The £1.013m charge for the year comprised £452,000 specific and £10,000 general provision against advances secured on residential property, and £551,000 against other advances secured on land.

The company said it will take a $381.5m (£247.8m) charge in the fourth quarter because of the failures.

SCOTTISH Television reported better than expected figures in the half year to end June despite a £2.3m charge to cover the cost of voluntary redundancies and early retirement.

Net loss for the year to June 30 was $2,795.5m, struck after a $489.5m charge for a change in benefits accounting, up from a loss last time of $617.4m, on turnover up 0.1% at $13,931m.

Nashua Corp has reported first quarter net profit of $2.6m against losses of $10m last time, after $10.1m charges due to the cumulative effect of an accounting change last time, on turnover up 16.8% to $141.1m.

Dun & Bradstreet Corp saw first quarter net losses of $35.4m, after $140.6m charges due to the cumulative effect of an accounting change, against $98.2m profits last time, on sales down 3.3% to $1,071.4m.

There were tales, too, of brushes with the police - he'd lost his licence for a while for being drunk m charge of a car - and other things.

Net profit for the nine months fell 11.0% at $29.1m after a $43.5m charge for the cumulative effect of the change in the method of recognising revenues, on turnover that rose 25.9% at $1,030m.

British Telecommunications Plc has reported net profits for the year to March 31 down 40.2% at £1,220m, after £1,030m charges for voluntary redundancies, on turnover that fell 0.7% to £13,240m.

AstraZeneca fell 2.8pc after revealing it will take a $381.5m pre-tax charge in the fourth quarter, and GlaxoSmithKline shed 1.6pc.