NUM.L Share News (NUM)

LONDON, May 6 (IFR) - Oliver Hemsley, founder of UK mid-capequities broker Numis, has announced he will step down as chiefexecutive this autumn after more than two decades at thecompany.

Alex Ham and Ross Mitchinson will be appointed joint CEOs inhis stead, Numis said on Friday. They will be appointedexecutive directors of the company from July 1. Hemsley willremain an executive director on the board.

Ham and Mitchinson have both worked at Numis for at leastseven years. Ham joined in August 2005 and has been head ofcorporate broking and advisory since last May. Mitchinson joinedin October 2008 from UBS and has been head of equities sincelast May.

Numis is currently ninth in the Thomson Reuters league tablefor EMEA ECM deals, having worked on 12 transactionscollectively raising US$1.835bn. These figures were bolstered bylast month's £687m sale of 31% of Saga on behalf of privateequity backer Acromas.

Even before that transaction, Numis had enjoyed recordrevenues in the six months to the end of March, up 24% to£56.8m. Adjusted pre-tax profits rose 35% to £19.3m. (Reporting by Christopher Spink)