In
the first of our four tables financial advisers are ranked
according to the number of their fully listed and USM
clients, and the first four placings are unchanged from
last quarter; UBS Limited (previously UBS Warburg Ltd)
is again well ahead of the rest of the field with 122.5
clients, followed by Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein with
82.5 the former marginally down on last time when
its total was 122. HSBC Investment Bank has moved up two
places from tenth to eighth, gaining four clients en route.
Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has fallen to the bottom
of the league table, losing four clients on the way, but
overall there is little significant change in this table.
The second 'size' table shows firms whose clients are
making most profit. HSBC Investment Bank continues to
head the list and has increased the gap between itself
and its nearest rival. HSBC's clients show an aggregate
pre-tax profit of £6,385.8m (up from £6,041.7m
last time), and those of silver medallists Dresdner Kleinwort
Wasserstein, who was fourth last time round, have £1,985.3m.
In third place is Schroder Salomon Smith Barney, also
up two places, with a figure of £1,485.0m. Well behind
at number four is Brewin Dolphin Securities Ltd, and after
that the list can only show figures in the red, ranging
from the -£6.4m of Williams de Broe PLC in fifth
place to the massive
-£918m of clients of Rothschild (NM). UBS Limited
has fallen heavily to eleventh place from its listing
last quarter (as UBS Warburg Ltd) at number three.
The first 'growth' table is concerned with firms with
the fastest growing clients, based on average increase
in clients' pre-tax profits. Only three firms show positive
figures here Williams de Broe PLC, who headed the
table last quarter too, with 5.7%, Seymour Pierce, up
three places from five last time with 3.6% and Brewin
Dolphin Securities (second last quarter), with 0.7%. After
that it is downhill all the way, from KBC Peel Hunt PLC
at -1.9% to Evolution Beeston Gregory at the tail end
with -18.3%. Schroder Salomon Smith Barney has fallen
four places, from third to seventh. Arbuthnot, formerly
Old Mutual Securities, moves up a single place to number
twelve.
Still in the growth area, the last table shows firms whose
clients have the fastest increasing earnings. Overall
the picture here is slightly improved, in that the first
four firms can show positive figures as against only two
last quarter. Average increase in earnings per share of
clients of KBC Peel Hunt, in pole position and up from
number three before, is 5.8%. Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein
has jumped up two places from fourth to second, newcomer
Arbuthnot enters at -6.4%. Close Brothers Corporate Finance
Ltd has fallen from joint seventh to thirteenth this quarter,
with a figure of -17.8%, while its erstwhile partner Seymour
Pierce Ltd has travelled in the opposite direction, up
from joint seventh to third with a positive 5.0%.
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