KBC Peel Hunt Takes the Lead in Growth Tables

The first 'size' table rankss financial advisers according to their numbers of stock market clients. As in November, UBS heads the list, but this time with a reduced number of clients, down by 6.5 to 124. However, the firm remains comfortably ahead of its nearest rival, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, who have gained eight from last quarter and now have a total of 88.5. Two other firms have increased their client numbers: KBC Peel Hunt from 44.5 to 48.5 and Collins Stewart from 56.5 to 61.5. There are few significant changes in the rest of the table, which this time features twelve firms compared with the previous thirteen.

Size is again the concern of the second table, which lists the firms whose clients are making the most profit. The first five places are unchanged from November: the leader is HSBC, whose clients show total pre-tax profits of £7037.9m, down from last quarter's £7083.9m. In second place, the figures of UBS Investment Bank are comfortably up from £5239.6m in November to £6550.9m this time. Overall, five of the twelve firms show figures in the black, little changed from the previous quarter's table in which five out of thirteen results were positive.

There have been several changes since November in the top positions in the first of the 'growth' tables, showing financial advisers ranked according to the average increase in their clients' pre tax profits. KBC Peel Hunt has jumped three places to take the lead with a figure of 29.5%; last quarter's leader, Williams de Broe, has fallen back to second place with a figure reduced from 31.3% to 18%, followed by Seymour Pierce with 15.6% (second with 17.7% in November). Collins Stewart has made another improvement, from number ten to number seven, with a figure of -3.7% compared with its previous result of -9.6%.

Finally, our last table shows the average increase in clients' earnings per share. Here KBC Peel Hunt has climbed from third place with 12.5% in November to the top spot with 35.1% this time, while November's leader, Seymour Pierce, comes in second with 21.9%. Six out of the twelve listed firms have positive figures whereas only four out of thirteen in November achieved this.

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