Broker at the barber

It's been a year of comparative austerity for the top brass at Brisbane-based broking and funds management group Wilson HTM, who have borne the brunt of cuts to the cash bonuses that followed the fall in profits in the last financial year.

The annual report released on Monday reveals the cash bonuses to the firm's key investment team fell to $2.5 million in 2007/08 from $6.6 million a year earlier, which is a sharper slump than the 30 per cent fall in net profits over the same period.

Hardest hit were those at the very top. Executive chairman Steven Wilson saw his cash bonus slashed from $1.15 million to just $124,619, taking his overall pay down to $490,819 from $1.6 million.

The cash bonus of managing director Garry Lowrey also fell sharply, to $257,229 from $830,036, taking his overall pay down to $738,655 from $1.3 million.

The other big fall was suffered by head of institutional sales Duncan Gamble, whose cash bonus fell to $479,285 from $1.05 million, taking his total pay down to $898,566 from $1.36 million.

The cuts in cash bonuses for other executive personnel were less severe, but the overall pay packages were still down on the previous year.

Brad Usasz, the head of private wealth management, saw his pay go down to $534,000 from $711,000, while head of research Stephen Walsh's pay fell to $704,000 from $935,000.

Head of corporate finance Mark Burns, a former Deutsche banker who ran his own boutique firm TMT Partners for several years before joining Wilson HTM in May last year, received a total of $752,620 in his first full year, including a cash bonus of $376,145.

The fall in profits for the last year was sourced mostly to returns from the funds management division. Within the capital markets group, revenue from equity capital markets gained 8.6 per cent to $23.7 million from the $952 million raised, while the corporate finance advisory revenue jumped 48.9 per cent to $9.1 million.

Over the year its M&A clients included Arrow and Champ Private Equity, and it has current mandates for Sunshine Gas, coal group Felix Resources and US iron ore miner Cleveland-Cliffs.