Mark McDonald

Nomura International Plc provides a variety of financial services including advisement, investment banking and asset management. It trades in and sells fixed income and equity products, including related derivatives; and provides investment banking services, and corporate finance and private equity services. The company is also involved in asset and principal finance business. It offers investment advisory and management, custody, and employment services. Nomura International was founded in 1981 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Goldman Sachs International (GSI) is the Great Britain-based, wholly-owned brokerage subsidiary of Goldman Sachs Group UK Ltd., ultimately held by The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) in the US. The firm was founded in 1988 and formerly known as Trushelfco Ltd. Headquartered in London, GSI provides prime brokerage, securities lending, futures services and financing services for a range of clients such as corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net worth individuals.

Merrill Lynch International (MLI-UK) is a brokerage firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 1988 and is a subsidiary of ML UK Capital Holdings Ltd., ultimately owned by Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) in the US. MLI-UK provides brokerage services to individual and retail clients.

HSBC Bank Plc provides commercial banking and financial services. It operates in four businesses: Retail Banking and Wealth Management, Commercial Banking, Global Banking and Markets, and Global Private Banking. The Retail Banking and Wealth Management business offers personal banking, mortgages, loans, credit cards, savings and investments and insurance services. The Commercial Banking business offers financial products and services to enable them to operate efficiently and meet their business aspirations. The Global Banking and Markets business offers capital financing, transaction and advisory banking services, trade, research, securities services and global liquidity and cash management. The Global Private Banking business offers investment management, incorporating advisory, discretionary and brokerage, private wealth solutions, comprising trusts and estate planning services. The company was founded in 1865 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Citigroup Global Markets Ltd. (CGML) is an international broker-dealer firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 1983 and is a subsidiary of Citigroup Global Markets Holdings Bahamas Ltd., ultimately held by Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) in the US. CGML has a major presence in the international financial markets as a dealer, market-maker and underwriter in equity and fixed income securities and offers risk-based solutions to producers and investors in commodity markets. They also provide corporate finance services to a wide range of corporate, institutional and government clients. Their trading activities encompass cash, exchange traded and OTC derivative markets.

Société Générale SA (UK) (Société Générale UK) is the Great Britain-based brokerage division of Societe Generale SA (XP: GLE, ADR: SCGLY) in France. Headquartered in London, Société Générale UK was founded in 1993 and provides broking services.

Panmure Gordon (UK) Ltd. (PGL) is the stockbroking subsidiary of Panmure Gordon & Co. Ltd. in Great Britain. Headquartered in London, the firm was founded in 2003 and provides corporate finance advice, distributes and trades securities and produces investment research to UK small and mid-cap corporates and investment companies. PGL has access to capital markets via a range of equity and equity-linked products such as IPOs, accelerated book buildings, placings, rights issues, and bought deals. The firm's institutional equities department provides UK-focused research, sales and trading services to institutional investors in the UK, US and Europe.

HSBC Continental Europe provides banking and asset management services. The firm offers corporate finance, treasury, capital markets, new issues and origination, and security services. The company was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Paris, France.

Morgan Stanley Investment Management Ltd. (MSIM) is an asset management firm headquartered in London, UK. Founded in 1986, the firm is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investments (UK), ultimately held by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) in the US. MSIM offers a range of investment and risk management solutions to institutional and professional investors worldwide.

JPMorgan Securities Plc is a brokerage firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 1992 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JP Morgan Capital Holdings Ltd., ultimately owned by JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) in the US. JPMorgan Securities provides market research, proprietary pricing data and analytics, and trade execution across multiple asset classes such as credit, equities and FX. They help institutional investors, traditional and alternative asset and fund managers, broker dealers and equity issuers meet the demands of changing markets.

HSBC Bank (Turkey) AS provides international banking services. It provides personal financial services, corporate, commercial, investment banking, treasury and capital markets services. The company was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Istanbul, Turkey.

Founded in 2002 by Hunter Thompson and William Davis, Thompson Davis & Co. (TD & Co.) is an independent investment research firm and broker/dealer located in Richmond, Virginia with an additional office in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The firm is a member of FINRA and the SIPC. TD & Co. provides unbiased, original research and services to institutional and retail investors. They do not perform research on companies for investment banking opportunities. TD & Co. also offers a full-range of financial services ranging from financial planning and private money management to corporate and municipal bonds. TD & Co.'s research team employs a focused methodology. They seek to identified, under followed, undervalued growth companies. The firm uses computer screens that look for companies with sequential revenue and earnings growth and strong balance sheets that are selling at a discount to their growth rates. Specifically, TD& Co. looks for companies with several characteristics: (1) 20% + revenue and earnings growth (2) sequential revenue and earnings growth, i.e., quarter over quarter improvement in both the top and bottom line (3) top management is buying the company's stock in the open market with their own money (4) significant management ownership of the stock (5) strong balance sheets with little or no debt or manageable declining debt, strong cash position or debt reduction efforts (6) operating in a growing market sector (no deep cyclicals or natural resource sectors) (7) gross margin expansion and market share gains and (8) selling at a discount to the company growth rate, allowing for p/e expansion toward growth rate.

Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in London, UK. They are a subsidiary of Alliancebernstein Corp. of Delaware, ultimately held by Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH) in the US. Founded in 1999, the firm provides fundamental research and full service execution services to institutional clients globally. They offer bottom-up coverage and portfolio strategies supported by sophisticated quantitative tools.

HSBC Securities & Capital Markets (India) Pvt Ltd. (HSBC Securities India) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in Mumbai, India. The firm was founded in 1994 and is a subsidiary of HSBC Investment Bank Holdings BV, ultimately held by HSBC Holdings Plc (LON: HSBA) in Great Britain. HSBC Securities India offers services in Investment Banking (IB), Infrastructure and Real Estate, Equities research and stock broking. Infrastructure and Real Estate Group services are provided to governments, large corporates and top-tier banks. Equities research and stock broking primarily cater to the institutional client base which includes foreign institutional investors, foreign portfolio investors, local institutions, mutual funds, insurance companies, and select high net worth and corporate clients.

Barclays Capital Securities Ltd. (BCS) is the brokerage subsidiary of Barclays Bank plc, which is owned by Barclays Plc (LON: BARC), an international financial services group in Great Britain. The firm was founded in 1985 and is headquartered in London with offices worldwide. BCS provides prime brokerage services which include equities and fixed income financing, OTC Clearing, Futures and Foreign Exchange Prime Brokerage and access to industry insights and analytics.

Credit Suisse Securities (Europe) Ltd. (Credit Suisse Europe) is the Great Britain-based brokerage subsidiary of Credit Suisse Investment Holdings (UK), itself a subsidiary of Credit Suisse Group AG (SWX: CSGN) in Switzerland. The firm was founded in 1966 and formerly known as Credit Suisse First Boston (Europe) Ltd. Headquartered in London, Credit Suisse Europe arranges financing in international capital markets, provides financial advisory services and acts as a dealer in securities, derivatives and foreign exchange on a principal and agency basis for corporate and institutional investors.

Cheuvreux International Ltd. (Cheuvreux International) is the Great Britain-based brokerage subsidiary of Kepler Capital Markets SA in France. Established in 1984, the firm was formerly known as Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux International Ltd. In 2013, Kepler Capital Markets SA acquired Crédit Agricole Cheuvreux from Crédit Agricole Corporate & Investment Bank and Credit Agricole Cheuvreux International Ltd. changed their name to Cheuvreux International Ltd. Based in London, Cheuvreux International provides a range of equity brokerage services including research, distribution, sales trading, trading, corporate access, ETFs, corporate brokerage and research & execution to the retail networks of the Crédit Agricole Group.

Morgan Stanley & Co. International Plc (MSCI) is a brokerage firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 1986 and is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley Investments (UK), ultimately held by Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) in the US. MSCI provides a range of brokerage services to corporations, governments and financial institutions.

BNY Mellon Investment Management EMEA Ltd. (BNYMIM EMEA) is the Great Britain-based asset management subsidiary of BNY Mellon International Asset Management Group Ltd., ultimately owned by The Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) in the US. Founded in 1973, BNYMIM EMEA is headquartered in London and utilizes the skills of specialized investment managers to provide a range of asset management services for governments, pension plan sponsors, corporations, foundations, advisers, intermediaries, individuals and families, and family offices.

Part of HSBC Holdings Plc, HSBC Europe BV is a holding company. The company is based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Founded in 2001, HSBC Europe functions as a holding company.

RBC Europe Ltd. is the Great Britain-based broker/dealer subsidiary of RBC Europe Ltd., itself a subsidiary of Royal Bank of Canada (TSE: RY) in Canada. Headquartered in London, the firm was founded in 1970 and provides a full spectrum of brokerage services specifically tailored for both retail and institutional investors. The firm is active in several markets, exchanges, and electronic trading platforms.

Macquarie Capital (Europe) Ltd. (MCEL) is the London-based subsidiary of Macquarie Group Ltd. (SY: MQG), a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment and fund management services. Operating as part of the Macquarie Capital Advisers division, MCEL provides investment advisory services in the UK and in continental Europe. In relation with Macquarie Securities Group, they provide access to Asia Pacific markets for European clients. In terms of research, MCEL supplies macro-economic, markets and stock level analysis to a diverse range of clients. Their capabilities cover equity, debt, ForEx, futures, metals and mining worldwide, economics and strategy. In 2009 Macquarie Group acquired the international brokerage firm Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller LLC. The London branch Fox-Pitt, Kelton Ltd. was absorbed into MCEL.

Bernstein Autonomous LLP (dba Autonomous Research) is an investment research firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 2009 and is a subsidiary of Sanford C. Bernstein (Autonomous UK) 1 Ltd., ultimately owned by Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH) in the US. Autonomous Research provides fundamental analysis and thematic work on financial companies globally. Their clients are large institutional investors along with private equity firms, regulators, financial advisors and corporations who value the firm's research for its in-depth, intellectual approach and high quality.

The Centre for Economic Policy Research is a research and policy network that focuses on the recent rise of populism and its implications for economies. The Centre was founded in 1983 and is based in London, UK. The organization aims to find answers to important questions regarding the phenomenon, such as why it has happened, why now, why in some countries and not in others, and whether it is actually a problem and what should be done about it. The CEO is Tessa Ogden.

Deutsche Bank AG provides corporate banking and investment services. It offers asset and wealth management, corporate banking and securities and global transaction banking solutions. The company was founded in 1873 and is headquartered in London, the United Kingdom.

Investec Bank Plc (Broker) (IBP) is the brokerage arm of Investec Bank Plc, itself a subsidiary of Investec Plc (LON: INVP) in Great Britain. Headquartered in London, IBP was founded in 1950 and they offer a full spectrum of brokerage services specifically tailored for corporate clients.

The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. (Broker) (HSBC-Broker) is the brokerage division of The Hongkong & Shanghai Banking Corp. Ltd. in Hong Kong. Their ultimate parent is HSBC Holdings Plc (LON: HSBA), a multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in London, UK. HSBC-Broker provides securities brokerage services to their clients.