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and with the recent acquisition of N N of <unk> machinery manufacturer <unk> <unk> ag mr. rey has enjoyed the status of white knight |
<unk> preferred him to financier <unk> <unk> whose <unk> <unk> on the company 's stock had led to a bitter battle |
meanwhile as such strategic investments have mounted the <unk> arm of mr. rey 's omni holding has been <unk> buying and selling dozens of companies often after a financial or corporate restructuring |
today this branch of mr. rey 's empire runs under the name <unk> offering services and handles mergers and acquisitions placement of securities and real estate |
in its portfolio are such diverse companies as united <unk> air europe <unk> inc. a u.s. company that makes supermarket <unk> machines <unk> industries a u.s. manufacturer of securities systems <unk> systems inc. a u.s. regional telephone company and major real-estate projects in the u.s. and europe |
for financial analysts reading omni 's accounts is a tough challenge |
companies move in and out says <unk> <unk> of <unk> swiss investment |
financial analysts note that mr. rey is attracted to companies that are undervalued on the basis of their real-estate interests |
in august omni unexpectedly bought <unk> 's N N stake in <unk> ag of west germany a <unk> company |
the internal transaction within the rey empire <unk> <unk> 's small shareholders but analysts say it makes sense for <unk> to focus on its main businesses of product inspection and temporary help |
mr. rey says the move is yet another example of his <unk> |
he explains that companies with real estate give security |
the real estate can be used he points out as guarantees for bank loans for corporate development |
he says he wants to influence but not manage companies |
i do n't want to be like financier alan bond and the other <unk> |
i do n't want companies to be built around me as a person |
i want them to stand alone |
ultimate corp. signed a letter of intent to market hewlett-packard co. minicomputers the companies said |
ultimate expects the N 1\/2-year agreement to generate $ N million in sales but it would n't estimate profit |
under terms of the pact ultimate a <unk> concern will market the full line of <unk> N series N <unk> minicomputers |
hewlett-packard is based in palo alto calif |
in the second step of a reorganization that began earlier this year boeing co. said it will create a defense and space group to consolidate several divisions |
meanwhile boeing officials and representatives of the machinists union met separately last night with a federal mediator in an attempt to break the <unk> strike that has shut the aerospace giant 's assembly lines at a time when it has an $ N billion backlog of jetliner orders |
the two sides were scheduled to meet with the mediator this morning |
machinists already have rejected a package that would provide a N N pay raise plus bonuses over the three-year life of the contract |
boeing has said repeatedly it wo n't expand its offer and the machinists have responded that the offer is n't good enough |
however the resolve of some of the striking N machinists might be weakening |
about N <unk> signed <unk> last week calling for boeing and machinists representatives to schedule new meetings |
the two sides had n't met since oct. N |
while boeing 's commercial business is booming its military business is feeling the effects of a declining defense budget after a strong buildup during the reagan presidency |
in may the company consolidated its aerospace and electronics groups the new defense and space group will contain the aerospace and electronics division and advanced systems both based in the seattle area boeing <unk> in philadelphia boeing military airplanes in wichita kan. and <unk> in sunnyvale calif |
b. dan <unk> president of boeing aerospace and electronics will become president of the new group which will become operational jan. N |
in addition boeing said it also will <unk> all its work in wichita into military and commercial divisions |
all of the changes will reduce its overhead and streamline operations boeing said |
analysts agreed |
it 's a further step to better returns in the hemorrhaging defense business said steven <unk> an analyst with bear stearns & co. in new york |
they had to do it |
howard <unk> an analyst with <unk> lawrence morgan grenfell inc. in new york said the shift reflects boeing confidence in mr. <unk> described by mr. <unk> as an expert on doing business with the military |
his side of the business has been successful in a tough environment mr. <unk> said |
a two-day meeting of representatives of cocom the <unk> group that oversees exports of sensitive goods to communist countries did n't take any <unk> decisions on trimming the list of items under controls |
nor did it ease restrictions on exports to poland and hungary according to u.s. officials who attended the talks |
the u.s. had been under pressure from several cocom members especially france west germany and italy to ease restrictions on some types of machine tools which those countries argued were now widely available to east bloc countries from <unk> members |
for several years some european countries have complained that <unk> cocom lists and restrictions served more to <unk> their trade than to add to western security |
some countries also have been pressing for special treatment for hungary and poland as they move toward more democratic rule just as special treatment had been agreed on for china |
but u.s. officials said representatives at the meeting decided that this was a matter for further discussion at future meetings |
they added that all of us cocom members look at the changes in hungary and poland in a positive way but a question of this scope deserves further discussion and study |
the officials also said the meeting agreed to continue treating china as a special case despite the recent repression of dissent there but to offer no further concessions |
the u.s. officials said that despite the rapid changes under way in eastern europe and the soviet union all the cocom members agreed on the continuing need for this organization which was founded N years ago at the start of the cold war |
the officials said the meeting agreed to continue working toward streamlining cocom 's restricted products list and to improve procedures for <unk> companies that do n't comply with the export restrictions |
the officials said this meeting put in motion procedural steps that would speed up both of these functions but that no specific decisions were taken on either matter |
unisys corp. 's announcement friday of a $ N million loss for the third quarter showed that the company is moving even faster than expected to take write-offs on its various problems and prepare for a turnaround next year |
at the same time the sheer size of the loss coupled with a slowing of orders made some securities analysts wonder just how strong that turnaround will be at the computer maker and <unk> concern |
unisys is getting clobbered |
just clobbered said <unk> weil an analyst at weil & associates who had once been high on the company |
the quarter was terrible and the future looks anything but encouraging |
unisys whose revenue inched up N N in the quarter to $ N billion from $ N billion in the year-earlier quarter had an operating loss of about $ N million |
on top of that the blue bell pa. concern took a $ N million charge related to the layoffs of N employees |
that is at the high end of the range of N to N employees that unisys said a month ago would be laid off |
unisys said that should help it save $ N million a year in costs again at the high end of the previously reported range of $ N million to $ N million |
the company also took a write-off of $ N million to cover losses on some fixed-price defense contracts as some new managers took a hard look at the prospects for that <unk> business |
in addition unisys set up an unspecified reserve apparently $ N million to $ N million to cover the minimum amount it will have to pay the government because of its involvement in the <unk> scandal |
unisys also noted that it paid $ N million in taxes during the quarter even though tax payments normally would be minimal in a quarter that produced such a big loss |
the tax payments will leave unisys with $ N million in loss <unk> that will cut tax payments in future quarters |
in addition unisys said it reduced computer inventories a further $ N million during the quarter leaving it within $ N million of its goal of a reduction of $ N million by the end of the year |
still unisys said its european business was weak during the quarter a worrisome sign given that the company has relied on solid results overseas to overcome weakness in the u.s. over the past several quarters |
the company also reported slower growth in another important business systems that use the unix operating system |
that would be a huge problem if it were to continue because unisys is betting its business on the assumption that customers want to move away from using operating systems that run on only one manufacturer 's equipment and toward systems mainly unix that work on almost anyone 's machines |
in addition unisys must deal with its increasingly <unk> debt load |
debt has risen to around $ N billion or about N N of total capitalization |
that means unisys must pay about $ N million in interest every quarter on top of $ N million in dividends on preferred stock |
jim <unk> unisys 's president said he is approaching next year with caution |
he said the strength of the world-wide economy is suspect and does n't see much revenue growth in the cards |
he also said that the price wars <unk> up in parts of the computer industry will continue through next year |
he said the move toward standard operating systems means customers are n't locked into buying from their traditional computer supplier and can force prices down |
that he said is why unisys is <unk> its whole business it needs to prepare for a world in which profit margins will be lower than computer companies have been used to |
we 've approached this not as a response to a temporary condition in the industry but as a fundamental change the industry is going through mr. <unk> said |
the <unk> industry is still going to be a <unk> business and we 're confident that we have tremendous assets as a company |
but we do n't minimize the challenges of the near term |
securities analysts were even more cautious having been burned repeatedly on unisys this year |
some had predicted earnings of more than $ N a share for this year up from last year 's fully diluted $ N a share on earnings of $ N million |
but the company said friday that it had losses of $ N million through the first nine months compared with earnings a year earlier of $ N million or $ N a share fully diluted as revenue inched up N N to $ N billion from $ N billion |
and unisys is expected to do little better than break even in the fourth quarter |
so steve <unk> at first boston said he is cutting his earnings estimate for next year to $ N a share from $ N |
i was feeling like i was too high to begin with he said |
mr. weil of weil & associates said he will remain at $ N a share for next year but said he <unk> whether even that low target is at risk |
the break-even point for next year is much lower but is it low enough he asked |
reflecting the concern unisys stock fell a further N cents to $ N in composite trading friday on the new york stock exchange |
if a tv <unk> gets <unk> facing the camera again after a questionable forecast donald h. straszheim surely understands |
the chief economist of merrill lynch & co. finds himself in such a position as he <unk> the midwest on his first road trip since <unk> on a major prediction |
mr. straszheim expects he will take some heat and he 's right |
since the last time he traveled this way several months ago he has <unk> a series of bold forecasts of a recession |
in february N for example merrill lynch 's weekly commentary announced that the economy is likely to fall into recession in early N |
the forecasts were widely <unk> and in a <unk> ad campaign launched in the summer of N merrill lynch urged investors to buy bonds |
it said long-term interest rates then above N N could drop to N N by the end of N so bonds which benefit from falling rates would be a good buy |
the firm also raised the percentage of bonds in its model portfolio from N N to N N and later to N N |
but this september just when many market economists including some at merrill lynch believed that mr. straszheim was about to be proved right he took a <unk> if not a <unk> |
he <unk> the talk about a recession |
now in fact he is predicting economic growth of N N this year and N N next year a more optimistic outlook than the consensus of some four dozen top <unk> surveyed by blue chip economic indicators newsletter |
and just recently merrill lynch cut the recommended <unk> back to N N |
while such changes might sound minor they are n't merrill lynch manages or oversees some $ N billion in retail accounts that include everything from mutual funds to individual annuities |
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