Barings blames Tokyo collapse

BARINGS, the merchant bank, yesterday blamed the recent dire state of the Japanese stock market for its disappointing 1992 pre- tax profits, which at pounds 21.3m were half 1991's total of pounds 42.5m, writes John Willcock.

Peter Baring, chairman, said that exceptional reorganisation costs of pounds 8.9m at the Baring Securities broking division were the chief culprit, whereas the rest of the group 'did better'.

Profits rose at Baring Asset Management and there was a significant contribution from Dillon Read, the New York investment bank, in which Barings bought a 40 per cent stake last year.

Barings announced last September that it had been forced to lay off 108 staff in Baring Securities and had made a pounds 10m provision against the costs involved.

However, the broking division returned to profit in the final quarter of 1992 and 'continues to develop its leading position in the Asian and Latin American markets,' the bank said.

Mr Baring said that Japan 'had not been an easy place to do business' in 1992, but there was no possibility that Barings would follow County NatWest and withdraw from the Tokyo stock exchange.

Baring Asset Management 'had a successful year achieving higher profit and increasing funds under management from pounds 17.8m to over pounds 22bn'. In corporate finance, Mr Baring said, 'we had a good share of the available business' in a quiet market for M&A.