THOMSON: NET PROFITS DOWN 50% OVER FIRST HALF-YEAR.

On September 15, the French electronics group Thomson CSF announced a 50% fall in net half-yearly profits to FF275 million and warned that it may post a net consolidated deficit for the year as a whole. Having made a consolidated net profit of FF2.122 billion last year, Thomson CSF plans to set aside an extraordinary allowance to cover the integration of new activities and further restructuring. CSF profits for 1997 were largely due to the sale of SGS Thomson which earned the company an FF2.3 billion capital gain. Denis Ranque, Chairman of the professional electronics and defence group, is expected shortly to announce a reorganisation of the group to reflect its new structure following privatisation on June 22 through contributions from Aerospatiale, Alcatel and Dassault Electronique activities.

Operating profits for the first half-year, which do...