Tory donor David Ross has bad year with family firm Cosalt

David Ross, the Conservative donor and Carphone Warehouse founder, today admitted his family firm was hit hard last year as profits dropped by a quarter.

Profits at Cosalt, the ships supply company of which a Ross has been director for three generations, fell from £7.23 million to £5.49 million in what Mr Ross called "a year of consolidation".

Mr Ross, who was hit by allegations from a Lithuanian escort girl over Christmas, stepped down as chairman for a year after secretly using Carphone shares as security for personal loans. He returned last summer after leading a £17 million fundraising.

Mr Ross said Cosalt would concentrate on its core safety equipment and services for the offshore oil and gas industry and was pleased with contracts it had recently won or had renewed.

The firm has decided not to pay a dividend, following last year when it halved the payout to 6p a share. Mr Ross would have received about £2 million from Cosalt's dividend at last year's level, compared with the £6.75 million he received on his Carphone shares last year.