5 October – trading statement
The group has recently encountered significantly more challenging trading conditions particularly in its UK advisory activities. As a leading provider of professional services to the public sector, the demand for these has lessened as the Government looks to cut costs and, as a result, pre-tax profits for the current year will be below previous expectations. With talks continuing about a possible takeover of the company, it would probably be wrong to sell at this stage but the shares are no more than a HOLD.