Companies: BBC    JHD    OXS   

Investment bank Brown Shipley has signed up three new small company clients for its advice and corporate finance services, construction company Ben Bailey and floorings maker James Halstead – both fully listed – and Aim-quoted Oxus Mining. Robert Tyerman reports.

Brown Shipley director Andrew Smith claims these new corporate mandates demonstrate the bank's ability to span a range of different sectors and securities markets. This, he argues, shows Brown Shipley's growing strength in corporate broking among small- and medium-sized companies.

Oxus (OXS), which has been advised by DWA Capital, raised £8 million at 30p last year, but later saw its shares plunge to 6p on recognition that was not enough to develop its gold and other prospects in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in central Asia. The price has rallied to 13p as Oxus squares up to a £4 million new equity raising and a £10 million fixed-interest issue.