Morse Plc has agreed to sell its UK and Jersey investment management consultancy business after it notched up an operating loss of £44,000 in the six months ended 31 December 2008.

The UK IT consultancy group confirmed the dramatic move yesterday afternoon. It sold the biz to Navigant Consulting, which is a European subsidiary of Wall Street-listed Navigant Consulting Inc, without shareholder approval.

Morse said the only other option for the struggling business unit would have been to immediately close it down at a cost of £0.75m.

Navigant, which was the only buyer to step forward with an offer, agreed to scoop up the business on the proviso that Morse didn’t seek shareholder approval for the sale to avoid further delays.

Morse will get an initial £1.3m in cash on completion of the deal, with a further £04m dependendent on how well the business performs in the 12 months ended June 2009.

Shares in Morse are currently trading up 9.48 per cent at 7.62 pence on the London Stock Exchange. ®