Welcome to the Listed Firms Committee

THE MPF PROFESSIONAL SERVICES INDEX

It is a radical departure for professional firms to list on a public stock market, so firms are allocated across 18 sub-sectors in the FTSE Industry Classification Benchmark ('ICB'), making our industry near invisible and leading to an inefficient after market. With some 100 listed companies on the Full List and AIM that meet the MPF Definition of a professional firm (see below), the MPF Professional Services Index has been compiled by Noble Group to enable investors, firms and funds to track the performance of a fast growing and highly profitable industry.

More information is available from the Engaging with external investors campaign page.

DEFINITION OF A PROFESSIONAL FIRM

The MPF defines professional firms as organisations whose products & services are based on professional expertise rather than on discrete products or commodities. To qualify, 80% of an organisation′s core business activities must require a specialised knowledge of a subject, field or science, and satisfy at least four of the following six criteria:

• Involves higher level education and usually a formal qualification.
• Regulated by a professional body, licensing authority or similar.
• Has an ethical code of practice.
• Do not derive significant financial benefit from service or product providers that are recommended.
• Services can be infrequent, technical or unique.
• Selection is usually based on a mix of skill, knowledge, reputation, ethics and creativity.

Chair: Alan Hodgart - Alan is Principal of H4 Partners. He has specialised in working with professional firms for over 20 years on strategic development and on aligning their organisation to their strategic goals through practical steps. Alan has an extensive client base throughout Europe, the US and Asia Pacific.

Deputy Chair: Graeme Bayley, Noble & Co

Graeme Bayley - After graduating in Physics from Southampton University, Graeme qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand and immediately moved into corporate finance. Graeme then joined HSBC Investment Bank where he co-founded the award winning Growth Companies team. He subsequently worked as a director at Ernst & Young before joining Noble in January 2005 as a director in corporate finance. Graeme has extensive experience of a wide range of public and private transactions including IPOs, takeovers, acquisitions, disposals, placings and capital raisings..

David Organ - David graduated with a first class Master’s Degree in Engineering from Imperial College London. He spent the next year studying Law before spending a short period with Clifford Chance in their Hong Kong office. Today David is a Partner in Vacancysoft, a technology based company supplying competitive intelligence and research services to the recruitment industry.

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