European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 05, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                For Page 14 the stars and stripes Money matters wednesday january 5,1994 a t f1 today s rates following Are fixed rates at which Community banking an credit Union facilities will sell for eign currencies to . Personnel for personal use German Mark 1.70 British Pound 1.53 dutch Guilder. 1.89 greek drachma. 238.0998 note Tho rates above apply within the Host country. Figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar following Are Interbank rates that fluctuate and should be regarded As the approximate value of the . Dollar to foreign Curren cies italian lira 1,703.25 turkish lira 14,555.00 Spanish peseta. 143.48 portuguese escudo. 177.05 austrian Schilling 12.232 saudi Riyal. 3.749 Bahrain Dinar. 0.3767 kuwaiti Dinar 0.2984 norwegian Krone 7.529 danish Krone. 6.792 British Pound 1.4809 German Mark. 1.7425 Swiss franc. 1.4905 French franc 5.9215. Dutch Guilder .1.9485 belgian franc. 36.35 Canadian Dollar. 1.3157 note figures Are expressed in dollars to the British Pound other currencies to the Dollar Gold quote $395.00 an ounce Silver quote $5.24 an ounce new York Exchange new York up the 15 most Active stocks in new York Stock Exchange composite trading on monday. Stock Sunshine mining Rwjr Nabisco hid Tel Fonos de my fed kept stores Merck & co inc Wal Mart stores at to company Philip Morris general motors get corp Chrysler corp Stone Container Ford motor co Home St mining Placer dome inc Sain 4,863,600 ,4,794,200 4,501.800 4,045,300 3,793,500 2,663,300. 2,326.200 2,179,400 2,085,700 2,066.200 1,977,800 1,950,500 1,906,700 1.723,400 1.722.500 last 3v46v 65 v422 m 35 vi25 tt52 i 57 h.55 h 34 v4 53 v4 10 to 63%23 v4 27% net chg. Up i putt off 2 up 2 nov up 2 up of Oft up /4. Up 4 on in up1v4 up2v4 american Exchange new York up the ten most Active stocks in american Stock Exchange composite trading monday. Stock Echo Bay mines Royal Oak mines Pegasus Gold Energy service Cheyenne Sotter new York times Amdahl corp Jan Bell mtg Golden Star cd. Forest labs inc Salai t.668,700 1,604,500 532,000 380,000 319,800 302,900 294,300 287,900 230,700 194,600 last 14 visit 24 33-1627 26 vi6h 9 46 to  t it up up 2 off 3-16 Offutt oft1/ putt off udv4 Dow Jones new York up Dow Jones closing Range of averages on monday High Low Closa chanot30 industrials 20 transports 15 utilities 65 stocks 3790.70 3715.24 3756.60 up2.5l 17g8.11 1737.01 1751.59 Oft 10.73 229.77 224.10 227.06 off 2.24 1390.09 1362.56 1376.91 off 4.12 Northwest reduces air fares for Winter Eagan Minn. A Northwest air lines said monday that it has Cut Winter fares by up to 45 percent. The Sale began tuesday and tickets must be bought by Jan. 1j. The discounts apply for travel from Jan. 18 through april 15 in the 50 states Canada and most Caribbean destinations the airline said. Tickets must be bought at least 14 Days before travel require a saturday night stay and arc nonrefundable. Sample Sale fares include round trip be tween Minneapolis and los Angeles for $318 and los Angeles new York for $338. Some americans finding Homes on foreign Range Beni Curavo the new York times a Winter in the Northeast , flu bouts Snow encrusted cars. Any wonder that visions of a Home abroad in a warmer clime Drift through Man Heads thousands of intrepid. Americans have brought such dreams to life in the last year by buying residential property in Europe latin America or the Caribbean some times braving byzantine bureaucracies an unusual restrictions. For the most part buying a Home abroad is for people who have disposable income and retirees said Susan Merdinger chairman of the International division of the National association of realtors Trade organization based in Washington. Merdinger who also is president  Cvet & partners a real estate company in Manhattan said the number of americans who own Homes in foreign countries was believed to be rising Al though reliable statistics were riot Avail Able. For americans considering a Home abroad extreme caution and research Are advised. Buyers should be aware of High sales taxes and a sluggish resale Market Inmany countries. Moreover second Home financing from foreign Banks ranges from minimal to non existent. A necessity is reliable Legal assist Ance from someone who Speaks English and the local language. And to get a Good feel for the country most brokers suggest renting for several seasons first. Popular areas for second Homes Mer Dinger said include Europe particularly Provence in Southern France and the Al Garve in Southern Portugal. Ireland be cause of its Low Cost and the cotswold Hills in England Are attracting adventurous americans and so to a lesser extent is Tuscany in Italy. In France it s mainly second Homes for people of affluence Merdinger said. The retirees go mainly to Portugal because the Cost of living is Low and the climate  last year Monica Newton bought a $90,000 one bedroom condominium in the Algarme in a development near Albufeira called Sao Raphael. I wanted a Little win Ter Home and i just Don t like Florida said Newton of great neck . Newton who is married to a retired fac tory owner said flights to Portugal were affordable about $600 round trip and the area was safer and less expensive than com parable locales in the Southern United states.,Everyone that owns a Home Over there Speaks English too she said. They Are British or  she and her husband spend their Winters in the condominium and rent it out for the rest of the year. The monthly maintenance fee is $80. The sales tax or Sisa was 1 percent at the time of Purchase. It could be As much As 10 percent depending on How much your Home costs Newton said. Such taxes Are common abroad in France a 10 percent Transfer tax is levied when a Home is sold. Many Caribbean is lands also charge 10 percent levies known As alien land owner licenses. On the flip Side places with land owner licenses generally have Low property taxes. Besides sales taxes financing is a prob Lem in Many foreign countries. At Best Banks will provide mortgages of up to 50 percent. Newton like Many american buyers paid Cash. Some countries like Switzerland an Mexico restrict where americans and other foreigners May buy property Al though Mexico s land ownership Laws Are expected to be liberalized under the North american free Trade agreement. Traditionally foreigners have not been Al Lowed to own land in Mexico within 30 Miles of the coast or in some historic zones. Burbank Calif. A Michael Eisner s usually fat Wallet is a Little thinner the latest victim of the Walt Disney co s woes. The chairman of the giant entertainment company took a 90 percent pay Cut in 1993 and for the first time did t qualify for a year end Bonus according to a Disney proxy statement released monday. Of course Eisner s $750,000 base salary in t All that bad. But compared with earlier years his compensation is  1992, he Drew a combined salary and Bonus of $7.4 million. He also cashed i Stock options late in the year yielding him $197.5 million before taxes. And 1991 was t that bad a year either Eisner s salary and Bonus totalled $5.4 million. As explained in Disney s proxy both Eisner and Disney president Frank Wells took 90% pay Cut in 93 did not collect bonuses because Dis  s profits dipped. The company re ported profits of $299.8 million forthe fiscal year that ended sept. 30, Down from $816.7 million in the pre Vious year. The shortfall was blamed on disastrous losses at euro Disney outside of Eisner Paris and one time charges for accounting changes. As part of Eisner s employment agreement he receives a share of a Bonus Pool if the company s profits reach a cer Tain threshold. That level is when the company s income exceeds a return on shareholder s equity of 11 percent. The return on stockholder s equity was13 percent before the accounting change but 6 percent after the change. In 1992, twas 19 percent. Because Wells did not receive a Bonus and has a comparatively Low base pay he failed to make the company s list of the five highest paid executives. Eisner Dis  s chairman since 1984, was still no. 1. Euro Disney reported a loss of $930million for the fiscal year a performance Eisner has labelled  Disney owns 49 percent of the Park. In an interview published in France Las week Eisner said the Park could shut Down if Disney and creditor Banks fail to devise a financial restructuring plan. Paramount buys part of German publishing firm taking Stock in tradition several employees dressed in traditional Kimonos add some color to the trading floor during the year s first Day of action tuesday at the Tokyo Stock Exchange. York up Paramount communications inc., in a move into european markets said monday that it has acquired the Book and software publish ing operations of a German publisher. The Deal with Markt & Technik Verag . Marks Paramount s first foreign Lan Guage publishing acquisition. It is part of a strategy of creating and exploiting copy rights worldwide increasing English Lan Guage sales in growing International markets and publishing a Range of product sin local languages. Paramount said it plans to turn the operations into a German and English Lan Guage computer and general reference publisher. This acquisition is the first step in expanding our publishing infrastructure in Europe allowing us to build significant German language computer and reference publishing businesses and to begin publish ing in indigenous languages throughout the continent said Richard e. Snyder chair Man of Paramount