Armstrong Bonham Carter Armstrong Bonham Carter, 1 Angel Court, EC2R 7HJ, England

Graham Cole, Adviser

Graham has had a long career in advising growth companies on public offerings, capital raising, merger and acquisition strategy and has been involved in over 60 public flotations (London - Main Market and AIM, Europe - EASDAQ - now NASDAQ Europe). Has initiated, project managed and negotiated the acquisition and sale of a wide range of companies, both domestic and international, ranging from £2m to £50m.

Graham qualified as a chartered accountant with Blackburn Robson Coates, (later Robson Rhodes) and joined Deloitte Haskins & Sells in 1971 and was admitted to the partnership in 1979. There he was involved in a wide range of companies, from manufacturing through to service industries. Major clients and client liaison roles included IPC (Reed International), Hanson and GUS. Graham was the partner responsible for Deloitte's first public offering on the USM (the Unlisted Securities Market) and Star Computers (now Pizza Express!). He was a Founder Partner of the firm's Corporate Finance Division and specialised in bringing companies (both domestic and overseas) to the USM. Became the firm's national and European flotations partner (a role he continued following the merger with Coopers & Lybrand) and he was a member of the Firm's governing council. He was asked by the European Commission to carry out a report on the feasibility of a pan European Stock Market.

In 1995, together with two fellow partners Graham joined Beeson Gregory Limited as a director. Graham was also a member of Beeson Gregory's operating board and a member of the Group's Executive Committee.

Graham was the Co-founder and member of the executive committee of CISCO, now the QCA (Quoted Companies Alliance).

Graham is currently a Non-Executive Director of Stagecoach Theatre Arts PLC (Chairman), and Vantis PLC and he also sits on the board of the private Recruitment Investment Group Ltd. He was formerly a Non-Executive Director of Claims People Group PLC.