Lorna Tilbian Columnist Farewell, Numis Finance columnist Lorna Tilbian reects on the role research played at investment bank Numis, as the organisation becomes part of Deutsche Bank F riday, 13 October 2023. An email pops into my inbox from Deutsche Numis announcing Deutsche Banks acquisition of Numis, the investment bank I co-founded. It is a bittersweet moment. Sweet for the pride I feel that we created, organically, a business that was acquired by one of Europes largest banks for $511m (410m), and sad that Numis has lost its independence. It took me back to our very first day, Monday, 4 September 2001, when I walked into our newly rented oces and we set about building a new bank and brokerage a tall order, as City peers never failed to point out. and recommendations, they were not commonly used then. Each sector would also produce an annual sector bible that clients would keep on their desks as a ready research resource. Research would drive sales and execution by building leading market shares in our chosen companies. This, in turn, would enable corporate broking to pitch for the brokership of these companies. As corporate brokers, we would be the companies eyes and ears in the marketplace, marketing and trading their shares, and liaising with their shareholders for which we would ask an annual retainer. Once corporates paid a retainer for our services, we would super-serve them, which would help build a strong relationship and enable us, in time, to act as their trusted mergers and acquisitions advisers in corporate finance. We had been through the dotcom bubble and seen the advantage of being nimble and agile, so we pointed out how Reuters had been challenged by Bloomberg, ITV by Sky, and British Airways by easyJet, to name but a few. A new millennium demanded a new approach: globalisation and the emergence of China, and technology with the dawn of mobile A week into our new venture, the 9/11 telephony and the internet were terrorist attacks on the United States changing the world. We wanted to create shook the world. From the outset, our We would be the a research-based brokerage that would first strategic move for Numis was to companies eyes and ears capture this industrial revolution. combine two complementary research in the marketplace sectors defensive insurance broking with cyclical media. Our plan kicked into action sooner than we could ever have imagined. We were corporate brokers to many of Lloyds of We would start by focusing on research that would sit at the heart Londons insurance brokers that had exposure to the World Trade of the business. We would assemble a research department of Center, previously viewed as a low insurance risk. highly ranked analysts who would be key opinion formers in the market, and whose investment ideas and recommendations would be keenly followed by institutional investors. The top-rated analysts would be recognised specialists in all the key sectors, informing Between September 2001 and the so-called Baghdad bounce in and educating the market by publishing research on the top-down March 2003, we raised funds from institutional investors to drivers and dynamics of their industries, as well as bottom-up, recapitalise Lloyds underwriters after the heavy insurance losses in-depth research and forecasts on the companies in their universe. from the destruction of the Twin Towers and related casualty claims. At that stage of the economic recovery in 2003, the early cycle media sector kicked in and took over the running. In February 2004, we did the first accelerated initial public oering, Each sector would create a weekly guide to fair value, with target of Centaur Media Plc. By the top of the cycle, in 2006, we ranked prices for each stock based on revenue multiples, earnings growth first in the Thomson Reuters Extel survey for research, execution and cash generation. These target prices would indicate if a share and corporate access for companies with a market capitalisation of was a buy (> +20% upside), a hold (+/-10%) or a sell (> -20% up to 1bn. Our research-first approach had won the day. downside). Although these are now widely used valuation metrics 41 Impact ISSUE 44 2023_pp40-41_Lorna_Tilbian.indd 41 05/12/2023 12:11