SIMPLE Minds frontman Jim Kerr wrote off (pounds) 214,000 on his listed company investments last year, but one of the companies through which the multi-millionaire runs his affairs still managed to post a healthy profit. A second firm, which Kerr co-owns with Charlie Burchill, the band's co-founder, saw its assets decline sharply, however.
Kerr owns Jim Kerr Management Consultancy - which is understood to have paid him (pounds) 4.1m from 1990 to 1996 - and 50% of Simple Minds Ltd, both based in Edinburgh. In the year to June 30, 2003, the former posted a post-tax profit of (pounds) 110,000, after deducting any payments made to Kerr during the period. Details of any such sums are not disclosed because the company files abbreviated accounts.
In addition to the write-off on investments, the accounts reveal that Kerr's company ran up a (pounds) 400,000 bank overdraft secured against the property assets of Neoscot, a subsidiary. Neoscot owns an Italian property development company, NeoKelt, a dis-
closure which may be linked to the fact that Kerr has recently built a luxury hotel in Sicily.
Simple Minds Ltd, by contrast, posted an after-tax loss of (pounds) 226,000, while its net assets declined from (pounds) 614,000 to (pounds) 354,000. This company owns 11% of Glasgow multimedia company 2Fluid Creative, which runs the Simple Minds website.
2Fluid Creative is run by Jacqueline Doherty, a Glas-gow businesswoman who became a millionaire before the age of 30 following the (pounds) 35m sale of Reality Group, the e-commerce company she co-founded with Tom Hunter and Chris Gorman. Simple Minds has an unlisted investment of (pounds) 84,000, which is understood to represent its interest in 2Fluid.
Kerr and Burchill stand to pocket a handy return on 2fluid if the company, whose turnover is forecast to top (pounds) 1m in 2004, prospers. The firm recently opened an office in Barcelona, where Doherty now spends much of her time.
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