Friends Ivory & Sime, the listed UK fund management group, has pledged that its acquisition of Royal & Sun Alliance Investments (R&SI) for £240m (€386m) will be earnings enhancing in the year to December 2003, after amortisation of goodwill.
Shares in Friends rose 11% to 247p as analysts scrambled to upgrade their earnings estimates. "Friends has secured a life assurance contract which will generate a strong income for years, giving it a decent window to build up the third party assets which come with the deal," said one.
