Numis sees chance to poach its rivals' staff amid turmoil

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"We are always looking for high-quality people," said chief executive Oliver Hemsley. "We will selectively hire when the opportunities arise. We can also us the current circumstances to raise the bar in terms of the size of companies we act for."

He declined to comment directly on speculation Numis is the front-runner to hire a 25-strong equity team from Bear Stearns in London. Talks, led by Numis chairman Michael Spencer who holds an 11% stake in the broker, have been going on for several weeks. Hemsley admitted the Bear Stearns team was "very much the kind of people we would like."

Elsewhere, he sees lay-offs at the large investment banks and mergers between small brokers as opportunities to add to Numis's 170 staff.

"During the market downturn earlier this decade, we grew counter-cyclically, increasing the number of corporate clients and staff," he said. "We will endeavour to use the strength of our balance sheet and reputation to expand the business as others retrench."

Hemsley sees no immediate let-up for financial markets: "I'm slightly on the bearish side, particularly as far as the consumer is concerned."

Numis's first-half pre-tax profits fell from £18.1 million to £16.1 million. More than half of that, £8.2 million, came from the flotation of insurer Abbey Protection, where Numis was an adviser and a substantial investor.

That effectively means profits from the rest of the business halved in the six months to end-March on revenues virtually unchanged at £40.2 million.

Staff shared £6.65 million in bonuses, up from £6 million last year. That is an average of £39,000 a head for the half year. The interim dividend is lifted from 2p to 2.5p.