A prominent British businessman is this weekend threatening to withdraw the London listing of the gold-mining company he founded unless the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Financial Services Authority (FSA) take urgent steps to improve liquidity and stamp out alleged shorting on the Aim market.

Karl Watkin, founder of China Goldmines, which has a market value of just over £50m, said the company's board would discuss at its next board meeting the possibility of relocating its listing to Hong Kong or, when regulations allow, to mainland China.

"The UK forgets at its peril that international business-people have a choice of where to operate. It is impossible to effectively maximise the performance of a business with so much volatility in share prices," said Watkin.