Trading firm, G-Research, is paying a fortune
G-Research, the London-based quantitative trading firm has a reputation for two things: being highly secretive and having strong links with the British Conservative party.
Being based in the UK, however, G-Research is obliged to file accounts with Companies House. Being highly secretive, it doesn't do so under its own name.
Instead, G-Research is linked to two entities: Island Research, LLP, a partnership based company which 'provides software development, research and IT support,' and Trenchant Employee Services, a company which provides 'software development, research and IT support' to Island Research. Both are effectively G-Research, which operates under the trading name of Trenchant Limited. And both have recently filed results with Companies House for 2022.
G-Research and the Conservative party are pretty cosy. Ben Leadsom, G-Research's CEO, is married to Andrea Leadsom, who has held a number of cabinet positions (and at one point even ran for party leadership). Peter de Putron, one of G-Research founding owners and an alleged Conservative party donor, is Leadsom's brother-in-law.
Results for both companies cover the year ending March 2023 and they suggest that it was pretty darn good.
Revenues at Island Research nearly doubled (although it’s worth pointing out that it was a 15-month reporting period compared to the 12 months before). The firm also paid out £83m ($101m) to its “members” as profit share, compared to the £59m ($72m) paid in the previous period. With the average number of members averaging 19, the implication is that each received an average of £4.3m ($5.3m) in this period, and £3.9m ($4.8m) in the last. The firm also states that key management personnel received £30.1m in total, although it's not clear whether this was simply the profit share allocated to 'non-corporate members' after the parent companies behind G-Research are excluded from the pot.
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Either way, the Conservatives at G-Research seem to be doing pretty well. Island Research has two members listed as having “significant control”: Trenchant Limited, the legal name of G-Research, and Peter de Putron, the founder of G-Research/Trenchant.
Away from the Conservative elite behind the very opaque G-Research ownership structure, the trading firm still pays well - but not quite as well as Jane Street or Citadel Securities. Trenchant Employee Services Limited employed 1,011 people (of which 676 were “non-administrative” staff) in the 15-month period ending 31 March 2023, and them paid a total of £302m in wages and salaries. That comes out to a rather cool £299k ($366k) per head, although adjusting for an annual period gives an average of £239k ($292k). This was below the £260k ($319k) per head paid in 2021, even though profits allocated to members at Island Research rose dramatically.
As we reported in October, G-Research has been moving technology staff to Dallas, presumably to cut costs. However, it's also been hiring. In the year to March 2023 it added 97 people in London. Island Research added a new partner this year in the form of Richard Ridgway, a man with a taste for ultramarathon running. People have been leaving too: Peter Adams, a partner who'd been there for two decades and was responsible for real time platform development, left in early 2023 and is now at Apple.
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