PACKAGING company Macfarlane Group (Clansman) issued a profits warning yesterday which wiped 8% off its share price.

Similar information was released to Macfarlane shareholders at the company's annual meeting last week. But the Glasgow-based group said yesterday that its stockbroker, Speirs & Jeffrey, did not consider it ''significant enough'' at that time to warrant an announcement through the Stock Exchange.

In spite of its view, Speirs & Jeffrey subsequently issued a note on the company in which it downgraded its estimate of Macfarlane's 1998 profits from #24.0m to #22.5m.

When asked by The Herald last week why the annual meeting statement had not been released through the Stock Exchange, Macfarlane finance director Andrew Reekie said: ''It is not anything we felt warranted anything like a Stock Exchange announcement.''

Stock Exchange rules dictate - where a company's directors know of a change in performance and ''knowledge of the change is likely to lead to substantial movement in the (share) price'', the company must notify the Exchange's announcements office of all relevant information ''without delay''.

Lord Macfarlane, chairing his last annual meeting of the company he founded 49 years ago, had told shareholders last Tuesday: ''The reorganisation of the plastic moulding division and the integration of ACW from Aberdeen into (Daniel) Montgomery's factory at Kirkintilloch was not well managed and major shortcomings were identified in the efficiency and productivity of the facility. This has seriously affected profitability and sales, which will not be recovered until the second half of the year.''

Yesterday's statement addressed exactly the same issue but quantified it in terms of damage to pre-tax profits. It said: ''The plastic moulding division rationalisation has been broadly on schedule, although the costs have been significantly above budget.

''Therefore, in the first half of the year, this division will be adversely affected by approximately #2m more than originally anticipated due to increased costs and a temporary loss of business.''

Glasgow-based Speirs & Jeffrey is joint ''house'' stockbroker to Macfarlane, with London's HSBC Securities.

Attempting to explain the debacle yesterday, a Macfarlane spokesman said: ''Last week at the annual meeting, the (Scottish) house broker's advice was the delay in the (integration) work wasn't significant enough for a Stock Exchange announcement. They subsequently issued a note which downgraded the forecast for the group.

''The London (house) broker was still sitting at a slightly higher profit number. The company thought it better to clarify the position today.''

Speirs & Jeffrey's Russell Crichton confirmed the extent of the profits downgrade. He said: ''I don't think there is much that I can really add. Obviously, we are acting as advisers to them and we do that in a private capacity . . . If we have given them advice, we regard that as private.''

Macfarlane's new chairman, former IBM executive John Ward, indicated yesterday that the decision not to release the announcement through the Stock Exchange had arisen partly because, though about #2m of profits would be lost in the first half, some of these would be recovered in the second six months.

''It is addressing the half-year results as opposed to the full-year results,'' he said.

Referring to the difference between Speirs & Jeffrey's revised forecast and HSBC's prediction, he added: ''We couldn't have two different numbers out there. That is why the statement went out.''

Ward said Macfarlane was ''delighted'' to keep working with Speirs & Jeffrey and that the company had had no communication with Stock Exchange authorities over the issue.

Macfarlane shares, which were unchanged after last week's meeting, lost 13p to 149.5p yesterday.

Ward emphasised that ACW was back on track, with all three of its major customers having given their blessing to new plant at Kirkintilloch. ACW's customers are largely in the healthcare sector.

Macfarlane's chief executive, Bill Mackie, stepped in to resolve integration problems at Montgomery following the departure of plastic mouldings chief executive Bob Martin and other senior staff.

Martin's permanent successor is expected to be announced next month and Ward said the enlarged Kirkintilloch facility, which had also encountered problems because it was ''very inefficient'', should get to ''full trading'' between August and October.