AOL may have near tripled its quarterly profits but traders fear growth will fall when the Time Warner merger is completed. The world's leading ISP saw profit increase from $86 million to $224 million thanks to the growth in online shopping, rising advertising revenues and increased membership which now stands at 23 million. AOL has grown from making a $499 million loss in the 12 months ending June 1997 to profits of $92 million last year. Analysts reckon that growth in the merged AOL-Time Warner will be around 30 per cent rather than the 80 per cent AOL has enjoyed recently. ®