Collins Stewart hunts for successor to Terry Smith
CITY stockbroker Collins Stewart has appointed headhunters to recruit two new non-executive directors, one of whom will be groomed to become the long-term successor to executive chairman Terry Smith.
One of the non-executives is expected to become executive deputy chairman, with the potential to take the helm at the firm when Smith eventually steps down from the role.
Smith, 56, would then scale back his responsibilities as deputy chairman, though he has no plans to leave the firm’s board entirely.
A City veteran who started his career at Barclays Bank 35 years ago, Smith led a management buyout of the broker in 2000.
He is also currently chief executive of inter-dealer broker Tullett Prebon, which was demerged from Collins Stewart in 2006. Collins Stewart had separately bought up Tullett Liberty and Prebon Group a couple of years previously.
Collins Stewart was pushed £15m into the red last year as the economic crisis took its toll. It warned in a trading update last week that difficult market conditions have continued into 2009.
“Although financial market conditions have improved recently we will continue to manage the business cautiously,” the firm said in a statement.
TERRY SMITH
Collins Stewart
High-flying city financier Terry Smith is well-known for his outspoken views and colourful character.
Smith – a big fan of white-collar boxing and a keen helicopter pilot – is chairman of a campaign to erect a statue of Battle of Britain hero Sir Keith Park.
Earlier this month he led a re-enactment of a 1,800-mile flight around the UK in a Socata T20 Trinidad plane, which Park completed in 1919, to raise awareness of the campaign.
Smith worked for Barclays Bank from 1974 to 1983, when he became a stockbroker with W Greenwell in 1984. He went on to work for BZW and James Capel and later became Head of UK company research at UBS Phillips & Drew.
In 1992 he published his best-selling book, “Accounting for Growth”. He joined Collins Stewart shortly after and became a director in 1996.