European Business News 96-08-21

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From: The European Business News Server at <http://www.ebn.co.uk/>

Page last updated August 21 9:30 CET

CONTENTS

[01] CS Holding reports a 20% rise in interim profits - slightly below market forecasts.

[02] Ofgas eases price controls for British Gas

[03] Germany's KHD revises 1995 losses

[04] Germany's Krupp Hoesch posts 17% earnings loss

[05] Orange heads deeper into the red - with first-half losses of 125 million pounds.

[01] CS Holding reports a 20% rise in interim profits - slightly below market forecasts.

Before minority interests, net profit rose 26%, the company said. Market expectations had called for an increase in the range of 25% to 50%.

The group said it expects its full-year result to surpass that of 1995, but added that provisioning for credit risks will remain high. CS Holding blamed the provisioning needs on the sluggish domestic property market and economy, which is 'hurting' small businesses.

The banking group set aside 541 million francs in the first half for doubtful loans, up from 340 million francs in the first half of 1995. Meanwhile, CS Holding said its previously announced restucturing is proceeding as planned. As reported, the company will rename itself Credit Suisse Group as of Jan. 1 and will organize into four business units.

[02] Ofgas eases price controls for British Gas

Ofgas said in a statement it has moderated its original price proposals set out in May. It said if the new proposals are adopted by TransCo, transportation costs will be cut by 20% in the year beginning April 1997 and ending April 1998, and by a 2.5% per-year saving after that.

This compares with a cut of between 20% and 28% in the first year and 5% thereafter, announced in May's first draft. The revision to a 20% price cut in the first year is what most utility analysts in London were expecting from the regulator.

But the price cut for the subsequent years, which effectively lops a figure equal to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) minus 2.5 percentage points off TransCo prices, is better than many observers had hoped for.

Nigel Hawkins, utility analyst at Yamaichi International Europe Ltd., called the RPI-minus-2.5 figure 'a significant concession from Ofgas and one I think the markets will quite like.'

It also makes the chances that the review will be referred to the U.K. Monopolies and Mergers Commission (MMC) 'far less likely,' Hawkins said.

[03] Germany's KHD revises 1995 losses

That compares with a loss of 308 million marks in 1994.

The 1995 revision is largely due to the discovery of a 779.1 million mark additional loss at the company's plant construction unit KHD Humboldt Wedag AG, the company said.

[04] Germany's Krupp Hoesch posts 17% earnings loss

Worldwide group consolidated sales grew 1% to 11.7 billion marks during that period compared to a year earlier, the company also said.

The figures were revised downward from preliminary data released by Krupp Hoesch at the end of June. At that time, the company had said pre-tax profit for the first half was 200 million marks on a sales increase of 3%.

[05] Orange heads deeper into the red - with first-half losses of 125 million pounds.

The U.K. mobile telphone operator was upbeat about future prospects, though, citing a rise in subscribers and a cashflow from operating activities that turned positive in the period.

For the six months ended June 30, Orange posted a pretax loss of 125.2 million pounds, up from a loss of 88.8 million pounds in the first half of 1995.

From the European Business News (EBN) Server at http://www.ebn.co.uk/

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