Tony Rawlinson, chair of stockbroking and corporate finance house Dowgate Capital, is seeking to raise the company’s game. He has recruited two well-known market figures, Dru Edmonstone and Philip Dumas, from fellow broker Seymour Pierce ‘to expand our client base, particularly institutional funds, and target larger fundraisings’. The firm’s two components, Crawley-based Ellis Stockbrokers and City Financial Associates, are being renamed respectively as Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers and Dowgate Capital Advisers to build on a combined business already boasting 85 corporate clients, including 43 nominated adviserships and ten brokerages.

Dumas explains the new name could be part of an image change for Ellis, whose veteran entrepreneurial guiding light Clive Mattock could soon be stepping down and would be a hard act to follow. Dowgate recently announced annual pre-tax profits up 24.7 per cent to £1 million on revenues 72 per cent ahead at £6.2 million and, while conceding current market conditions are ‘challenging’, Rawlinson suggests that a migration of advisers away from ‘micro-cap’ companies provides opportunities for Dowgate to fill the gap.

When choosing the new name, the team considered several alternatives. ‘We
toyed with Phil and Dru,’ quips Dumas, reviving memories of former City powerhouse Phillips and Drew, which became part of Union Bank of Switzerland, ‘but we thought the Swiss might object.’

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Dowgate Capital	AIM	£2.17m	5.50p	0.00p
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Other company articles:
Webb buys into Dowgate			18/11/2008
Dru comes aboard Dowgate			04/08/2008
Gall & Eke Corporate Partners			30/06/2008
Broker rebrands			01/04/2008
Dowgate maintains expansion tack			11/03/2008