Earnings at Bermuda-based money manager W.P. Stewart & Co., Ltd. fell 14.2 percent in the third quarter, the company has reported.

The company ? which concentrates its investments in large, generally less cyclical, growth companies ? said it had net income of $12 million, or $0.26 per share (diluted) and $0.27 per share (basic), for the three months to September 30, compared with net income in the same period in 2002 of $14 million, or 31 cents per share (diluted) and 32 cents per share (basic).

Net income for the quarter ended 30 September 2003 of $12 million, adjusted for the add-back of $1.8 million, representing non-cash expenses of depreciation, amortisation and other non-cash charges on a tax-effected basis (?cash earnings?), was $13.8 million, or 30 cents per share (diluted).

In the same quarter of the prior year, cash earnings were $15.9 million (net income of $14 million adjusted for the add-back of $1.9 million representing non- cash expenses of depreciation, amortisation and other non-cash charges on a tax-effected basis), or $0.35 per share (diluted).

Assets under management at quarter-end were slightly more than $8 billion, relatively unchanged from the end of the prior quarter and an increase of 9.6 percent from $7.3 billion reported at 30 September 2002.

Total net flows of AUM for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 were $16 million, compared with $13 million in the comparable quarter of 2002 and a deficit of $76 million in the second quarter of 2003.

Revenues were $29.7 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2003, down 14.1 percent from $34.5 million for the same quarter in 2002. Revenues for the nine months ended 30 September, 2003 and 2002 were $89.5 million and $108.3 million, respectively.

Total operating expenses decreased 13.6 percent to $16.2 million for the third quarter 2003, from $18.8 million in the same quarter of the prior year. Total operating expenses were $52.8 million and $56.8 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2003 and 2002, respectively.