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                       E U R O P E

         Thursday, May 25, 2000, Vol. 1, No. 14

                       Headlines

C Z E C H   R E P U B L I C

VITKOVICE A.S.: Steelworks on the Verge of Collapse


G E R M A N Y

FLOWTEX TECHNOLOGIE: Only $268M of Creditors' Money Recovered


U N I T E D   K I N G D O M

BENFIELD AUTOMOBILE: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
BOO.COM: Staff is Laid Off as Rescue Talks Continue
DEPARTURE TRAVEL: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
EGG INTERNETBANK: Highest Profile UK Casualty Delays IPO

GLAMORGAN SERVICES: Notice of Receivership Proceedings
GLAZE UK: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
HARRIS & WALEY: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
HIGH OAK: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
HOUSTON PRINTERS: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings

INTERMARKET FUTURE: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
MARKS & SPENCER: Once Great Retailer has Plummeted
MESSAGE LTD: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
MAVERICK KNITTING: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
MIRKAS LTD: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings

MOORSIDE STABLES: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
NETIMPERATIVE: Internet Company Called in Liquidators
ROVER GROUP: E3.36bn Losses & E3.33bn Total Debt Liabilities
WRIGHTS & DOBSON: Announcement of Administration Proceedings


===========================
C Z E C H   R E P U B L I C
===========================

VITKOVICE A.S.: Steelworks on the Verge of Collapse
---------------------------------------------------
PRAGUE, May 23 (Reuters) - The Czech government's restructuring
programme for troubled state-controlled steelworks Vitkovice a.s.
will offer creditors between 10 and 65 percent on their
receivables, the Finance Ministry said on Tuesday.

According to the plan, approved by the cabinet on Monday, the
partial debt buyout would be done by the state restructuring
agency, Revitalizacni Agentura.

Vitkovice, 67 percent state-owned, has debts of 11 billion crowns
($275 million) and is on the verge of collapse. The company,
which employs about 11,500 people in the eastern Czech city of
Ostrava, lost 8.6 billion crowns last year, facing recession in
the sector and competition from east European producers.

The government plan calls for the partial buyout of the
receivables, an 8.9 billion crown basic capital reduction through
slashing the face value of shares to 130 crowns from 1,000
crowns, and debt-for-equity swaps.

The plan offers creditors owed between 10 million and 200 million
crowns 15 percent of their receivables. Any receivables over 200
million crowns are offered 10 percent in cash.

Holders of Vitkovice's one billion crown bond issue, due on June
22 this year, will get 15 percent.

The proposal will allow small creditors with receivables of up to
five million crowns to get 65 percent back on their credits.
Receivables of between five and 10 million will receive 55
percent of the nominal value.

Under the plan, the company will then offer remaining creditors
not choosing to sell off their receivables a court settlement
giving them either equity in Vitkovice or government-guaranteed
convertible instruments paying 30 percent of the original
receivable.

The company is then expected to split into four main divisions
which would be gradually sold off to investors.

Large creditor banks of Vitkovice have signed a standstill
agreement valid until April 2001.

The government material said the plan was still threatened by
potential bankruptcy petition, but stressed creditors would only
get about five percent of their receivables if that was the case.
Vitkovice's largest bank creditors include the state-owned
Konsolidacni Banka s.p.u., IPB a.s., Raiffeisenbank, and
Ceskoslovenska Obchodni Banka a.s.


=============
G E R M A N Y
=============

FLOWTEX TECHNOLOGIE: Only Euros 300Mln. of Creditors' Money
Recovered
-------------------------------------------
The Financial Times    May 23, 2000

Three months after the collapse of FlowTex Technologie, the
German drilling equipment maker that ran up debts of at least
DM2.3bn (Euros 1.18bn, Dollars 1.05bn) through questionable
funding schemes, only about Euros 300m (Dollars 268m) of
creditors' money has been recovered.

In one of Germany's biggest corporate scandals, the prosecutor's
search for the assets of FlowTex's two owners has stretched as
far as Uruguay and reportedly involved the seizure of a yacht in
Miami and a luxurious chalet in St Moritz.

Creditors of the privately owned group, comprising about 80 banks
- including Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank - and around 60 leasing
companies, meet today for a second time to discuss the extent of
the damage.  

FlowTex's demise comes only a few months after the near-collapse
of Phillip Holzmann, Germany's largest construction group, which
accumulated debts of DM2.4bn on property deals.

Manfred Benkert, the auditor overseeing the FlowTex case, said
that while it was still unclear how many assets remained,
creditors stood to recover little of their money.

Assets seized so far were worth Euros 300m at most, while the
"(DM2.3bn debt) level could well be exceeded," he said.

Mr Benkert said the complex structure of the Schmider-Kleiser
holding, which owns FlowTex, had certainly "played a role" in the
alleged deception.

Prosecutors in Mannhein say Manfred Schmider and Klaus Kleiser,
FlowTex's two founder-directors, used a web of banks and leasing
firms to set up complex contracts under which they leased non-
existent drilling equipment to companies under their control.

Auditors have said they have found roughly 3,500 leasing
contracts for drilling equipment, of which only about 270
machines physically existed. Mr Schmider and Mr Kleiser were
detained in February, and are under investigation for tax evasion
and fraud.

The scandal is a blow to Dresdner Bank and Commerzbank, which
were forced to withdraw a Euros 300m bond issue for FlowTex hours
after a preliminary seizure by prosecutors of the Ettlingen-based
group's assets.

It is understood the issue was withdrawn before investors had
paid for the bonds.

Standard & Poor's, the rating agency, had given FlowTex a triple
B minus rating beforehand, based on audits by the Berlin arm of
KPMG.

The two banks, S&P and KPMG, have said they were helpless in the
face of the perfect criminal deception by FlowTex.

Commerzbank and Dresdner Bank have fully written down their
losses, which they refused to quantify.

Some bankers, however, say the episode demonstrates a failure of
the due diligence process by which a company's financial records
are examined before it issues securities.

"A glance at the Handelsregister (the German corporate register)
would have been enough to see that the groups these machines were
being leased to belonged to the FlowTex holding . . . or, for
example, that one key company . . . was run by Mr Schmider's
former secretary," said one industry observer.  


===========================
U N I T E D   K I N G D O M
===========================

BENFIELD AUTOMOBILE: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
------------------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name :    Benfield Automobile Transmissions Ltd
Previous Name :  Company No: 2076758
Com. Business :  Motor Engineers
Appointed on :  12/05/00
Type   :  Creditors
Appointed by :  Creditors
Liquidators  :  Salman Saud IPno: 6042
Firm Name  :  Rifsons Saud
Address  :  105-111 Euston Street
City Postcode :  London NW1 2EW


BOO.COM: Staff is Laid Off as Rescue Talks Continue
---------------------------------------------------
The Daily Telegraph    May 23, 2000

BOO.COM'S liquidators yesterday laid off 225 staff out of a total
of 250 from the London headquarters of the collapsed internet
fashion retailer, as negotiations continued with half-a-dozen
possible buyers.

KPMG, the liquidators, said they were still in talks with "five
or six potential buyers".  

The accountancy firm hopes to sell the business in the next few
days, but said there was still "a possibility that a successful
sale will not be acheived and the liquidation will continue to
its conclusion".

Liquidator Mick McLoughlin said he was optimistic that the staff,
who have not been paid for a month, would be able to find jobs
quickly. "We are aware that a number of agencies and outside
parties are making job offers to many of those made redundant."


DEPARTURE TRAVEL: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
---------------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Departures Travel Ltd
Previous Name :
Company No  : 1942205
Com. Business : Travel Agency
Appointed on : 11/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Stephen J Wainwright IPno: 5306
Firm Name  : Poppleton & Appleby
Address  : 32 High Street City
Postcode  : Manchester M4 1QD


EGG INTERNETBANK: Highest Profile UK Casualty Delays IPO
--------------------------------------------------------
Financial Times   May 23, 2000

Egg, the British internet bank, became the highest profile UK
casualty of the plunge in technology shares on Tuesday when it
delayed the pricing of a planned initial public offering that was
expected to value it at ?1.5bn to ?2bn ($3bn).

Prudential, the UK insurance company that owns Egg, had hoped to
get the flotation under way with the issue of the prospectus and
an indicative price range on Wednesday.

But Goldman Sachs, Pru's advisers, decided it was impossible to
set the price in the volatile market for tech stocks.

One adviser to the company said there was now only a 50:50 chance
of getting the prospectus out this week.

However, the Pru said it had not yet missed its public deadline
of Friday to set indicative pricing for the float. "No decision
has been taken on the exact timing of that announcement," it
said. "Markets are difficult and, of course, we are reviewing the
situation on a daily basis."

Egg is the latest company to have its flotation plans disrupted
by the market volatility. On Saturday, Yes TV, the UK video on
demand company, pulled its ?560m float, having already delayed it
and cut the price. TeleCity, the internet infrastructure company,
postponed its ?700m float on Monday and Egg's announcement was
accompanied by a changes of heart from Project Telecom, the UK
wireless services provider, and Opal Telecom, the Telecoms
reseller, which both postponed their flotations.

"You couldn't choose a worse week to float," one Egg adviser
said.

Goldman Sachs is understood to be considering setting a very wide
price range for Egg in order to get the listing under way later
this week.

But it is also hopeful that it can distinguish the business from
the mass of dotcoms because of its status as a regulated bank and
its strong management. Egg's team is led by Roberto Mendoza, the
respected former JP Morgan investment banker who recently became
chairman, and Mike Harris, chief executive, who helped found
First Direct.

Analysts working for the syndicate, which includes UBS Warburg,
Cazenove and Morgan Stanley as co-lead managers, expect Egg to
break into profit in 2002 or 2003.

Pre-tax profit forecasts for 2004 range from ?115m-?177m. But
independent analysts said they were "in the dark" as Egg had
released very little data.


GLAMORGAN SERVICES: Notice of Receivership Proceedings
------------------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Glamorgan (Roof & Floor) Ser Ltd
Company No  : 976713
Com. Business : Erection of Roof Conversions
Trade clasif. : 23
Appointed on : 10/05/00
Type   : Administrative
Receivers  : Gary Stones IPno: 6609,
Firm Name  : Stones & Co
Address  : Road City
Postcode  : Swansea SA1 4PT


GLAZE UK: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
-------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Glaze UK Ltd
Company No  : 3092485
Com. Business : Home Improvements
Appointed on : 11/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : David P Hudson IPno: 8977
Firm Name  : Begbies Traynor
Address  : The Old Exchange 234 Southchurch Road City
Postcode  : Southend-on-Sea SS1 2EG


HARRIS & WALEY: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
-------------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Harris & Waley Ltd
Previous Name : Darrit Ltd
Company No  : 1671350
Com. Business : General Engineering Supplies
Appointed on : 11/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Simon M Gwinnutt IPno: 8877
Firm Name  : Smith Cooper
Address  : Majority House 51 Lodge Lane City
Postcode  : Derby DE1 3HB


HIGH OAK:  Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
--------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : High Oak Ltd
Company No  : 2682773
Com. Business : Purchasers/Refurbish Steel Building
Appointed on : 11/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Robert Valentine IPno: 3569
Firm Name  : Valentine & Co
Address  : 4 Dancastle Court 14 Arcadia Avenue City
Postcode  : London N3 2HS


HOUSTON PRINTERS: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
-------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Houston Printers Ltd
Company No  : IR
Appointed on : 12/05/00
Type   : Members
Appointed by : Members
Liquidators  : J B O'Sullivan IPno:
Firm Name  : J B O' Sullivan & Co
Address  : Westboro House Montenotte City
Postcode  : Cork


INTERMARKET FUTURE: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
-----------------------------------------------------
Insolvency  UK

Company Name : Inter Market Futures Ltd
Company No  : 3122148
Com. Business : Traders/Brokers
Appointed on : 11/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Bhagu Mistry IPno: 5762
Firm Name  : B Mistry & Co
Address  : Pride House Rectory Lanr City
Postcode  : Edgware HA8 7LG


MARKS & SPENCER: Once Great Retailer has Plummeted
--------------------------------------------------
The Times    May 24, 2000

After three months at Marks & Spencer, Luc Vandevelde has
concluded that the business can, eventually, retrieve its
previous level of success. This, coupled with the flagellation of
the expected dividend cut, was enough to send the shares bounding
up by more than 18 per cent.

The reaction shows just how far expectations of the once great
retailer had plummeted. Mere reassurance that it will survive was
greeted with some relief but the canny Belgian was not about to
play down the scale of the task he faces. In fact, some of his
comments make one wonder how M&S continued trading at all, let
alone rang up profits of more than ?1 billion, as it did just a
couple of years ago.

Clearly, there must have been problems building up below the
surface at that stage but Peter Salsbury, who succeeded Sir
Richard Greenbury as chief executive 18 months ago, has not yet
managed to reverse them. Yesterday's figures show pre-tax profits
plunging from ?628.4 million to ?517.2 million, if an extra week
of trading is stripped out of the equation.

If M&S was losing touch with its customers under Greenbury's
reign, those figures indicate that it has yet to regain it. The
clothing figures are dismal even in comparison to the poor
trading figures of some competitors.

But the group had also failed to keep up with a hugely
competitive retail market in other ways. Its distribution systems
were slow; its merchandising out of date and this at a time when
newcomers were turning up the heat with lower prices.

The long-serving M&S team simply could not address such deep-
seated failings alone. Vandevelde has been brought in to bring
new thinking to an old organisation. Yesterday did not give much
insight into that thinking apart from the need to rid the firm of
some of the old guard and find some new talent. The crucial
second half of that strategy has yet to be implemented, which
should be a cause of some concern to investors.

Vandevelde has packed Baker Street with consultants as he tries
to work out the way to inject new energy and ideas into the
group. His aim is to create "a multi-channel retailer with unique
customer understanding". This, sadly, is not a unique aim and is
probably shared by most of the high street chains, although they
might find it difficult to explain quite how it is to be
achieved. But he is clear that the biggest priority is to
concentrate on getting the UK end of the business functioning
properly.

For years M&S had gloried in being a truly international
retailer. Vandevelde is not convinced that it deserves that
label. He is said to be unimpressed by the overseas operations
into which so much investment has been sunk and is radically
rethinking how they should function.

What seems certain is that M&S will never be the same dominant
force that it once was. The cut in the dividend does not just
signal that the new boss intends to be tough; it signifies a new
era in which M&S accepts a different, and smaller role.


MESSAGE LTD: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
----------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Message Ltd
Company No  : 2425547
Com. Business : Ladies Wear Fashion Manufacturers
Appointed on : 11/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Andreas G Kakouris IPno: 4691
Firm Name  : Kakouris & Michaelides
Address  : 43 Blackstock Road City
Postcode  : London N4 2JF


MAVERICK KNITTING: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
----------------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Maverick Knitting Ltd
Company No  : 3578833
Com. Business : Fabric Manufacturers
Appointed on : 12/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Paul A Saxton IPno: 6680
Firm Name  : Elwell Watchorn & Saxton
Address  : 109 Swan Street City
Postcode  : Sileby LE12 7NN


MIRKAS LTD: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
---------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name : Mirkas Ltd
Company No  : 3568522
Com. Business : Dressmakers
Appointed on : 12/05/00
Type   : Creditors
Appointed by : Creditors and Members
Liquidators  : Andreas G Kakouris IPno: 4691
Firm Name  : Kakouris & Michaelides
Address  : 43 Blackstock Road City
Postcode  : London N4 2JF


MOORSIDE STABLES: Notice of Liquidation Proceedings
---------------------------------------------------
Insolvency  UK

Company Name      : Moorside Stables Ltd t/a S.J. Mahon
Company No        : IR
Appointed on      : 12/05/00
Type              : Creditors
Appointed by      : Members
Liquidators       : James Stafford
Firm Name         : Friel Stafford
Address           : 13 Fitzwilliam Square City
Postcode          : Dublin 2


NETIMPERATIVE: Internet Company Called in Liquidators
-----------------------------------------------------
The Daily Telegraph   May 23, 2000

Meanwhile, a small privately held business news and information
internet company, Netimperative, also called in the liquidator
yesterday.

Investors, including internet broker Durlacher and Esouk.com,
refused to back the company further, in a sign that backers are
becoming increasingly sceptical about the value of some internet
ventures.

Netimperative had hoped to raise a further pounds 600,000 for the
next three or four months.

Its failure leaves 37 staff working without pay, while liquidator
Kroll Buchler Phillips tries to sell the business in less than a
fortnight.

Lee Manning, a partner with Kroll Buchler Phillips, said: "We've
got a lot of goodwill from the staff, who were taken by surprise.
They expected the company would be able to raise more capital."

Netimperative, headed by Felicia Jackson, a former editor of New
Media Investor, has sales of just pounds 10,000 to pounds 15,000
a month against overheads of pounds 150,000. Its net assets total
pounds 10,000. Durlacher held a 28.5pc stake, for which it paid
pounds 570,000 or just under 2pc of its investment portfolio at
cost.  


ROVER GROUP: E3.36bn Losses & E3.33bn Total Debt Liabilities
------------------------------------------------------------
Financial Times  May 23, 2000

BMW considered closing Rover Group a year ago amid mounting
losses and debts at the troubled UK subsidiary, the German
carmaker's annual report reveals.

Writing in the report, Prof Joachim Milberg, BMW chairman,
appeared to contradict previous statements that the group decided
to withdraw from Rover only recently.

"The alternative of the closure of the British plants under
discussion a year ago would have meant a dramatic loss of jobs in
the United Kingdom," he said.

The newly-published accounts also put Rover's total losses for
1999 - including restructuring provisions - at E3.36bn, far
higher than previously reported.

The figures indicate that Rover Group - which is being broken up
its German parent - had a negative shareholders' equity last year
of E782m.

"In simple terms, the equity and reserves of Rover could no
longer cover the losses," a senior BMW official said last night.
The losses are far higher than the E1.2bn deficit ascribed to
Rover's "ordinary business activities".

In the accounts, Prof Milberg said the deteriorating performance
of Rover and the strength of sterling had forced the carmaker to
reassess its commitment to the company earlier this year. He
added that the rise in sterling wiped Dm1bn off BMW's balance
sheet last year.

As part of the break up, Rover Cars is being transferred to the
Phoenix Consortium, a loose alliance of businessmen, for a token
?10. Ford Motor Company is close to completing the E3bn
acquisition of Land Rover, the off-road brand.

In a deal likely to be announced today, Ford will assume Land
Rover free of debt. As disclosed in March, it will pay E2bn up
front for Land Rover and a further E1bn in 2005.

Both BMW and Ford are expected to deny recent reports of a rift
over Land Rover's valuation and debts.

BMW's accounts, meanwhile, put the total debt liabilities of
Rover at E3.33bn last year, up more than 30 per cent on the
E2.53bn reported for 1998. Company officials admitted that the
figures were higher than those reported in the group's balance
sheet, partly to meet international accounting standards.

In order to cover those liabilities, they said, Rover had been
recapitalised by converting part of its debt-mountain into
equity.

Costs associated with the recapitalisation, enabling Rover and
Land Rover to be sold debt-free, are expected to be covered by a
previously-announced E3.15bn restructuring charge against BMW's
1999 results.


WRIGHTS & DOBSON: Announcement of Administration Proceedings
------------------------------------------------------------
Insolvency UK

Company Name        : Wrights & Dobson Ltd
Company No          : 1855222
Com. Business       : Bleachers/Dyers/Finishers
Trade clasif.       : 08
Appointed on        : 09/05/00
Type                : Administration Order
Administrators      : R Robinson
Ipno                : 2531  P Stanley  8123
Firm Name           : Begbies Traynor
Address             : Elliot House  151 Deansgate
City Postcode       : Manchester  M3 3BP



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