Harvey Nash feels pinch

Shares in the company, which specialises in information technology, reached 928p at the height of enthusiasm for technology-related stocks last spring.

Nash also said its US operations would incur a loss this year. About 6% of turnover is made there. The company said profits before exceptional items in the first six months of this year would be significantly below the 5.8m earned in the first half of 2000. It made 13m in the year to January.

David Higgins, chief executive, said the company had been hit by a double whammy of a slowdown in the US economy and a decline in IT spending.