The
last quarter's tables showed that, in terms of the number
of stock market clients, UBS Warburg Ltd had lost four
listed clients but retained the number one spot. Snap!
This time the firm has again lost four clients
and again keeps its place at the top of the table. Similarly
it is still well ahead of its nearest rival, Dresdner
Kleinwort Wasserstein, which remains at number two duly
followed by HSBC Investment Bank and Evolution Beeson
Gregory in third and fourth places respectively. There
is little significant change either in the rest of this
table, though numbers of clients are tending to fall slightly.
A 'newcomer' this quarter is Lazard Bros at number fourteen.
In
the other 'size' table, which ranks the firms according
to clients' profits, HSBC Investment Bank has held on
to the number one spot with an aggregate figure of £6,108.8
million while Lazard Bros has emerged as runner-up in
second place, with £3,457.4 million. UBS Warburg
has dropped back from second to third, and Schroder Salomon
Smith Barney from fourth to fifth. Seymour Pierce made
the largest fall, from eighth to eleventh place.
The
third table shows firms with the fastest growing clients.
As in the last quarter's results, Brewin Dolphin Securities
is in the lead, this time with a figure of 9.1% average
increase in its clients' pre-tax profits. HSBC Investment
Bank is next, though its clients like those of all the
other financial advisers in this table, are showing falling
profits. Seymour Pierce made good headway, climbing from
thirteenth to fifth place, while Evolution Beeson Gregory
went in the other direction, down from sixth to fourteenth.
The
other growth table charts the progress of firms with the
fastest increasing earnings. Here there has been slightly
more churning. Investec, which had three successive quarters
at the top of the league, is out altogether. Brewin Dolphin
has climbed from number three to number one, ahead of
Schroder Salomon Smith Barney two places up at number
two and HSBC Investment Bank in third place, up from sixth
in the previous quarter. Old Mutual Securities made a
leap from thirteenth place to come in at number four,
while Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has tumbled from
second to eighth place.
To view the tables simply subscribe
to the Pinsent Masons Company Guide.