Numis puts on the best performance overall with no fewer than six additional clients in a table where only one of the top 20 stockbrokers listed in August has an unchanged tally. This is the biggest improvement so far in a remarkable run of 12 consecutive quarterly gains that has brought the broker up from fifth to clear second.

Panmure Gordon has jumped five places, one for each client it has added in the past three months, and finnCap also leaps five clients and five places as these two move strongly into the top half. Panmure added two clients last time as well.

There is plenty more good news to record. For instance, Singer has three more clients. It came into the list in May last year with 52 clients and has built the total in all six quarters since then to reach 67. Investec in fourth place has two gains and so has Canaccord Genuity. Collins Stewart, currently sixth, has one addition. Peel Hunt and Shore Capital both edge into contention.

Cazenove continues to head all three tables, with UBS coming second when calculations are on the basis of profits or market caps of clients.

Figures as at 4th November 2011 and information in brackets from 3rd August 2011.