For the second year running, Bank of America Merrill Lynch came out on top in the annual battle over which broker provides the best research on European companies, despite a change at the very top of the bank's research franchise.

The results of the annual Thomson Reuters pan-European Extel survey, which took in the views of over of 16,000 buyside, brokerage and corporate professionals, were announced this afternoon at a ceremony in London's Guildhall.