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      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

            Friday, June 23, 2000, Vol. 1, No. 34


                        Headlines

C Z E C H   R E P U B L I C

IPB: Bank's Failure to Cost the Government at Least $1.32 Billion


U N I T E D   K I N G D O M

ALLDAYS:  Convenience Store Chain Blames Higher Interest Rates
JUPITER ASSET:  Leading Clients Planning to Defect


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C Z E C H   R E P U B L I C
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IPB: Bank's Failure to Cost the Government at Least $1.32 Billion
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REUTERS, June 21, 2000

Czech Finance Minister Pavel Mertlik said late on Tuesday that
the costs of covering losses at failed bank IPB would be at least
Kc50 billion ($1.32 billion).

IPB's balance sheet was taken over by Belgian KBC's Czech unit
CSOB on Monday, but the government issued a guarantee over all
losses which will be found in IPB's portfolio.

"No doubt it will have a direct impact on the budget ... The
costs will hardly be below Kc50 billion and definitely will be a
serious burden for public finances," Mertik said in a Czech
Television interview on Tuesday night.

The market is expecting the figure to be well over Kc50 billion
and closer to Kc100 billion.

Mertik added the funds would be drawn from the state's factoring
bank Konsolidacni Banka and from the central bank's profits.

IPB, 46 percent-owned by a unit of Nomura Securities was put
under forced administration amid a liquidity crisis on Friday.

The action directly followed a run on the bank amid reports of
its poor financial position. The central bank said auditors have
found the IPB's losses significantly exceed equity.

If IPB's net worth is indeed found to be negative, its
shareholders will get nothing for the bank's sale to CSOB, and
the state will cover all the losses to CSOB.


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U N I T E D   K I N G D O M
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ALLDAYS:  Convenience Store Chain Blames Higher Interest Rates
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THE INDEPENDENT, June 22, 2000

Alldays, the convenience store chain battling to overhaul its
ownership structure, said higher interest rates were to blame for
an interim pre-tax loss of ?5.5m, up from a previous loss of
?3.4m.

The chain has borrowed heavily since last autumn to bring more
stores under direct control. With a ?200m overdraft facility, it
has increased company-owned stores from 239 to 675, buying up 27
regional development companies (RDCs).

The chain has so far spent around ?100m on restructuring and
integration, and is in negotiations with the five remaining
regional companies over the future of 93 additional franchises.

Its chairman, George Duncan, who last year brought in two former
Sainsbury's executives to aid the restructuring, said: "Our
strategy has allowed a streamlining of operations and clearly
there is scope for significant reductions. We are discussing the
most appropriate way forward with the five remaining RDCs,
whether to buy them in or go forward in a joint venture. Unlike
the others we have bought in, these are profitable enterprises."

Shares in the group, which topped 600p in 1998, closed flat
yesterday at 32.5p.

Alldays said the new ownership structure had already cut ?5m from
network overheads. Like-for-like sales for the chain rose 7.1 per
cent in the 26 weeks to 30 April, and turnover was up 21 per cent
to ?257m as a result of higher sales and store acquisitions.

The finance director Stuart Lawson said: "We have finished the
half-year having borrowed ?173m overall."

Esther Bannister, an analyst at HSBC Securities, said Alldays had
adopted the right strategy but had yet to turn the corner. "They
are midway through quite an unpleasant restructuring process.

It's a big job and it's going to take some time," Ms Bannister
said.


JUPITER ASSET:  Leading Clients Planning to Defect
------------------------------
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH, June 21, 2000

Jupiter Asset Management could be facing a string of defections
from leading clients as unease about the future of the company
grows.

It is understood that Kelda, the former Yorkshire Water business,
is alarmed about recent events at Jupiter and is reviewing its
?550m (?875.3m) mandate.

Jupiter also runs just under half of United Utilities' ?840m
pension fund, which is keeping the appointment under close
review.

Yesterday two more of Jupiter's own investment trusts put the
company on notice that they may decide to move the mandate.

The ?370m Dividend and Growth fund and the ?100m Investment Trust
of Investment Trusts yesterday followed their stable mate, the
Jupiter Split Trust, in serving notice.

Former Jupiter chairman John Duffield, who is claiming unfair
dismissal, sits on the board of all three trusts.



S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

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