DIAMOND GEEZERS TAKE PANMURE INTO PROFIT

CITY stockbroker Panmure Gordon has turned its first profit since ex-Barclays bosses Bob Diamond and Rich Ricci took the helm.

The business, which dates back to 1876, bagged a £3.1m profit last year. That followed a £5.5m loss in 2020 and a £28.8m loss a year earlier.

Diamond, who was boss of Barclays between 2011 and 2012, bought a majority stake in Panmure along with the Qatari family in 2018.

He later roped in Ricci, pictured, his former right-hand man who ran Barclays’ investment bank, to be chief executive. They and Jerry del Missier, were known as the ‘three musketeers’ during their time at Barclays.

But they suffered a fall from grace when Diamond was branded the ‘unacceptable face of banking’ by then-business secretary Lord Mandelson due to his enormous salary, exploitation of tax loopholes and oversight of the Libor rigging scandal.

Panmure’s change in fortunes last year was due to a rise in its number of corporate clients, which almost doubled from 53 to 91, Ricci told the Financial Times.