Meet the Hardman & Co team

The Hardman & Co team comprises specialists across oil and gas, mining, technology, media telecoms, engineering, financial services, healthcare, support services, retail, property, pubs, breweries and leisure.

Roger Hardman

Roger Hardman founded Hardman & Co after spending 11 years as head of Small Company Research at Hong Kong Bank James Capel. He realised that the golden age of investment coverage of small companies in the conventional stockbroking environment was drawing to a close. Another way had to be discovered in order to provide investment managers with much needed research on companies with a sub £500m market cap.

He began his career in journalism, editing the Mining World and the Investors Guardian. At the Sunday Times his work led to the investigation by Parliamentary Select Committees of the brain drain of British scientists to work abroad, and to abuses in company pension schemes, this latter investigation led to a change in the law, strengthening employee pension rights. He also unsuccessfully campaigned against the safety risks in Roll-On Roll-Off ferries two years before the Zeebrugge disaster. Later, when City Editor of Financial Weekly, he came top of the newspaper share tipster league table for two consecutive years.

At Hong Kong Bank James Capel, he and his team were rated highly in the Greenwich and Extel surveys. His team pioneered the stockbroking research analysis of shares from an environmental viewpoint with publication of 'The Green Book', and helped over 20 companies to a stock exchange listing.

When not researching, he enjoys cycling (Lands End-John O'Groats, Prague-Venice), mountain bike racing, long distance running, and occasionally canoeing.

Roger can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Doug Hawkins

Doug Hawkins has combined a 30 year career in equity capital markets, both as a sector analyst and investment banking business generator, with a lifelong involvement with agriculture, first in the NZ dairy sector and for the past 25 years farming beef under an organic system in England.

Coupled with direct operational experience of farming, Doug has developed a worldwide network of contacts in the producer sector and with key players throughout the value chain.

Doug’s capital markets experience was developed at James Capel & Co [where he and Roger Hardman were colleagues] during the 1980s and with Nomura International in London during the 1990s and first half of this decade. At Nomura Doug was variously head of the International Telecommunications Research Team, head of International Logistics Research Team, Head of International Equities Research and a member of the Investment Banking team.

At Hardman & Co, Doug is developing a research and consultancy franchise centred on agricultural land & agri-business investing.

Doug can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Stephen Thomas

Stephen joined from Teathers. He is a highly-experienced analyst, with a broad range of experience. He has been a small/mid-cap analyst since 1993, initially at Rathbones and then at Teathers. Covering, primarily, corporate stocks, he has focused mainly, but not exclusively, on companies in the services and financial sectors. At Rathbones, he was also a member of the corporate finance team. His earlier Stock Exchange career was as an analyst in the oil sector, with the gas and water sectors being added at privatisation.

Post university, he began his career with a brief spell as a retail banker; it has also included experience in accountancy and insolvency.

Outside the office, his interests include music, walking — he has reached the Pyrenees on a walk to Compostella that he joined in Saumur — and gardening. He is also an active member of the community at St Albans Cathedral.

Stephen can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Mike Foster

Mike Foster’s 30 year City career includes a decade in fund management and two in sell-side research at Peel Hunt and elsewhere. At British Rail Pension Fund and Eagle Star Investment Management he was manager, variously for gilts and equity portfolios, for pension and retail funds. Industry sectors covered comprise construction, support services and real estate. During his sell-side work, Mike was involved in researching and marketing fund raises well in excess of £1bn. As a director of a small company since the early 1990’s and a fund manager, Mike is focused on some of the pressures faced by management and the way fund managers have to manage time to get the best information. He has a geography degree from Cambridge and is founder trustee of a small funding charity.

Mike can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Rae Ellingham

Rae joined Hardman & Co in 2006 from the Bank of New Zealand's Investment Management team where she was employed in equities research and funds management. Holding a Masters degree in Commerce and Management with First Class Honours she brings a breadth of knowledge and experience to the team from her coverage of companies across a broad range of industries. She is currently focused for Hardman & Co on the property, healthcare and retail sectors.

She has an interest in contemporary art of which she has an eclectic collection, is a science fiction/fantasy buff and is currently studying the German language. Rae has an interest in her genealogy and has traced her ancestors back to Bedfordshire in 1729 - one of the reasons for relocating to the UK.

Rae can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Mark Parfitt

Mark joined the firm in November 2003 as a qualified geologist who has maintained an active trading interest in the stockmarket. Having gained a joint honours degree in Geology and Chemistry he continued to obtain a Masters degree in Petroleum Geochemistry. Within the firm, his research principally covers the energy and energy services sectors though his interests extend to the wider area encompassing emergent technologies related to future energy demands. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of London (FGS), an associate member of the Royal Society of Chemistry (AMRCS) and a member of the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB).

In his spare time, Mark can occasionally be found wandering Torridon or Knoydart, abseiling from large buildings or pursuing that elusive first edition.

Mark can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Ian Falconer

Ian joined the company at the start of 2007. He gained a first degree in Environmental & Resource Geology from Manchester University and a Masters in Mining Geology from Camborne School of Mines. He has first hand experience of mining operations covering alumina to zircon, managing open pit operations, and several years experience working offshore in the oil industry as a geologist. His experience working overseas is complemented by Fellowship of the Geological Society of London (FGS) where he actively participates. He has recently gained a second Masters degree, from The University of Exeter, in Energy Policy and Sustainability. He will be concentrating on the mining sector and has a special interest in the shifting natural resource requirements implied by evolving energy policies around the world.

Ian's holidays involve surf or snow, when and if they are available. He is a governing member of the RNLI and has a strong interest in coastal safety. In his spare time he is also undertaking a part-time doctorate examining information flow and the nature of influence in online news media and between citizen journalists.

Ian can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Yingheng Chen

Yingheng has an economics degree from the London School of Economics, and has passed the Level 2 Chartered Financial Analyst qualification. She joined Hardman & Co from The Agricultural Bank of China. She plays Freestyle Chess internationally at competition level. She is also a keen Ten Pin Bowling player. She is fluent in Cantonese and Mandarin and has a thorough understanding of the Chinese financial and business markets as well as of those in the UK.

Yingheng can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking

Kim Parks

Kim is our office manager, and responsible for the systems, administration and accounting functions. She joined Hardman and Co in 2011 bringing with her much experience and knowledge from differing industries and sectors, as well as from running her own public house with her husband for five and a half years.

Kim has interests in performing arts, visual arts, literature, history, architecture and people watching, all of which she draws on for writing inspiration. In her spare time she continues with studying towards her BA degree, whilst also managing to find the time to create her first commissionable screenplay.

Kim can be contacted on 020 7929 3399 or by email by clicking