Company News in Brief

Coutts Consulting, the educational and business trading group run by former Midland Bank chairman Sir Kit McMahon, reported a steep decline from pounds 1.2m pre-tax profit into pounds 4.9m taxable loss for the year ended 31 December.

The losses were largely due to the termination of the lease on a building where its training division was located for pounds 6.45m.

Loss per share was 20.56p, compared with earnings of 1.85p previously.

Despite the losses, the share price moved up 2p to end the day at 96p after an upbeat statement on future prospects. No dividend was declared.

James Crean, the industrial holding company based in Dublin, climbed from Ir pounds 15.4m taxable loss to make Ir pounds 15.9m pre-tax profit on higher sales of pounds Ir245.3m (Ir pounds 226.1m) for the year ended 31 December. Earnings per share recovered to 20.6p (loss 76.1p). Final dividend is Ir7.87p, making Ir13.5p (Ir12.5p).

Waterman Partnership, the engineering consultancy group, achieved a sharp increase in pre-tax profits from pounds 56,000 to pounds 106,000 for the six months to 31 December. Earnings per share were maintained at 0.2p as was the interim dividend at 0.5p.