Exeter Investment Group, one of the firms at the centre of the split-capital trust scandal in the UK, has seen its assets under management tumble by nearly 50% in the past year, from £996m (€1.56bn) in 2001 to £491m.

Exeter's results for the year ending September 30 also revealed that the company made pre-tax profits of only £2m, down from £5.5m in the same period last year - a fall of nearly 64%.