But what really made life unbearable was the fact that his colleagues called him "Sebastian", after the lovelorn prime ministerial aide from the BBC comedy series Little Britain David Walliams, though, is not gay Probably. The messages are thoroughly mixed, and he probably rates as the country's highest-profile "metrosexual" Tall, handsome, clever - and camp. He was named as co-respondent in a recent divorce case concerning a woman he had met at a party for the upmarket lingerie shop Agent Provocateur who had omitted to mention her marital status. Tottenham Hotspur season ticket holder with his 18-year-old son.. At the beginning of the year, in the first successful case brought under the 2003 Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Act, a former executive at a waste management company in Essex was awarded £35,345 by an employment tribunal after suffering homophobic taunts. I think I'll have that on my gravestone," he says.Winning his spursAge: 46.Education: Studied economics at Nottingham University.Career: Qualified as a chartered accountant while working as a management consultant Joined Hoare Govett in 1987, then Panmure Gordon in 1992 Various roles at West LB Panmure. He then worked as a management consultant and qualified as a chartered accountant.
He admits that despite holding a Tottenham Hotspur season ticket with his son, his only real hobby is the firm.During the interview, Mr Linacre pulls out a slim history of Panmure and recites from it: "Panmure Gordon maintained its traditions for careful dealing and integrity. His first job was as a pyschiatric geriatric nurse in Glasgow. During his time at Nottingham University, he ran the students' union, then the Conservative students' organisation. But new firms have sprung up in the last few years - Evolution, Numis, Bridgewell - carving out niches in the small- and mid-cap arena while the big investment banks are mainly chasing larger companies.Like Old Harry, Mr Linacre hails from Scotland. With other old stockbroking names gone - James Capel, Rowe & Pitman and Scrimgeours were all snapped up by big investment banks in the 1980s after Big Bang made such mergers possible - and Cazenove linking with JP Morgan last year, it looked for a while that traditional British stockbroking was dying out. There could be similar deals in Asia and the company also continues to push into Europe.Proud of Panmure's heritage, Mr Linacre reiterates that the firm will remain a pure corporate and institutional stockbroker rather than become a full-service investment bank.
With costs stable at £20m, that would mean pre-tax profits of £10m (after a £10m bonus pool) next year and £3.6m this year.Reaching out to the other side of the Atlantic, Panmure has recently struck a partnership agreement with the New York firm CE Unterberg Towbin, which allows it to attract US institutional investors to its UK companies and to sell them UK research. Altium forecasts revenues of £25m this year, jumping to £40m next year. "One of the things I'm sure has underpinned the success of the firm is that everybody in the firm has equity including the receptionist," Mr Linacre notes. Management and staff own a third of the company (Mr Linacre and Mr Wyatt hold a 5.5 per cent stake each) while Lazard retained another third, with the remainder owned by institutional investors.The Linacre-Wyatt team certainly has a big task on its hands rebuilding the old City franchise. Mr Linacre, who cut his teeth at Hoare Govett, now part of ABN Amro, admits that Panmure, with a market value of £88m, might still lack scale - it is smaller than most of its stockbroking rivals - but stresses it is growing rapidly.The 126-strong firm acts for 106 corporate clients including WPP and Associated British Foods, writes research on 750 companies and investment trusts, and makes a market in 480 stocks. The stock-market listing enables the firm to incentivise staff.