Compaq's CEO Capellas on Global Economic Outlook: Comments
By Inga Kolvik
London, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The following are comments by Michael Capellas, president and chief executive of Compaq Computer Corp., the world's biggest personal computer maker. He was speaking at a meeting with journalists in London.
On a global economic slowdown:
``There's no question we'll face a first-half slowdown. We don't see large customers coming back for big (orders). Let's face it, the first half was slowing. We went through a bit of a soft spot.''
``Growth will be about 3 to 4 percent in the first half and (U.S. interest) rate cuts will drive growth in the second half. We have not seen a change in fundamentals.''
``There's no question growth outside of the U.S. will drive the business'' this year. ``We're changing our management teams in Europe in an effort to reengineer growth there. Wireless developments will drive European growth.''
Having said that, ``the European team was the strongest within the group (last year), this year it's not just about the devices themselves, we have a lot of technical assets in Europe.''
On the U.S. economy:
``We're taking a realistic, conservative approach (this year). We expect a soft landing in the U.S. The fact that we have a global balance positions us well. Obviously we'll be affected by a slowdown. Are we concerned? You bet. We're not even giving a projection for this year.''
On acquisitions:
``We're looking at a few service companies where we don't have (sufficient) critical mass. We're pretty active, we're looking.'' |
