First Toronto loss includes writedowns

For the same period last year, the company reported a gain of $1.4 million (24 cents per share). Included in this year’s results for the first nine months is an extraordinary gain of $2.7 million. A quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share has been suspended.

New president and chief executive officer of the company is Michael Carter. Former joint chief executive officers John Byrne and Chris Kyriakou remain directors and significant shareholders of the company.

A third-quarter loss of $38.8 million ($3.01 per share) was reported by First Toronto, compared with a loss of 792,000 (15 cents per share) for the same three months in 1988.

The writedowns of assets follow a review undertaken by the new management. The company says these assets, most of which are in Australia, were written down to reflect more fully their true value.

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