EDINBURGH investment house Ivory & Sime saw its profits tumble during its last nine-and-a-half months as an independent entity.
Results released yesterday cover the period to mid-February, when Ivory merged with English life office Friends Provident's asset management division to form Friends Ivory & Sime.
Ivory earned pre-tax profits of #3.39m in the 293-day period, compared with #6.89m in its previous financial year. Multiplying the #3.39m up to a full-year equivalent of #4.22m, profits were down nearly 39%.
The latest numbers include more than #1.5m of compensation received by Ivory for termination of its contracts to manage the Enterprise Capital and Baronsmead investment trusts. But they also include a #1.55m charge relating to a diminution of goodwill on its Baronsmead development capital subsidiary, which had previously been written off against reserves.
Friends Ivory's company secretary, Ian Paterson Brown, said integration costs totalling ''a couple of hundred thousand'' pounds had been incurred prior to the merger's completion and that the actual transaction had cost a similar amount. He also cited provisions relating to the preparation of systems for the year 2000.
Shares in Friends Ivory, in which Friends Provident has a 63% stake, lost 3p to 212p in a plunging stock market yesterday.
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