Boutique investment group looks to lure London bankers

Times are obviously tough in the City, and investment house Shore Capital is hoping to persuade London talent to its new Edinburgh venture.

The boutique firm unveiled plans to kick-start an Edinburgh office in October last year, having hired Richard Sloss, Andrew Keith and David Phillips from Landsbanki Securities. It then added to the team with the appointment of former Deutsche Bank bio-technology analyst Brian Smith.

Now, it says they have "the best opportunity we have ever had" to persuade talent to make the move north of the border.

The Scottish branch focuses on selling products and offering research to local clients, including fund managers.

The firm says it is keeping an eye out for analyst and sales talent who may be viewing Edinburgh as a potential new home.

"If more people became available in the capital markets area and want to live and work in Edinburgh rather than London we will talk to them," says Howard Shore, founder and chairman of the firm.

He does point out, however, that there are no definite plans to expand the Edinburgh office, but that he would hire if the right person came knocking and that it has "room to expand".

Although the group as a whole made a 1.3m pre-tax loss for 2008, the new Scottish branch has made an "operations contribution to profit immediately", according to Shore.

"We believe we have been winning an increasing share of a declining cake," he says.

Shore Capital clearly views having sales and research capabilities in satellite offices as key to gaining new business, and also has plans to expand its Liverpool office

Boutique investment firms in Scotland have provided some much-need hiring activity recently, albeit in obviously small numbers.

For instance, earlier this month Brewin Dolphin Investment Banking recruited Tracy MacKenzie as director of the resources franchise in Edinburgh as well as appointing Alex McCambridge as associate director in Glasgow.

Noble, the Scottish investment group, was also expanding towards the tail end of last year, as well as forming an investment management advisory board consisting of 11 local business leaders in October.