Numis boss Oliver Hemsley hails old fashioned advantage over hi-tech big banks
Profits soared at mid-cap broker Numis, the firm said in a trading update yesterday, with its chief executive aiming to increase the firm’s reach to clients of every size.
Full-year revenues were up 19 per cent, as the broker completed 44 transactions, including 16 initial public offerings (IPOs).
Traditionally, Numis has specialised on small- and mid-cap companies, but it now has 40 FTSE 250 clients and one FTSE 100 company.
It has worked on £1bn-plus deals, including the flotation of Appliances Online and winning the mandate for the $1.2bn (£741m) MicroFocus merger with Attachmate.
“The battle is with the big banks which provide a poor service to clients,” Numis chief executive Oliver Hemsley told City A.M.
“The small brokers like us are voice-based, as opposed to electronic.
“We are much closer to the institutions, we talk to them regularly and so we can advise companies on what institutional investors think and which ones can take their offers.”