Row leaves Collins boss £8.8m poorer

THE 'whistleblower' row at broker Collins Stewart has wiped £8.8m off the personal fortune of chief executive Terry Smith.

That is considerably more than the £3m claimed by sacked employee James Middleweek, whose parting shot - a 32-page document alleging serious regulatory breaches at the firm which he sent to the Financial Services Authority - caused the brouhaha.

Collins shares have crashed from 494p to 386 1/2p (down 2 1/2p yesterday) since Middleweek's accusations surfaced two weeks ago. Smith, who owns 4.7%, has been hit hardest. On paper, staff have lost £37m in total.

A survey by specialist publication Financial News offered some cheer for the firm. It undermined Middleweek's accusation that Collins Stewart had been responsible for poor quality small company floats.

Financial News tracked the share performance of 140 companies floated on the Alternative Investment Market since 2001. It found that Collins Stewart floats had underperformed by less than 1%, leaving the broker ninth out of 18 brokers. Smith said he was 'pleased, but not surprised'.

The row took a further bizarre twist over the weekend when Middleweek said someone had put a secret tracking device under his car. He has told Scotland Yard.

His lawyer asked Collins Stewart if it knew anything about the device. Collins says: 'It's preposterous - and nothing to do with us.'