your concerns are not unwarranted, broadly speaking, in that in some cases there can be too cosy a relationship between brokers and listed companies.
However, there are a few things that need mentioning here: - Mark Jones is indeed a Director of Patersons. - He is the Non-executive Chairman of Elemental, not the CEO. It's not unusual for any listed company to have brokers on the board. It can be beneficial, especially when raising new funds to do so. - Patersons have had a buy recommendation on ELM for some time now, so I don't see anything sinister in them reissuing that recommendation.
What I do see as strange is that the good doctor driller took so long to put a recommendation out on ELM
K2P Price at posting:
$2.13 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held