Brokers bounce back but remain cautious

A group of the City's best-known broking and fund management firms today signalled a cautious but mildly upbeat view to the start of 2010.

Jonathan Keeling, chief executive of institutional stockbroker Arden Partners, said that after one of the most challenging years he can remember, the new financial year had started "satisfactorily".

"We saw a 31 per cent uplift in our equities division revenue against an 18 per cent rise in the FTSE all-share index over the same period. In the year to October corporate finance raised £72 million for clients. In the new year we have raised £111 million so far. But it is still very much rights issues and placings with no real sign that the IPO market is about to recover," he said.

Over at private-client broker Brewin Dolphin, in the 13 weeks to Christmas Day there was an 11.5 per cent rise in revenues and a 5.9 per cent increase in funds under management to £21.7 billion.

The executive chairman, Jamie Matheson, highlighted a 30 per cent year-on-year rise in fees from investment management as Brewin's wealthy clients sought to make their money work harder for them in a low interest rate market. Rensburg Sheppards, the fund manager, had a similar 21 per cent leap in fees and a 27 per cent rise in commissions in the three months which ended yesterday as it too benefited from the stock market rally up to Christmas. But with far less interest being earned on cash balances its total revenues were up 3.5 per cent to £28 million.

Arden also revealed that it is not all fat-cats in the City. Its 41 front-office staff shared just over £1 million in annual bonuses (that's one Goldman Sachs partner's bonus) giving them an average payout of just over £25,000 for the year.