KPMG earnings fall

NEWS Top five consultancy KPMG saw its profits fall by a third in the last quarter. For the period ended 30 September KPMG was expecting to bring in between $670m and $705m rather than the $609m it actually managed. A small profit of $22.3m was wiped out by an $80m accountancy charge, leaving a loss of $57.6m. The company said demand for its computer integration services had fallen sharply after the 11 September terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. KPMG said on Friday it would lay off 400 people, three per cent of is headcount, in order to cut costs.