This month, Gall & Eke shines the spotlight on AIM-quoted stockbroking and corporate finance business Dowgate Capital, focused on smaller AIM companies and built up by the well-respected Tony Rawlinson. Despite tough times for brokers and advisers to AIM, the company’s annual results for 2007 were robust, revealing turnover and pre-tax profits up 75 and 42 per cent respectively from 2006.

Pointing out that growth rates will have slowed significantly, Gall & Eke also highlights the March appointment by Dowgate of Dru Edmonstone and Philip Dumas to the board of its Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers subsidiary.

Well-known operators
‘Edmonstone and Dumas are well-known operators and, with a combined 45 years of experience in the industry, have a proven track record of raising funds for corporate clients through their tenure at Seymour Pierce,’ says Gall & Eke, ‘so we expect them to increase the number of new mandates dramatically.’

Dowgate also initiated a process of share buy-backs from the market in late 2007, so the shares, now held in treasury, ‘will help to increase the earnings per share and net asset value per share of the company, maximising shareholder value’. Moreover, ‘currently trading at 10.25p with a market cap of £4.2 million and a price-to-earnings ratio (p/e) of 6.4, Dowgate trades at a huge discount to many sector peers such as Jarvis securities (p/e 14), Blue Oar (16) and Walker Crips Group (19). This valuation discount appears unfair for a company with class employees and a proven track record.’