At an awards ceremony in Frankfurt last night Kepler was honoured to receive the prestigious prize for top German research house in the annual Boersen-Zeitung survey. The Boersen-Zeitung is considered to be the only 'pure' financial newspaper in Germany and its annual Equity Analysts Awards are widely followed by the investment community. It publishes the survey in collaboration with ISFA (the Information Standard for Swiss Analysts) and with highly respected German institutions such as the BVI and the DVFA and in conjunction with Thomson Reuters.

Kepler was also recognised in the following categories:

#2 Best small/mid caps earnings estimates

#3 Best large cap recommendations

Thomas Karlovits, Head of German research, commented, 'This award is a ringing endorsement of all the hard work and long hours put in by the team. It is our highest ever ranking in such a survey and we will make sure that we subtly boast about it to our clients!'

Rene Seitz, Head of Kepler Capital Markets Frankfurt, is quoted in the Boersen-Zeitung as follows: 'The foundation of our success is the quality of our co-workers who on average have more than10 years each of experience as analysts. Also, the integrity and independence of our analysts are essential pre-conditions for the success of our research.'

Separately, there was good recognition for the accuracy of Kepler analysts' recommendations and estimates in the annual StarMine survey which was published in the Financial Times on Thursday, 14th May. Overall Kepler was ranked 10th equal in Europe for the number of awards.

Finally, on 25th April, Kepler analysts were named in first and second place for stock-picking in the annual 'Swiss Analysts Award 2009' which is run by the leading Swiss financial daily, Finanz und Wirtschaft.