Country results: still room for niche players
The European broking industry has been riding a bull market for most of this year and many brokerages have expanded. Meanwhile demand has outstripped supply in the market for sector analysts, with equities specialists switching jobs at an unprecedented rate.
"The last 12 months have seen an extra-ordinary turnover in analysts. I have never seen anything like it," says Charles Lambert, head of research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Merrill Lynch in London.
According to recent research by US publisher Nelson Information, all but two of the top 25 investment research firms increased the number of analysts they employed worldwide in the first six months of 1997. Net hirings by all the firms approached 600. Deutsche Morgan Grenfell alone added 92 equity analysts to its existing team of 165 analysts worldwide in the first half of 1997.
Most institutional investors - European equity brokers' most important clients - believe that research is increasing in quality as well as volume, with fund managers reporting that the overall standard of research produced in Europe has improved out of all recognition in recent years.