European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 18, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 18, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 17money matters today s tip Kaihatsu clobbered by slow sales Over the past year announced plans to Stop Selling most of its vehicles in the United states a Little More than four years after entering the Market. Osaka based Kaihatsu motor co. Ltd. Said it will Stop exporting the two models of the Kaihatsu charade subcompact and the Rocky 4x4 sports Utility vehicle in about six months. It will continue to sell its Hujet off Road Multi Pur Ose Utility vehicles in the United tates however. Kaihatsu which saw sales last year fall to 8,963 vehicles from 14,984 in 1990, said its decision was due to mounting financial losses caused by insufficient sales volume increased Competition costly future government regulations and Adverse Market conditions. Kaihatsu which sold about 900,000 vehicles worldwide last year entered the . Market in december 1987 and sold 11,460 vehicles in 1988, then peaked at 15,413 in 1989. I conversion rates London up mondays rates for the . Dollar to other currencies. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other local currencies in dollars Gold was quoted at $354.50 an ounce Silver at $4.16. Feb. 14 feb. 17 British pound.1.76885 1.77380 German mark.1.6280 1.6235 French franc.5.5175 5.5275 dutch ouilder.1.8300 1.8260 belgian franc.33.51 33.38 italian lira.1,217.30 1,218.20 Swiss franc.1.4660 1.4625 greek drachma.187.45 186.90 turkish lira.5,657.80 5,669.80 saudi arabian riyal.3.7501 3.7500 Spanish peseta.101.92 101.54 portuguese escudo.139.63 139.25 Canadian dollar.1.1856 1.1858 austrian schilling.11.4020 11.3675 norwegian krone.6.3580 6.3430 danish krone.6.2850 6.2705 these Are commercial rates and can be related Only to the use of foreign currency by . Forces for official business. The Only official rate concerns the Sale of German Marks to . Personnel for personal use and this will be 1.58 through tuesday based on mondays noontime Price fixing. Bank failures plagued . Concord . A the nations first primary is taking place in a state where the Banks have suffered severely during the recession. New Hampshire did no to see a single Bank fail Between 1957 and july 1990. But layoffs at the regions defense contractors and nigh tech companies coupled with plunging real estate values led to one collapse after another. Since the fall of the . Savings Bank of Seabrook in july 27, 1990, 15 other Banks have closed the state banking department said. On oct. 10, 1991, Bank regulators seized five Large banking companies that held 28.6 percent of the states banking assets. The seeds of the crisis were planted in the Early 1980s, when Mutual savings Banks changed their Charters and began Selling Stock to the Public. Experts give corporate profits a mixed review on comeback by Chet Currier the associated press new York a after a slump that has dragged on for 2vi years some Wall Street analysts believe corporate profits Are almost ready for a recovery. But if you re a Stock Market investor you might have reasonable cause to doubt such forecasts and then Hope those doubts prove incorrect. The doubts arise because this is by no Means the first time since the summer of 1989, when corporate earnings began to Sag that somebody has forecast a rebound. One noteworthy instance occurred a year ago when analysts were looking ahead enthusiastically to an Early end to the persian Gulf War. The Hope its not True View meanwhile focuses on the fact that the Bull Market in stocks has thrived for a Long time on a regimen of skimpy business profits and might not do so Well on a diet of heartier fare. Over the last 16 months the Dow Jones Industrial average has soared More than 900 Points a from 2,365.10 on oct. 11, 1990, to 3,276.831851 wednesday a while profits Sank to a five year Low by the calculations of Standard amp poor a corp., in 1991. So if you re looking to make some Money in the Stock Market its natural to conclude who needs a profit recovery nevertheless analysts at some leading investment firms see signs that a pickup is impending. A if the first Quarter Gross Domestic product shows any strength at All the last Quarter of 1991 should Mark the approximate Nadir of the current profit Cycle a said Michael Sherman in a current strata report at new York investment firm Earson Lehman Brothers. In the october december period Sherman figures aggregate earnings for the companies that make up Standard amp poor a 500-Stock composite Index came to about $3.04 a share. But if write offs for restructuring and other special charges Are excluded he said operating earnings for the Quarter were about $5.89 a share Down Only slightly from operating profits of $6.04 a share m the last Quarter of 1990. A the fact that operating profits for the a amp a 500 have stabilized is a Good sign that the upturn in profits will begin in the near future a he said. On the subject of whether that is necessarily Good news for stocks the newsletter Grants interest rate observer cites a chilling precedent. Its current Issue carries a tally by Nathaniel Guild a Cambridge mass., investor of what happened to Many big name stocks in the 19/j-74 Bear Market. The stocks including such enduring Blue Chip names As Philip Morris Merck and coca cola sustained losses ranging from 40 percent to 90 percent Over a period when earnings actually increased for each of those companies. A stocks do on occasion fall out of bed and Hurt themselves a observed James Grant the letters editor. A wild card in All this is the dubious accuracy record of Wall streets recent consensus earnings forecasts. A because estimates Are constantly being revised investors  place too much emphasis on consensus data is amp a analysts said in the firms weekly the Outlook. A was a general Rule analysts arc optimistic at the Start of the year with estimates on the High Side. Estimates tend to be lowered As the year advances. A Early in 1991, for example consensus estimates foresaw a amp a 500 earnings climbing More than 20 percent for the year. A the most recent consensus estimate All actual figures Are not yet in has the indexes 1991 earnings falling 15  court suspends financier As head of companies pending assets audit Miami apr a Federal judge in Cleveland has suspended financier Victor Posner from control of his holdings which include Arbyl a and Royal Crown cola while auditors determine whether the company was plundered. . District judge Thomas Lambros in a harshly worded order Friday said the intervention was needed to keep the Miami Beach financier from draining assets from Parent company dog corp. Posner a son Steven do go a vice chairman also was suspended. Donald Glazer an attorney for Posner and dog corp., said the judge went too far. He rejected the characterization of Posner a actions and said he would seek a stay on the order at a feb. 24 hearing. A this was an order that came without even any advocate. There were no motions made no parties no notice a Glazer said. A i think this Type of thing is destroying the company More than any allegations that in be Ever heard against or.  Posner owns nearly half the Stock in dog corporate Parent of the fast food Arbyl Schain Royal Crown cola and Phoenix based Talley industries inc., an aerospace and Industrial products company. The judge ordered the Post Erst salaries to be placed in Trust pending the audit. Victor Posner received Cash compensation of $3.6 million from dog last fiscal year while his son was paid $665,000. The judge barred Posner from Selling his 46.3 percent stake. Dog Stock closed Friday up %1vi cents at $5.50. Lambros said he intervened because Victor Posner Posner had defied the terms of a court ordered settlement with disgruntled shareholders at do go a dec. 27 annual meeting. The Case arose from a shareholders lawsuit filed in Cleveland in 1989. Posner has been accused of taking Over the companies Only to suck the Cash out of them. A this usurpation of corporate assets. Can truly be classified As a corporate holocaust a Lambros wrote. Posner a Empire has been crumbling since 1985, when it was valued at $4 billion and business week Magazine ranked him As the nations highest paid executive with an annual salary of $12.7 million. Several of his holdings have subsequently sought bankruptcy court Protection. A bankruptcy judge ousted him As chairman of one of them Sharon steel corp., Early in 1988 after he failed to agree to allow an Independent majority to be seated on the company a Board which he controlled. Posner pleaded no contest to income tax evasion in 1987. He was placed on five years probation and ordered to contribute $3 million and 5,000 hours to helping the homeless. Both posters were named As co conspirators in an insider trading complaint the securities and Exchange commission filed against Drexel Burnham Lambert inc. And Drexel a former junk Bond financier Michael Milken. Pickets spurn Caterpillar s Job offer declare themselves now on strike Peoria 111. Apr Caterpillar inc. Ended its lockout of Union workers and asked them to return to work sunday night but the Only effect on the picket lines was a change in signs from a locked out to a on  a we invited the employees to come Back beginning with the third shift tonight a Caterpillar spokesman Keith Butterfield said from company Headquarters Here. But representatives of the 5,600 United Auto workers members who had been locked out of work since nov. 4 said they Are not returning without a contract and Are now on strike. Roy Smith with Law local 751 in Decatur said the change in status had no practical effect on the workers. He said members of the local Are determined to remain on strike until they have an acceptable contract. A a we la hang in there As Long As it takes a Smith said. Contract talks Are scheduled to resume wednesday in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton to. Talks collapsed oct. 31, with the Union demanding a contract patterned after a Law agreement with Deere amp co. About 10,000 workers have been idled in East Peoria Mapleton Mossville Decatur Aurora Pontiac and Joliet and in York a. A i done to want to go Back in there without a contract a said Chuck Taylor trustee at Law local 145 in Aurora