Arden Partners plc
19 July 2006


For immediate release                                               19 July 2006


      NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES, CANADA, JAPAN, AUSTRALIA,
        THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, MEXICO OR THE REPUBLIC OF IRELAND.

                               ARDEN PARTNERS PLC

                             FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS

Arden Partners plc ("Arden" or the "Company"), the research-led institutional
and corporate stockbroking firm, announces that the Company's shares have today
been admitted to trading on AIM. The Company's trading symbol is 'ARDN'.

Highlights of the Placing:

£3.0 million (£2.2 million net of expenses) has been raised for Arden via a
placing at 162 pence per share

£12.4 million has been raised on behalf of selling shareholders

On admission the market capitalisation of Arden at the placing price will be £40
million

The net proceeds of the placing will be used for working capital proceeds

The Business

Arden is an institutional stockbroking company which commenced trading in
November 2002. Its business consists of corporate finance, equity research,
equity sales and market making activities. The Company provides broking services
to, and advises on, a range of corporate finance transactions for small and
medium sized companies in the UK.

Since its inception, Arden has experienced a year-on-year increase in revenues
across all of its business streams. The Directors believe that the Company has a
strong reputation, as evidenced by a recent survey of UK small-capitalisation
fund managers undertaken by the Investors Chronicle, where Arden was ranked
eighth out of the top 30 AIM brokers.

In the year ended 31 October 2005, Arden raised £82.4 million on IPOs for its
clients and £87.6 million in other fundraisings in a total of 13 transactions.
In the current year, as at 30 April 2006, the Company has raised £58.6 million
on IPOs and £19.0 million in other fundraisings in a total of six transactions.

Of the 33 companies to which Arden was appointed broker, nominated adviser or
financial adviser as at 14 June 2006, 22 were companies trading on AIM and 11
were quoted on the Official List and their combined market capitalisation at
that date was £3.7 billion. Arden had approximately 160 institutional clients as
at 30 April 2006 and is developing relations with an increasing number of hedge
funds.

The main body of the research and institutional sales team at Arden has been
together for approximately 15 years, having first worked together at Albert E
Sharp Securities in Birmingham and then at Old Mutual Securities following Old
Mutual Securities' acquisition of Albert E Sharp Securities.

As at 14 June 2006, Arden employed 44 personnel, 16 of whom were located in
London and 2 of whom were located in Bristol. The remaining 26 members of staff
were based in the Company's Birmingham office.

Altium Capital Limited acts as both Nominated Adviser and Broker to Arden.


Tony Bartlett, CEO of Arden, commented:

"We are extremely pleased to have successfully completed our flotation on AIM.
The response from institutional investors to the fundraising reflects the
strength of Arden's position in the broking marketplace.   We believe this
listing will help the Company execute our business plan for the benefit of all
shareholders and we look forward to updating our shareholders, old and new, on
our progress in due course."


For further information, please contact:

Arden Partners plc                                      0121 423 8990
Tony Bartlett, Trevor Norris, Jonathan Keeling

Altium Capital Limited                                  0207 484 4040
Garry Levin, Marc Milmo, Sam Fuller

Buchanan Communications Limited                         0207 466 5000
Richard Oldworth, Mark Edwards, Nick Melson




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange