Direct Sharedeal, the Glasgow-headquartered stockbroker, slipped into a loss during the year in which it was taken over by secretive former non-executive director Roland Witton.

Direct Sharedeal, the Glasgow-headquartered stockbroker, slipped into a loss during the year in which it was taken over by secretive former non-executive director Roland Witton, The Herald can reveal - but the company yesterday insisted it will be back in the black this year.

Under the changing of the guard, Singapore-based Witton has become the majority shareholder after buying chunks of shares from founders Gordon Perry, who left the board in June, Andrew Palfremen, who resigned from the board last November, former finance director Malcolm McNiven, who left the board in June, and former marketmaker Enrico Eusebi.

Former directors William Carmichael and Jonathan Carswell also had sizeable stakes before the takeover.

All the former major stakeholders are understood to now have significantly reduced holdings in the company - although none has sold all their shares.

Perry and Palfremen have stayed with the company under its new ownership, but are no longer board members. Eusebi resigned in 2004, but had remained a big shareholder.

No financial details of last year's takeover deal were provided. However, Tom Bell, Direct's chief operating officer who was appointed in August, confirmed Witton was now the majority shareholder and that the company was expanding its London operation.

Bell said: "I understand that the founders just felt it was time to cash in and spend more time on the golf course. There's nothing else to it."

Meanwhile, under the reorganisation, Witton's son, Daniel, has also joined the Direct board.

The company has re-invented itself several times following the demise of the proposed alternative stock market, ScotX, which was thwarted by tumbling stock markets and dwindling investor confidence following its launch in November 2001.

Direct's founding execution-only share trading business is now just one of its offerings.

According to its latest set of accounts, obtained by The Herald from Com- panies House, the West Regent Street operation swung into a £57,914 pre-tax loss for the year to the end of March, 2008, compared with a pre-tax profit of £101,185 the year before.

Turnover inched up to £1.95m, compared with £1.94m last time.

Bell said: "The loss is related to transition of owner-ship, but the company will certainly be back in profit in the current financial year.

"There are also still tough trading conditions out there.

"But I have to say that we are seeing real growth in our spread-betting and CFD services."

CFDs, or contracts for difference, are sophisticated market instruments under which contracts between two parties stipulate that the seller will pay to the buyer the difference between the current value of an asset and its value at contract time.

However, the company's accounts also revealed: "Average commission per trade for the execution-only part of the business has slightly decreased for equity trading, as our higher-value clients move to our advisory service in London, to approximately £30 per trade from £36 per trade."

Transaction volumes also decreased, the accounts noted.

Direct which was launched in 1999, entered into a strategic alliance in 2004 with Sharewatch, an Irish financial internet portal.

It later signed a deal with Computershare Ireland, the country's leading share registrar, to undertake dealing on its behalf.