David is CEO & Chairman of Dowgate Wealth and Chief Executive of our sister company, Dowgate Capital. His early career was in commercial banking and asset finance, which he admits to drifting into with a history degree from Cardiff University in 1974. He made the transition into stockbroking a few years ahead of the Big Bang, becoming a number one rated financials analyst for 15 years at a number of well known firms including BZW, James Capel and UBS. He moved into a broader role in corporate broking during the DotCom boom of the 1990s and was involved in the flotation of a number of exciting companies which survived the inevitable crash, notably Sports Internet Group which was taken over by Sky and made investors over 20 times their money in little over a year. After joining Numis in 2001 he was responsible for a number of exciting growth companies such as Dominos Pizza, Alliance Pharma and LTG, all of which increased in value many fold.
As Numis became focussed on larger capitalised companies, David “retired” at the age of 63, but his passion for growth companies led him to perhaps the final chapter of his long career and, with some former Numis colleagues, a controlling stake in Dowgate through its parent company, 3B Capital. In a short space of time, the ability of David and his colleagues to identify exciting growth companies has already chalked up excellent returns for investors in the likes of S4 Capital and Franchise Brands.
He sees wealth managers as a key element in helping these emerging companies to grow as many private investors are excluded by the bigger investment houses from participating in the early stages of financing the stars of the future and the funding gap is not filled by the dwindling interest in small companies by institutional investors. Through carefully managed conflicts of interest and a relationship that is both simultaneously close but arms length at the same time, Dowgate Wealth is able to have access to these companies, provided always that they meet the investment criteria of the underlying clients.
Dowgate Capital has a number of core principles when looking for companies to back, and chief amongst them is quality management with a proven track record and, above all, skin in the game. With their own money at stake, the chances of success are greater and the likelihood of overcoming inevitable setbacks is further intensified. With significant equity stakes, the Dowgate team practices what it preaches. The time involved in building Dowgate leaves little time for hobbies, but there is just about time for the odd ski trip, a terrible round of golf and then a commiserating glass of fine wine. As he says, life is too short to drink cheap wine, just as it is to invest in bad companies.
We have made it as simple as possible for you to open an account with us. If you need any assistance, you can contact us via our online messaging portal, however, if you would prefer to have a conversation over the phone, a member of our team would be delighted to help.