/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR

/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR_Public/010320.mbx T R O U B L E D C O M P A N Y R E P O R T E R E U R O P E Tuesday, March 20, 2001, Vol. 2, No. 55 Headlines * C Z E C H R E P U B L I C * MORAVIA BANKA: New Fraud Charges TRUCK INTERNATIONAL: Court Declares Truck Producer Bankrupt Z-GROUP: State to Pay Kc6 Billion in Z-Group Bankruptcy * F I N L A N D * F-SECURE OYJ: Extends Losses After Profits Warning * F R A N C E * INTERCALL SA: Liberty Surf to Takeover Intercall WESTERN TELECOM: In Payment Default With Suppliers * G E R M A N Y * COMDIRECT BANK: Profit Dives by 74% on Losses INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: Faces Class Action Lawsuit INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: Investors Hit Intershop with Lawsuit * P O R T U G A L * JERONIMO MARTINS: To Announce Restructuring on March 30 * R U S S I A * MEDIA-MOST: Chief Gusinsky to Remain in Custody * S W E D E N * BOLIDEN LIMITED: LKAB Will Not Buy Mining Firm CELLTRIBE: Files for Bankruptcy LM ERICSSON: CEO Defends His Record * S W I T Z E R L A N D * SAIRGROUP: Appoints Nestle Chief as New Chairman * U N I T E D K I N G D O M * BEATTIE PLC: Goes Into Receivership BRITISH TELECOM: Faces Debt Pressure CORUS GROUP: Chairman Launches Attack on Ministers DAEWOO UK: Carmaker to Axe 90 Jobs EQUITABLE LIFE: Increases Penalty to 15% FUTURE NETWORK: Streamlines Operations ICELAND GROUP: Blames Itself for Mismanaged Organic Sales MOTOROLA: Axes Scottish Workers RAILTRACK GROUP: Sir John Set to Chair Railtrack RMC: Mulls Asset Sale to Reduce Debt TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Secures o2.2 Billion Debt Refinancing =========================== C Z E C H R E P U B L I C ============================ MORAVIA BANKA: New Fraud Charges -------------------------------- Two more persons from Betafin and Plus Systems have been charged with fraud of Kc 16.8 million in connection with bankrupt Moravia Banka, according to Czech A.M. in its March 15 edition. Sixteen people have now been charged in the case. TRUCK INTERNATIONAL: Court Declares Truck Producer Bankrupt ----------------------------------------------------------- The regional commercial court in Usti nad Labem has declared Truck International bankrupt on a petition by its board of directors, Czech A.M. in its March 15 report said. Skoda trucks production will gradually be shifted to Liaz Sipox, which was set up by the owner of TI group Skoda Plzen. Z-GROUP: State to Pay Kc6 Billion in Z-Group Bankruptcy ------------------------------------------------------- The state will have to pay Kc5.8 billion if eight subsidiaries of the Z-Group are declared bankrupt, Czech News Agency in its March 16 report said. Last year, Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka (CSOB) filed bankruptcy petitions against the Zelezarny Veseli, Zelezarny Hradek and Zelezarny Chomutov, among others. The steel group reportedly owes Kc4.51 billion to CSOB. Z-Group posted a Kc645 million loss in 2000, against a Kc1.52 billion loss the previous year. Sales of its production companies fell from Kc5.2 billion to Kc4.2 billion. ============= F I N L A N D ============= F-SECURE OYJ: Extends Losses After Profits Warning -------------------------------------------------- Shares in F-Secure Oyj dropped to 10.8% at 0.99 euros for a second straight day on Friday after the company issued a profit and sales warning, Reuters reported. The data security firm, whose shares plummeted 35% on Thursday, warned that the U.S economic slowdown would knock its first-half sales, while operating losses would deepen from a fourth-quarter loss of 3.6 million euros ($3.27 million). Earlier, F-Secure posted a widened full-year 2000 operating loss of 13.3 million euros ($12.09 million) from 4.0 million in 1999 as a result of higher costs and below-budget sales. =========== F R A N C E =========== INTERCALL SA: Liberty Surf to Takeover Intercall ------------------------------------------------ Intercall has announced on Thursday that ISP LibertySurf SA remains the only candidate to take control of the prepaid telephone cards distributor, following the withdrawal of Global Millennium Fund, La Tribune & World Reporter reported. Shares of Intercall, which was placed into involuntary liquidation at the beginning of November, have been suspended from quotation on Paris' new market since the beginning of January. WESTERN TELECOM: In Payment Default With Suppliers -------------------------------------------------- Western Telecom declared itself in default with its suppliers after it failed to secure a new round of financing from industrial and financial partners, Reuters in its March 16 edition said. The long-distance telecom service provider, whose shares were suspended on March 14, blamed the situation on the current gloom in the telecom industry. It would present a rescue plan to a commercial court. In 1999, Western Telecom had a net loss of 36.3 million francs ($5.02 million), and has reported turnover of 83 million francs for 2000. ============= G E R M A N Y ============= COMDIRECT BANK: Profit Dives by 74% on Losses --------------------------------------------- The group net profit of Europe's largest online-brokerage firm Comdirect Bank AG fell 74% to 2.7 million euros ($2.5 million) last year as result of steep losses in its subsidiaries in U.K., France and Italy, Wall Street Journal in its March 16 edition said. Its non-German operations generated a pretax loss of 41.6 million euros in 2000. Retail investors have withdrawn investments after stock markets soured in the second half. This has caused a slow growth in Comdirect's fourth quarter income. INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: Faces Class Action Lawsuit ---------------------------------------------------- PR NEWSWIRE, March 16 The law firm of Shalov Stone & Bonner gives notice to purchasers of the securities of Intershop Communications AG in the period from May 2, 2000 to January 3, 2001. A class action complaint involving the securities of Intershop was filed on behalf of investors by the law firm of Shalov Stone & Bonner. Shalov Stone & Bonner conducted the investigation leading to the filing of the Intershop action and it was the first law firm to take action in this case. More information about the lawsuit, and information concerning how to participate, is available on the firm's website at http://www.lawssb.com INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: Investors Hit Intershop with Lawsuit -------------------------------------------------------------- BUSINESS WIRE, March 15 Law firm of Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP issued the following announcement: Notice is hereby given that on March 7, 2001, a class action lawsuit was commenced in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of all purchasers of Intershop Communication AG securities in connection with and traceable to the Company's September 29, 2000 initial public offering of American Depository Shares through January 1, 2001, inclusive. The complaint charges that defendants violated Sections 11, 12(a)(2) and 15 of the Securities Act of 1933 by providing a materially false and misleading Registration Statement and Prospectus in connection with the Company's IPO. Specifically, the complaint alleges that representations made in the Registration and Prospectus indicating that the Company was expanding their leadership position and was poised for success were false and misleading because the Company was in fact experiencing a substantial decline is sales for core business as well as weakening of demand for many of its products. When the Company disclosed the extent of the problems it was facing on January 1, 2001, necessitating a reduction of both revenue and earnings expectations for the fourth quarter of 2000, the price of Intershop ADS plummeted, falling in excess of $10.00 per share to close at $4.8125. Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of himself and all other individual and institutional investors who purchased Intershop securities pursuant and/or traceable to the Company's September 29, 2000 IPO through January 1, 2001, excluding defendants and their affiliates. Plaintiff is represented by Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP, a law firm with extensive experience in prosecuting class actions, and significant expertise in actions involving corporate fraud. =============== P O R T U G A L =============== JERONIMO MARTINS: To Announce Restructuring on March 30 ------------------------------------------------------- Portugal's second-largest retailer Jeronimo Martins SGPS SA would announce restructuring plans together with its 2000 results on March 30, Reuters in its March 16 edition said. According to traders, worries about its 2000 results and the lack of a clear vision about the company's future have caused its stock price to drop more than 9% on Friday to hit a record low of 8.0 euros ($7.26). Jeronimo Martins not only manufactures, distributes and exports food products and other consumer goods, but also operates in the financial and real state sectors. The company has associated companies in Poland, Brazil and Germany. Based on a data from Wright Investors Service, Jeronimo Martins had a negative working capital at the end of 1999. Its current liabilities were 1.59 billion Euro while total current assets were only 814.98 million Euro. The company's long term debt was 545.05 million Euro and total liabilities were 2.10 billion Euro. =========== R U S S I A =========== MEDIA-MOST: Chief Gusinsky to Remain in Custody ----------------------------------------------- Media-MOST President Vladimir Gusinsky remains in custody until a resolution on his extradition to Russia, Itar-Tass in its March 16 edition reported. There is no official information when the resolution on extradition will become available, as Gusinsky's lawyers are capable of delaying the extradition for several months if the judges support the extradition request of prosecutors. The media mogul will be free to return to his villa in Andalusia if the court takes the side of Gusinsky's lawyers. =========== S W E D E N =========== BOLIDEN LIMITED: LKAB Will Not Buy Mining Firm ---------------------------------------------- The Swedish government on Thursday ended speculation it would merge unprofitable metals and mining company Boliden Limited with state-owned mining group LKAB, Reuters in its March 15 edition said. Earlier, Swedish newspaper reports have indicated that such a merger was being discussed to rescue debt-burdened Boliden, which unveiled a full-year $654.1 million loss in 2000. Aside from Sweden, Boliden has mining and milling operations in Canada, Chile, Spain and Saudi Arabia and smelting and refining operations in Sweden and Norway. CELLTRIBE: Files for Bankruptcy ------------------------------- Mobile telephony services developer Celltribe has filed for bankruptcy, Dagens Industri in its March 15 report said. Celltribe, which employs 51 people and has offices in Lund and London, aims to empower end-users with superior mobile services wherever they are, regardless of time and space. LM ERICSSON: CEO Defends His Record ----------------------------------- Telefon AB LM Ericsson's chief executive officer Kurt Hellstroem defended his administration on the poor performance of the company and expressed disappointment that some have called for his resignation, Dow Jones in its March 15 report said. Hellstroem admitted that the management made mistakes, but said he feels they acted responsibly. "I think it's unfortunate that some people cannot see the connection between cause and effect. We can't do much to affect changes in the economy. We can only adjust," he told the paper. ===================== S W I T Z E R L A N D ===================== SAIRGROUP: Appoints Nestle Chief as New Chairman ------------------------------------------------ SAirGroup has unanimously named Mario Corti of food giant Nestle as its new chairman and acting chief executive on Friday, AP Online reported. Corti is currently the chief financial officer at Nestle and a board member at SAirGroup. He will succeed Eric Honegger on April 25 and leave Nestle after its annual shareholders meeting on April 5. The departure of chief executive Philippe Bruggisser in January led to a reevaluation of the airline company's strategy, including an announcement of resignation of its directors by April 2002. Honneger took on Bruggisser's job as the group began reconsidering its holdings in foreign airlines and concentrating on Swissair and its Swiss regional carriers Crossair and Balair. =========================== U N I T E D K I N G D O M =========================== BEATTIE PLC: Goes Into Receivership ----------------------------------- Barclays Bank has appointed Alan Bloom and Chris Hill, partners at accountant Ernst & Young, as joint administrative receivers for Beattie (James) Plc, the mecca for model makers, toy collectors and model railway enthusiasts, and its holding company, the Era Group, The Scotsman reported. The company's growing troubles became evident when it requested a suspension of its shares from the AIM list on February 27. Ernst & Young has sold 13 of Beatties' 26 stores to Hilco, which has also purchased the stock from the remaining 13 stores that will close. These are at Birmingham, Liverpool, Bristol, Gateshead (Metro Centre), Holborn, Thurrock, Bromley, Kingston, Crawley, Romford, Reading, Ayr and Glasgow. The stores to be closed are at Aberdeen, Newcastle, Banbury, Leeds, Blackpool, Newbury, Cardiff, Nottingham, Colchester, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Stirling, Woodley. BRITISH TELECOM: Faces Debt Pressure ------------------------------------ British Telecom will come under pressure this week to explain how it intends to slash its mounting debt, Press Association reported yesterday. BT has run up debts of more than 30 billion pounds. Its tumbling stock markets have ruined the company's plans to raise 10 billion pounds this year by floating its mobile phones arm BT Wireless and its Yellow Pages division Yell. CORUS GROUP: Chairman Launches Attack on Ministers -------------------------------------------------- The chairman of troubled Corus has accused ministers of abandoning manufacturing by lacking a clear industrial policy, The Times in its March 17 edition said. Sir Brian Moffat's attacks on the Government follows ministerial anger at his lack of consultation over the steelmaker's planned job cuts in South Wales and Teesside. The company's losses that were indicated when it made its restructuring announcement last month, hit 1.15 billion pounds. A restructuring and related provision of 1.03 billion pounds has dominated this. DAEWOO UK: Carmaker to Axe 90 Jobs ---------------------------------- South Korean car firm Daewoo is cutting another 90 jobs from its technical center in UK, leaving 160 employees behind, according to Press Association in its March 16 report. Daewoo, however, refused to confirm reports that the center is being sold to engineering and motor racing group TWR. EQUITABLE LIFE: Increases Penalty to 15% ---------------------------------------- Troubled mutual Equitable Life has increased the penalty for early surrender of its savings policies to 15%, according to Press Association's March 16 report. The group blamed tumbling stock markets as it bumped penalty figure up by 5%. This is expected to irate policyholders already upset at the former 10% surrender penalty fee it recently put into effect. FUTURE NETWORK: Streamlines Operations -------------------------------------- International publisher of specialist magazines The Future Network plc in its March 16 company release has announced measures that are designed to streamline the company's portfolio, reduce operating costs, pay down debt and enhance profitability. The company will close or sell 20 loss-making magazines in the US and UK, rationalize its French and German subsidiaries, with the closure of eight loss making titles, and will reduce its Internet development costs in the UK, US, France and Germany. The above actions will result in a reduction of approximately 350 jobs out of a current workforce of approximately 2,000 employees. In addition, the company announced that it has appointed Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to review strategic alternatives for the next stage of the development of its US-based magazine, Business 2.0. ICELAND GROUP: Blames Itself for Mismanaged Organic Sales --------------------------------------------------------- Iceland Group PLC has only itself to blame for making a mess of its organic frozen food line, Dow Jones in its March 15 edition reported. "The problem is with Iceland. The problem is that going organic in the way that Iceland went organic doesn't work, " an Iceland spokesman said. What Iceland did was switch existing lines of conventional food to frozen organic vegetables, rather than offering the organics as an alternative. Another error that was pointed at was that customers who buy organic are more likely to buy fresh food than frozen. MOTOROLA: Axes Scottish Workers ------------------------------- US giant Motorola has announced it would layoff some of its Scottish employees due to the slowing sales, falling prices, increased competition and the US economic slowdown, The Scotsman in its March 14 report said. It said it was too early to know how many jobs would go. Motorola, which has 3,100 people making mobile phones at its manufacturing plant at Easter Inch and another 3,500 in Scotland, are going to form a consultation forum to look at what the company needs to do as part of the restructuring exercise. The mobile phone manufacturer would take an exceptional write-off against its first and second quarter results to pay for redundancies and other costs. Up to 700 jobs could be lost at its UK operation in Swindon, Wiltshire, which makes mobile phone network base stations, the Scotsman added. RAILTRACK GROUP: Sir John Set to Chair Railtrack ------------------------------------------------ Railtrack Group refused to confirm or deny speculation that chairman Sir John Parker of Lattice Group has been asked to become the next chairman of the operator, according to The Scotsman yesterday. It was reported that both the Government and Railtrack believe Parker is the frontrunner for the post with his strong engineering and some rail experience. Parker, who recently retired as chairman and chief executive of engineering group Babcock International, was also the chairman and chief executive of Harland & Wolff, the famous Belfast shipyard. Recently, Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett stepped down amidst a storm of adverse publicity surrounding the rail disasters including Hatfield and alleged underinvestment in Britain's railways. RMC: Mulls Asset Sale to Reduce Debt ------------------------------------ RMC plans to raise 250 million pounds via selling non-core assets this year to reduce group debt to 1.3 billion pounds, The Scotsman in its March 17 report said, citing chief executive Stuart Walker. The move came as RMC revealed that its 2000 pre-tax profits fell to 208.3 million pounds against 304.5 million pounds in 1999 due to high price of oil and bad weather in the UK and northern Europe last autumn. Last year, the cement giant also sold Great Mills DIY business to Focus Do It All. TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Secures o2.2 Billion Debt Refinancing -------------------------------------------------------------- Cable operator Telewest Communications Plc has secured a 2.2 billion-pound debt refinancing, according to a report in The Sunday Telegraph. Under the terms of the refinancing deal, which will be announced when Telewest reports full-year results on Thursday, the combined debts of merged Telewest and Flextech, have been rolled together. A further 300 million pounds for future expansion will be added. Shareholders were worried about the company's financial position when Telewest's shares have dropped from 569 pence last year to trade close to 100 pence in 2001. On 1999, Telewest's current liabilities were 513.80 million pounds while total current assets were only 235.60 million pounds. S U B S C R I P T I O N I N F O R M A T I O N Troubled Company Reporter -- Europe is a daily newsletter co- published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Trenton, NJ USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, DC USA. Kimberly MacAdam, Salve M. Mordeno and Cristina Pernites, Editors. Copyright 2001. All rights reserved. ISSN 1529-2754. This material is copyrighted and any commercial use, resale or publication in any form (including e-mail forwarding, electronic re-mailing and photocopying) is strictly prohibited without prior written permission of the publishers. Information contained herein is obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed. The TCR Europe subscription rate is $575 per half-year, delivered via e-mail. Additional e-mail subscriptions for members of the same firm for the term of the initial subscription or balance thereof are $25 each. For subscription information, contact Christopher Beard at 301/951-6400. * * * End of Transmission * * *