/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR

/raid1/www/Hosts/bankrupt/TCREUR_Public/020306.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 Wednesday, March 06, 2002, Vol. 3, No. 46 Headlines * B E L G I U M * SABENA SA: Hopeful on New African Links * G E R M A N Y * COMMERZBANK AG: In Joint Transaction Talks With DZ Bank DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: Appoints New Head of Spanish Operations DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: May Miss 2002 Debt Targets DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: VoiceStream Narrows Fourth-Quarter Loss GRUNDIG AG: Electronics Firm in Talks to Sell Two Divisions INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: CEO Will Invest EUR10MM to Up Stake KIRCHGRUPPE: Admits it May Lose Formula One Stake PHILIPP HOLZMANN: In Talks With U.S. Banks on Loan Extension TEAMWORK INFORMATION: Will Meet First-Quarter Forecast TRIUS AG: Inks EUR1.5BB License Deal With Telco * N E T H E R L A N D S * UNITED PAN-EUROPE: Wins Waiver From Banks * P O L A N D * ELEKTRIM SA: Warsaw Unit Files for Bankruptcy * S P A I N * JAZZTEL PLC: Shares Jump on Merger Concerns * S W I T Z E R L A N D * SWISSAIR GROUP: Administrator Records Over 13,000 Claims SWISSAIR GROUP: Creditors' Meeting Set for June * U N I T E D K I N G D O M * BRITISH AIRWAYS: Will Restructure German Unit COLT TELECOM: Buys Back More Bonds CONSIGNIA PLC: Top Execs Turn Down Pay Rise EQUITABLE LIFE: MPs Want Further Investigation MARCONI PLC: EU Clears Merloni's Acquisition of GDA ROYAL DOULTON: Wedgwood Ups Stake in Doulton TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Falls on Liquidity Concerns TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Moody's May Cut Telewest Ratings TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Schroder Downgrades Telewest Ratings WILLIAM BAIRD: Names Steve Roberts as New Finance Director ============= B E L G I U M ============= SABENA SA: Hopeful on New African Links --------------------------------------- The bankrupt Belgian airline Sabena SA, renamed SN Brussels Airlines, hopes that its new Africa links will increase its overall sales figure. Despite ongoing financial difficulties and still only filling 40% of its seats, SN Brussels Airlines is on April 26 set to resume flights to eight destinations, including Kigali, Kinshasa and probably Nairobi. Sabena's flights to Africa were reported to be profitable, the reason why they have been resumed. Three more African destinations will restart in June. Sabena, the loss-making Belgian national airline, was among a number of European airlines, including Swiss Air, which were faced with bankruptcy following the September 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. and the subsequent slump in air travel. ============= G E R M A N Y ============= COMMERZBANK AG: In Joint Transaction Talks With DZ Bank ------------------------------------------------------- Frankfurt-based bank Commerzbank AG is reported to be in talks with DZ Bank following the failure of Germany's largest banks to form a joint transactions bank, reports Suddeutsche Zeitung. Both banks are said to be interested in cooperation in securities processing as well as in payment transactions. It is being examined whether such cooperation will pay off. Early last week, there were reports that Commerzbank plans to sell its British fund management subsidiary Jupiter International Group, which was bought in 1995 for more than 1 billion euros. The sale is a major strategic shift to return Commerzbank to profitability. Commerzbank, which suffers from poor profitability and high costs, has been the subject of persistent takeover speculation for almost two years, including a failed attempt to merge with Dresdner Bank. The bank lost 189 million euros ($163 million) before taxes in the fourth quarter as it set aside more money for bad loans and took a charge of 283 million euros to pay for an overhaul, which includes shedding 3,400 jobs. DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: Appoints New Head of Spanish Operations --------------------------------------------------------- Bonn-based telecom giant Deutsche Telekom has appointed Felipe Fernandez-Atela as the head of its Spanish operations, reports the Expansion newspaper. Fernandez-Atela has worked as the chairman and chief executive of EDS Iberia and as the head of the board of directors of the US technology group 4-D Neuroimaging. He was also a member of the boards of different high-tech companies and of investment funds in the U.S. Deutsche Telekom has a workforce of 2,500 in Spain, most of them working for T-Systems, the group's computer system integration and outsourcing services arm. DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: May Miss 2002 Debt Targets -------------------------------------------- Investors doubt Deutsche Telekom AG could cut its 65.2 billion- euro ($56.4 billion) debt by about a quarter this year, Bloomberg reports. With the cable sale to Liberty Media Corp blocked by the German Cartel Office last week, CEO Ron Sommer's goal to cut debt will be almost impossible, said Stephan Eger, who holds about 22 million Deutsche Telekom shares for Deutscher Investment Trust. The former German monopoly will be hard pressed to find another buyer willing to pay as much for its cable networks as billionaire John Malone's Liberty, analysts said. In Europe, cable operators are short on cash and banks are wary about giving them any more. Compere Associates, a London- based private equity firm that has no cable assets, is the only investor that has announced it's interested in the networks. The company must also pay DaimlerChrysler AG $4.6 billion this month for the rest of a software business they co-own. DEUTSCHE TELEKOM: VoiceStream Narrows Fourth-Quarter Loss --------------------------------------------------------- Deutsche Telekom's VoiceStream Wireless unit posted a net loss of $695 million in the fourth-quarter, down from a loss of $732 million in the third quarter, Reuters reported. On the basis of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, VoiceStream's loss was $67 million, down from a loss of $95 million in the third quarter. Meanwhile, fourth-quarter revenues totaled $1.122 billion, up from $1.026 billion in the third quarter. Deutsche Telekom AG is currently on a waiting game as a planned sale of the 60% of cable TV business to U.S. media group Liberty Media collapsed last week after the German cartel office blocked it. Deutsche Telekom has always considered that the sale of its cable TV network as key element of its plan to reduce debts to $43.5 billion by the end of this year from $56.5 billion now. GRUNDIG AG: Electronics Firm in Talks to Sell Two Divisions ----------------------------------------------------------- Electronics company Grundig, best known for its televisions and radios, is in talks to sell off two divisions in order to raise cash, the Financial Times reported. Fresh money drawn from the asset sale would be used mainly in development and sales, areas in strong need of investment. According to Anton Kathrein, Grundig's majority stakeholder with 89%, he received two concrete offers for its office communication unit and for 49% of its car radio subsidiary. Industry insiders said an Asian electronics group had shown particular interest in Grundig. The sale, which is aimed at gaining about 70 million euros ($60.6 billion), will bridge the time until Grundig has found a partner willing to invest 500 million euros. Grundig slid towards bankruptcy in 2000. The company lost 150 million euros in the last four years. Last year, the group lost 128 million euros on turnover of 1.4 billion euros. Grundig has 64 million euros of liabilities, which are secured until July. INTERSHOP COMMUNICATIONS: CEO Will Invest EUR10MM to up Stake ------------------------------------------------------------- Hamburg-based e-commerce software producer Intershop Communications AG said Monday that its CEO, Stephan Schambach, will invest about 10 million euros in cash to purchase more stock in the company. In a private equity placement, Intershop Communications AG will issue 8,334,000 million new company common bearer shares from authorized capital. In turn, Mr. Schambach will purchase all 8,334,000 shares for 1.20 euros per share. Upon completion of this transaction, Stephan Schambach will hold a total of 8,336,500 Intershop common bearer shares, representing 8.6% of the company's common stock, post transaction. Including the 12,500,000 Intershop common bearer shares to be issued to Mr. Schambach based on a share exchange arrangement announced in January, Mr. Schambach will hold 20,836,500 Intershop common bearer shares, or 19.1% of common stock, after these two transactions. The Company expects the transaction will be dilutive to basic earnings per share on a consolidated group basis. Total shares outstanding following the completion of this transaction stand at 96.5 million and will be at 109.0 million after completion of the announced share exchange. Basic earnings per share for fiscal year 2001 will not be affected by the transaction. Intershop in the fourth quarter of 2001 posted a net loss of 24.7 million euros, compared to a net loss of 32.1 million euros in the same period of 2000. It ended fiscal year 2001 with total liquidity including cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities, and restricted cash at 36.3 million euros, compared with 45.2 million euros as of September 30, 2001. In order to dramatically accelerate Intershop's path to profitability, the company will cut its workforce from a current 733 employees to 500 by the end of the second quarter of 2002. Intershop's stock dropped almost 90% last year due to numerous profit warnings caused by a dramatic decline in information technology spending. Contact Klaus F. Gruendel, Investor Relations, at telephone +49- 40-23709-128, fax +49-40-23709-111, or via e-mail at k.gruendel@intershop.com for further information. KIRCHGRUPPE: Admits it May Lose Formula One Stake ------------------------------------------------- Munich-based media group Kirch said Monday it might have to sell its prized Formula One motor racing stake and cede control of its pay-TV arm to avoid collapsing under its debt burden of 6.5 billion euros. "We'd like to keep the Formula One stake and our preferred route would be to find a partner but it may have to be sold in the end," said Dieter Hahn, number two man to company patriarch Leo Kirch and chief executive of the group's holding. Formula One founder Bernie Ecclestone and the carmakers have both been tipped as potential buyers of the F1 stake. Setting out progress on restructuring, Hahn also said that the group was also fielding a number of suitors for its stake in publisher Axel Springer but would not give up German broadcaster ProSiebenSat1. Aside from its Springer stake, Kirch has also put its 25% interest in Spanish broadcaster Telecinco up for sale. Hahn added the group was separately in talks about a new equity partner for its pay-TV arm Premiere World, which is estimated to be losing 2 million euros a day. KirchGruppe is fighting for survival as shareholders and creditors, including Deutsche Bank AG and Dresdner Bank AG, demand their money bank, forcing Germany's second-biggest media company to sell assets off assets to avoid default. PHILIPP HOLZMANN: In Talks With U.S. Banks on Loan Extension ------------------------------------------------------------ Philipp Holzmann AG is in talks with U.S. creditor banks about extending loans for its U.S. subsidiary JA Jones Construction Co and meeting the banks' demands to improve security on its liabilities. Handelsblatt has learned that the banks are demanding collateral from the ailing construction group before extending an existing credit line to J.A. Jones. Without the security, the credit would no longer be viable, people in U.S. banking circles said. The creditors are a consortium headed by First Union Wachovia and include the U.S. subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank, Bayerische Landesbank and DZ Bank. The U.S. subsidiaries are contributing around $126 million. According to banking experts, the amount is insufficient to cover J.A. Jones' liquidity requirements. Therefore Holzmann will have to provide collateral. A Holzmann spokesman declined to comment on the issue. TEAMWORK INFORMATION: Will Meet First-Quarter Forecast ------------------------------------------------------ Paderborn-based information management solutions provider teamwork information management AG regards its prospects for fulfilling its budget for the first quarter of 2002 as being good. After a difficult start in January, increasing new orders were recorded since mid February. Sales and earnings lagged behind expectations in January and the first half of February. The reasons for this can be seen in the generally weak economic situation and the fact that placement of new orders in the IT industry is subject to strong seasonal influences, as well as in the caution on the part of teamwork's customers to award orders before important decisions to reconstruct the company were taken at the general meeting of shareholders at the start of February. The aim in the first quarter of the current fiscal year was to achieve sales of about 2 million euros, or 20% of the planned total for the year. The result for the first quarter will, as planned, be negative. Positive boosts in sales teamwork's main competitor, Gedys Internet Products AG, announced at the start of 2002 that it was going to focus on product business and withdraw from direct consulting. This gives teamwork, a solution vendor with well- developed consulting business, the opportunity to offer its services to customers of Gedys as well and thereby consolidate its market leadership in the consulting arena. Given the clear prospects for meeting its budget targets in the first quarter of 2002 and the additional positive boosts in sales, teamwork is sticking to its annual target for fiscal 2002 of sales of 10 million euros and an EBIT profit of 0.5 million euros. In February, teamwork shareholders have agreed to a capital reduction in the ratio 5:1 and subsequent capital increases, which would be used to repay the company's debts and finance the insolvency plan proceeding that was initiated on January 2001, where lawyer Dr. Frank Kebekus was appointed as receiver. Contact Dr. Sabine Brummel at telephone +49 (0)5251-5201-145, or via e-mail at sbrummel@teamwork.de for more information. TRIUS AG: Inks EUR1.5BB License Deal With Telco ----------------------------------------------- Friedrichsdorf-based hardware and software solutions provider Trius AG said Monday it has signed a license agreement worth 1.5 billion euros with one of the major telecommunication companies. A German court in December has appointed Thomas Mikusinski as liquidator of Trius AG. The company in 2001 reported losses of 10.2 million euros, or 219.9% of sales. It has not paid any dividends during the previous four fiscal years. ===================== N E T H E R L A N D S ===================== UNITED PAN-EUROPE: Wins Waiver From Banks ----------------------------------------- Cash-strapped cable company United Pan-Europe Communications N.V. on Monday made some progress in its battle to secure Europe's biggest debt restructuring and avoid financial collapse after its banks, under its 4 billion euros Senior Secured bank credit agreement, granted to waive on its debt defaults until June 3, 2002. In addition, UPC has also secured a waiver from UGC, holder of the Exchangeable Loan. UPC also confirmed Monday it had not paid the 113 million euros interest payment due on February 1, in respect of its outstanding 10 7/8% Senior Notes, 11 1/4% Senior Notes and 11 1/2% Senior Notes. During the period that the waiver is in effect, UPC intends to continue to pursue negotiations with its bondholders with respect to its proposed recapitalization. UPC has a gross debt of 9.3 billion euros and will face a funding gap of up to 1 billion euros next year. =========== P O L A N D =========== ELEKTRIM SA: Warsaw Unit Files for Bankruptcy --------------------------------------------- Warszawa-based telecommunications and power conglomerate Elektrim S.A. announces that its wholly owned subsidiary AGS New Media Sp. z o.o. in Warsaw has on March 4 submitted a request for the declaration of bankruptcy in the Warsaw District Court, XVII Economic Division. Elektrim has been suffering serious liquidity problems since 1999, when the then CEO Barbara Lundberg launched an ambitious and high leveraged round of telecom and cable TV acquisitions. In January, as reported in the Troubled Company Reporter Europe, a group of bondholders filed a petition in a Warsaw court calling for Elektrim's bankruptcy after a December 17 payment default on the 480 million euros in bonds. The court dismissed the petition and ordered Elektrim to begin composition, or debt restructuring proceedings to repay its bondholders. Elektrim filed its own petition with the Court, proposing a 40% reduction of its debt and a three-year grace period for repaying the remainder. In the composition proceeding, 124 creditors assert claims totaling PLN2.33 billion ($560 million). Centaurus Capital Limited represents a majority of the bondholders and Bingham Dana LLP provides legal counsel to the bondholders. ========= S P A I N ========= JAZZTEL PLC: Shares Jump on Merger Concerns ------------------------------------------- Jazztel Plc shares soared 43 cents, or 11.5%, to 4.17 euros as investors hope the telecom company may merge with a rival to shore up its finances, Bloomberg reported. The jump followed Chairman Martin Varsavsky's comments that Jazztel is in talks with Iberian rivals about the possibility of mergers. He said a combination with France Telecom SA's Uni2 unit could be close. According to BCP Investimento analyst Nuno Vieira, a merger with Uni2 would be good news for Jazztel to allow them to rebalance their business plan and solve their funding problems. A combined Jazztel/Uni2 would have about 700 million euros ($609 million) in revenue and about 60 million euros in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization one year after a possible merger, Varsavsky estimated last Thursday. Jazztel earlier said it is no longer fully funded and indicated it might need extra funds in 2004 before the company starts generating cash at the end of that year. ===================== S W I T Z E R L A N D ===================== SWISSAIR GROUP: Administrator Records Over 13,000 Claims -------------------------------------------------------- Court-appointed administrator Karl Wuthrich of Wenger Plattner said it has received more than 23,000 registrations of claims against SaiGroup, SairLines, Swissair Schweizerishe Luftverkehr AG and Flightlease AG. Over 13,000 of those received have already been recorded. The administrator added that all claims would probably be recorded by mid-April 2002. It is already clear that registrations have been made for more than 50% of the Swiss francs-bond capital issued by SAirGroup. "Excellent progress in recording the claim registrations and taking the inventory makes a speedy settlement of the debt- restructuring procedure possible," the administrator said. SWISSAIR GROUP: Creditors' Meeting Set for June ---------------------------------------------- Swissair Group administrator Karl Wuthrich of Wenger Plattner said that SAirGroup and Swissair creditors would meet on June 26, while creditors of SairLines and Flightlease AG on June 27, to elect the liquidator and the members of the creditor committee. Following the meetings of creditors, a written vote will be held on the debt-restructuring agreements. The administrator will finalize his reports and submit them to the debt restructuring judges, probably by the end of July 2002. On this timetable, in early autumn 2002, it should be possible to commence the process of liquidation in the context of debt restructuring or, if no debt-restructuring agreement is reached for a particular company, in the context of bankruptcy. The administrator is now working on an interim report to creditors and the debt restructuring judges. This report will be available to creditors on the administrator's website -- http://www.sachwalter-swissair.ch/-- on March 8, 2002. =========================== U N I T E D K I N G D O M =========================== BRITISH AIRWAYS: Will Restructure German Unit --------------------------------------------- Cash-strapped British Airways Plc plans to restructure Deutsche BA, its unprofitable German subsidiary, lowering costs to meet the expected rise in competition from rival Ryanair Holdings Plc, the Financial Times reported. According to Roger Maynard, BA director of investments and alliances and chairman of DBA, the company would be refocused on the domestic German market. Deutsche BA, which operates a single aircraft type with a fleet of 16 Boeing 737s, will withdraw from routes between Germany and London, and later from its other international routes from Germany to Madrid and Barcelona, the FT said. The German unit is understood to have suffered a loss of more than 10 million euros in the past year partly because of the weakness of the euro against the dollar. COLT TELECOM: Buys Back More Bonds ---------------------------------- Britain's COLT Telecom Group Plc said Monday it spent 2.2 million pounds ($3.1 million) buying back bonds issued by it with a face value of 5.9 million pounds. COLT also said it would not sell the bonds but might cancel them in due course. A week ago, it spent 13 million pounds buying back bonds worth 34 million pounds. The London-based company says it will cut 500 jobs, or 10% of its workforce, and reduce capital spending to cope with slower revenue growth in 2002. Chief executive officer Peter Manning says the job cuts will cost the company 12 million pounds. Most of the job cuts will be in the first half of the year. Colt has cash and liquid resources of 1.3 billion pounds, versus 1.3 billion pounds in long-term debt for 2001. The company also said its net loss for the three months ended December 31 widened to 253.5 million pounds ($361.3 million), compared with a loss of 19.5 million pounds a year ago. At 1435 GMT, COLT's share price was 13.5% higher at 50.5 pence, valuing the business at 761 million pounds. For more information, contact John Doherty, Director of Investor Relations, at telephone +44 20 7390 3681 or via e-mail at jdoherty@colt.net CONSIGNIA PLC: Top Execs Turn Down Pay Rise ------------------------------------------- Consignia's two top executives have rejected a 10% pay rise as the embattled state-owned postal group faces industrial action over pay for postal workers, the Financial Times reports. Following approval by the Department of Trade and Industry, chief executive John Roberts was expected to receive a salary increase to 225,500 pounds. The salary of Jerry Cope, the head of mail services, was to rise to 154,000 pounds. Mr Roberts said the pay of the company's post office staff is a priority. The pay rise proposals come at a difficult time for the group, which is losing an estimated 1.5 million pounds ($2.1 million) per day and is set to cut 30,000 jobs in a restructuring plan. EQUITABLE LIFE: MPs Want Further Investigation ---------------------------------------------- Ulster unionist MP Roy Beggs will put down an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons this week, calling for the Parliamentary Ombudsman to expand its ongoing investigation into the collapse of Equitable Life, the Scotsman newspaper reports. Beggs' Early Day Motion is calling for the ombudsman to examine the state of Equitable Life as far back as 1994. The ombudsman's present inquiry only goes back to 1999, when the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority took responsibility for Equitable. Beggs is seeking for backing from more than 100 MPs for the motion to put pressure on the government to expand the terms of Ombudsman Sir Michael Buckley's inquiry. An ombudsman spokesperson confirmed that the office is currently investigating 262 complaints relating to the stricken life fund. MARCONI PLC: EU Clears Merloni's Acquisition of GDA --------------------------------------------------- The E.U. Commission has cleared on Monday Merloni Elettrodomestici SPA's acquisition of Marconi's 50% stake in white goods maker General Domestic Appliances Holdings Ltd, reports Dow Jones Newswires. General Domestic Appliances produces domestic appliances such as fridges, cookers and washing machines. These are sold under brand names Hotpoint, Creda and Cannon. The acquisition consolidates Merloni's position as the third- largest supplier in the European kitchen appliance industry. It will have a 14% market share in the white goods sector. The sale is part of the cash-strapped London-based telecom equipment company's strategy to focus on its core communications business. Last week, Marconi said it was in early talks about selling its Italian defense unit to revive its fortunes to pay off its debts, standing at 2.9 billion pounds ($4.1 billion). Marconi Plc's value plummet to less than half a billion pounds from a peak above 35 billion as it was hit by the telecoms network capacity glut. It has raised 1.5 billion pounds from selling non-phone equipment assets in the past few months. ROYAL DOULTON: Wedgwood Ups Stake in Doulton -------------------------------------------- Irish ceramics and giftware group Waterford Wedgwood has increased its stake in Stoke-on-Trent-based ceramic manufacturer Royal Doulton by 5.7% to 20.6%, reports the Financial Times. Waterford Wedgwood paid 11p a share, putting a price tag of just 500,000 pounds on the investment. That compares with the 11.1 million pounds cost of its initial purchase of 14.9% in November 1999. One analyst told FT that the purchase could mark a turning point for Royal Doulton's shares, which are trading well below asset value. The company's shares rose .5p on Monday to 12.5p. Shareholders are expected to approve a fully sub-underwritten 18.9 million pounds rights issue to finance the restructuring on Friday. Royal Doulton was in February on its last phase of the restructuring, which includes reduction of staff members by 1,000, closure of factory in Staffordshire and 100 underperforming retail outlets worldwide, and the transfer of production to Indonesia. TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Falls on Liquidity Concerns ---------------------------------------------------- Shares in cable operator Telewest slumped 22% at 12p in afternoon London trade on Monday after analysts expressed concern about its funding situation and the possibility of a debt restructuring. "On our current forecasts, existing liquidity will not be sufficient to support Telewest through to cash flow break even," Goldman Sachs said. The investment bank added that without news on extra funding or a debt restructuring, the shares would likely remain under pressure. TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Moody's May Cut Telewest Ratings --------------------------------------------------------- Ratings agency Moody's Investors Service said on Monday that it was putting London cable company Telewest plc on review for possible downgrade on worries about the company's ability to service its debts. The ratings affected are those of Telewest Communications Networks Limited's Ba2 senior secured bank facility, Telewest Communications plc's Ba3 senior implied rating, the B2 senior unsecured issuer, and the B2 senior unsecured bond, and Telewest Finance (Jersey) Limited's B2 senior unsecured bond rating. Moody's said it was concerned about Telewest's ability to grow cash flow to a level sufficient to service its growing debt burden. The ratings agency also said that Telewest's ability to grow into its capital structure appeared highly uncertain. Moody's notes that Telewest's significantly weakened access to the public capital markets over the past year has diminished the company's financial flexibility (although the company's current liquidity position appears strong) and likely reduced the company's ability to strengthen its balance sheet through the issuance of subordinated capital. In 2001, Telewest reported a pre-tax loss of 1.94 billion pounds ($2.7 billion), compared with a loss of 701 million pounds a year earlier. Furthermore, the considerable decline in European cable asset valuations over the past year has likely reduced the asset protection that would be afforded to bondholders in a downside scenario. Moody's said that its review will focus on the company's on-going deleveraging initiatives, the trends driving future EBITDA and free cash flow growth over the medium-term, additional funding sources including the potential for incremental equity and management's ability to successfully execute on its business plan, improve subscriber economics, and ultimately grow cash flow to a level that can more adequately service the company's heavy debt load. TELEWEST COMMUNICATIONS: Schroder Downgrades Telewest Ratings ------------------------------------------------------------- Telewest Communications PLC faced a further blow on Monday as Schroder Salomon Smith Barney downgraded its recommendation on the cable operator to an underperform from neutral, with a risk rating moved to speculative from high. The broker's move follows Telewest's full-year results on Friday that showed underlying earnings ahead of expectations. Schroder has advised its clients that the risks of Telewest restructuring its balance sheet have increased. It thinks a debt for equity swap is most likely. Schroder conceded there are signs of operational leverage in the group's full-year results. WILLIAM BAIRD: Names Steve Roberts as New Finance Director ---------------------------------------------------------- William Baird PLC has named Steve Roberts as Group Finance Director, having acted as Interim Finance Director since February 2001, the AFX News reports. The Glasgow-based concession retailer markets brand names Windsmoor and Precis Petite. Baird has struggled since its Marks & Spencer supplier status came to an end in 1999. In effect, Baird shut down 16 of its factories, cut its workforce by 4,500 and sold most of its menswear operations after two years. Last year, Baird had agreed to a management buyout backed by venture capital group Alchemy Partners (which owns about 29% of the company). However, Alchemy backed out of the negotiation. The company also postponed its planned 2p-a-share interim dividend in September as the loss-making group plunged 7.8 million pounds into the red before tax in the six months to June, compared to a 1.6-million-pound pre-tax profit last time. *********** 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 Maria Lourdes Reyes, Editors. Copyright 2002. 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 240/629-3300. * * * End of Transmission * * *