HOLDERBANK EXPECTS 1987 RESULTS TO BE STEADY
Holderbank Financiere Glarus AG <HOLZ.G>
expects its 1987 results to be at least steady, with increases
in volume sales and negative currency factors roughly
cancelling each other out, deputy chairman Max Amstutz said.
    He told a news conference that turnover was likely to rise
20 pct in volume terms, partly through the consolidation of
recently acquired companies. Ideal Basic Industries Inc <IDL>
of the U.S., Which Holderbank agreed last year to acquire,
should boost group sales by around 12 pct.
    But the weakness of the dollar -- the key currency for the
group -- would remain a strong negative factor.
    Holderbank earlier reported consolidated 1986 net profit of
239 mln Swiss francs compared with 126 mln in 1985 on sales
which fell to 3.3 billion francs from 3.6 billion.
    Group president Thomas Schmidheiny said Holderbank was now
in a consolidation phase after 15 years of enormous growth.
    Priority would be given to strengthening its existing
positions and to integrating recent acquisitions but the group
would continue to take advantage of new opportunities for
acquisitions.
 Reuter
