H&R Block said it expects the acquisition will boost fiscal 2000 earnings by 6 cents to 8 cents a share, assuming the inclusion of six months of Olde Financial's operations.

The company expects the transaction also will boost fiscal 2001 earnings by 20 cents to 30 cents a share.

A Thomson/First Call survey of seven analysts produced a mean earnings estimate of $2.70 a diluted share in fiscal 2000. A survey of four analysts estimated the company would earn $3.23 a diluted share in the fiscal 2001.

H&R Block said Olde Financial's chairman and founder, Ernest J Olde, will have no ties with the company after the transaction. Last fall, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the National Association of Securities Dealers fined Olde Discount a combined $5.35 million for advertising and sales-practice abuses in the early '90s. Olde waspersonally fined $1 million by the SEC and given a 12-month suspension from "association" with companies or individuals in the securities business. The companies expect to complete the transaction by the end of 1999.

Olde Financial, Detroit, provides brokerage and other financial services. The company currently has more than 6,00,000 active accounts with total equity of more than $37 billion. H&R Block reported fiscal 1999 income from continuing operations of $237.8 million, or $2.38 a basic share and $2.36 a diluted share, on revenue of $1.64 billion.

Olde Financial had pro forma net income of $33.2 million and revenue of $171.5 million for the first six months of 1999.

The Wall Street Journal