Tough targets and big ideas for Bloxham

Bloxham's new managing partner plans to treble revenues in five years, writes Ciarán Hancock

Sitting in Pramit Ghose's office on the first floor of Bloxham Stockbrokers' headquarters in the IFSC, it is clear the firm doesn't operate a strict clean-desk policy. Barely an inch of work space is visible under a pile of reports, newspapers, books and memos.

On entering the room with some refreshments, his colleague Mary asks politely where she should place the tray. "Just put it on top of this book," Ghose replies, shifting some papers to the floor.

It's no wonder, perhaps, that many of his best stock ideas come to him outside the office. "My great investment thoughts often happen in the steam room at the Merrion Hotel," he reveals.

Whatever the inspiration, Ghose, who becomes Bloxham's managing partner on April 1st, has been instrumental in putting the sleepy stockbroker on the map in Ireland's burgeoning fund management industry.

In just more than 4½ years, Ghose has built an asset management division in Bloxham from nothing to the point where it manages €1.15 billion of clients' money across seven funds.

Fund management now represents 40 per cent of revenues at Bloxham, which traces its roots back to the late 1800s and has been a profitable activity for the group since 2004.

Clients have done well, too. The largest of the seven funds run by Bloxham is its high-yield one, with €300 million worth of assets. Since its inception in 2002, it has achieved a healthy return of 95 per cent for investors.

Ghose now wants to move Bloxham's asset management activities on a step further. His ambition is to treble the level of assets under management over the next five years.

"That's a stiff target," he accepts. "The markets need to be fine and our products need to be performing really well but it's an achievable target because we're getting more traction."

Bloxham is booking about €2 million worth of new business each day from its 4,000 private clients, he says.

Ghose hasn't ruled out poaching a team of top fund managers or a high flyer from a rival group. "That's part of my plan for the next year. It's important to have a leg to Bloxham Asset Management that isn't depending on me and my team.

"We invest in a particular way but there are others out there who invest in a different way. It would give us diversification and give clients different choices."

Ghose's elevation to the top job marks a changing of the guard at Bloxham, a process that has been under way quietly for some time. Angus McDonnell, the broker's managing partner for the past 19 years, has stepped down to allow Ghose to take the reins.

Highly regarded in the industry, McDonnell will continue as a partner and concentrate on client work. "He generates a lot of revenue for us," says Ghose.

John Maguire, Bloxham's head of private clients, will retire at the end of March. Ghose is currently seeking a replacement.

Four partners, Arthur Quinlan, Martin Harte, David Harlowe and Aidan Sheerin, also left last year.

Its institutional equities division has also seen some changes. Paddy Dempsey, a former Davy executive, joined as a partner in September to lead this division. Dempsey has since been joined by two former colleagues from Dawson Street, Paul Fogarty and Mark Hannon.

Their arrivals seemed to have had the desired affect on business. "On institutional equities, it's fair to say Bloxham would have struggled in the past five or six years. That led to the hiring of Paddy to shake that up.

"Our market share in institutional equities has quadrupled in the past month. A lot of clients have travelled with them [ the Davy recruits]."

On the bond side, Bloxham is a significant player, along with Davy, but Ghose says it has lagged its competitors in terms of property investments. Hasn't that shipped sailed?

"We've certainly missed the easy boat," he concedes. "I would see our property products being quite specialised, maybe joint ventures. There's particularly good value in European markets."

As a partnership, Bloxham is not obliged to reveal any financial information but Ghose says revenues are "more than" €20 million annually. His plan is to treble that figure over the next five years and get profit levels up to between €25 million and €30 million.

"It's a pretty tough target," he says, but achievable if the firm can expand both its client base and its product offering.

Staff numbers are likely to rise above 100 from the current level of 70. New offices in Galway and possibly Belfast, where "early stage" talks are under way with a local financial services group, might also open.

The broker already has offices in Dublin, Cork and Limerick.

FBD, which owns about 10 per cent of Bloxham but has no voting rights, is also on board with his expansion plans, according to Ghose. "FBD increased its stake last year . . . it's an active and happy investor."

Ghose seems happy with his lot. too. Married to Catherine, who runs the investment vehicle for the McCann family, he has two children, Isobel and Simon. His daughter recently won a Young Scientist of the Year award. "I'm now known as Isobel Ghose's dad," he says.

To relax he likes to play tennis and read trashy novels. "I read so much high-brow material during the day that I like to read a novel in my spare time."

Not that he has much of that. He admits to regularly checking Bloomberg and reading the Financial Times at home. "I'm usually too busy during the day."

Ghose's elevation to the top job at Bloxham must be doubly satisfying for Birmingham-born fund manager. His decision to join the stockbroker in 2002 raised more than a few eyebrows.

Having joined New Ireland Assurance in 1986, he quickly made his name as one of the country's best fund managers. So much so that Friends First recruited him to set up a Dublin-based investment team in 1991 at the age of 27.

He won the MoneyMate fund manager of the year award four times in succession up to 2000 when he moved to Hibernian Investment Managers. However, he spent just 18 months there before leaving abruptly.

No reason was ever given for his departure and inevitably whispers began circulating in the industry.

"It was a very dark time in my career. It was not amicable, there were a lot of whispers around at the time and a lot of damage was done to my professional career at the time. It's all passed over now."

After six months spent travelling and job hunting, Ghose re-emerged with Bloxham in mid-2002.

"The day I left Hibernian, Bloxham rang me up and offered me a job and kept at me after that. I had a number of offers but this has worked out far better than anyone dreamt of."

Factfile:

Name:Pramit Ghose

Age:43

Position:Managing partner elect of Bloxham Stockbrokers

Family:Married to Catherine with two children, Isobel (12) and Simon (9)

Interests:Tennis, swimming and walking

Why in the news?Will become managing partner of Bloxham Stockbrokers on April 1st