Business profile: Capital Investment Companies: one of the largest independent broker-dealers in the Southeastern United States expands while holding true to its Carolina roots.

• Position: SPONSORED REPORT

Like many North Carolina business success stories, Capital Investment Companies began with a dream and a business plan sketched out on a napkin at a local Raleigh restaurant in 1984 and has grown to blanket the Carolinas. Over the next 25 years, Capital would thrive in Atlanta, go further south to Florida and even expand to pockets of the Ohio Valley and reach as far away as Arizona.

The love of the Carolinas would grow deeper, and Capital would come to serve the most well-known businesses, manage some of the largest estate plans and serve the states' thriving native sons and daughters.

"We like to say we're 'good people working with good people' and that's how we've built our business," said Richard K. Bryant, president and founder of Capital Investment Companies.

"When Bobby Edgerton and I founded the company back in the '80s, we wanted to give investors a choice for an independent firm--not one affiliated with some New York City mega-firm--but one that could choose any financial program that best served our clients. Bobby has a passion for making sound investments and does a great deal of research to ensure that his choices are solid. I have a passion for taking care of our brokers in the field and our clients--whether they're individual investors or corporate."

While most firms needed to batten down the hatches during last year's economic storm, Capital was able to use their collective strength to grow in the down economy in terms of representatives and services. Capital Investment Companies brought on more than 30 new brokers in the past year and added additional services to their investment platform. For a mid-sized broker-dealer, Capital is unique because they now host a full suite of financial services which generally only larger, national firms can support.

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"I have known Bobby and Richard since before the formation of Capital Investment Companies over 25 years ago and have witnessed firsthand their constant guiding principle of placing the best interest of clients first," said Dan Bell, securities attorney at K&L Gates in Raleigh and formerly the state of North Carolina's chief securities regulator. "This is the characteristic of a premier financial services firm and has provided for solid growth through business cycles."

Growth in their banking division...