INVESTMENT holding group Quyn, which owns well-known property services brand Colliers International, is showing signs of a turnaround.

The group reported yesterday that income before tax in the year ended September was R699000 compared with a pretax loss of R18,5m the previous year.

Headline earnings a share came in at 1,5c from a loss of 27c on turnover of R95,9m from R89,5m.

Quyn was considered a failed investment holding group by a number of observers following a rough time over the past two years.

The group plunged into crisis when management of its main asset, Colliers International, disintegrated after an apparent disagreement over operations strategy.

Colliers was a hot takeover target at one point as other players in the property services industry were hoping to take advantage of its crisis and pick it up for a song.

The group said its other subsidiary, Quyn Outsource, which merged its advisory and human resource divisions, had produced significantly improved results since the merger in March this year.

Quyn is changing its year end to February and would accordingly publish audited results for a 17month period next year.

Directors said they were confident the group would show positive results at the end of the period.