Yes Eric. That's why I responded to Salah. Also TO ALL. USENET IS NOW
SPAMMED. Especially: misc.invest.stocks
Novell should get all the attention and publicity it deserves. Don't you think?
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Path: news.monmouth.com!news
From: jantol@monmouth.com (Joe Antol)
Newsgroups: misc.invest.stocks
Subject: NOVELL - BUYER BEWARE! READ AND HEED!
Date: Wed, 12 Feb 1997 02:11:34 GMT
Organization: Consulting
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Message-ID: <33012678.11630558@news.monmouth.com>
Reply-To: jantol@monmouth.com
NNTP-Posting-Host: fh-ppp89.monmouth.com
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent .99d/32.182
Novell, Board of Directors, Joe Marengi, and John Young:
Consider yourselves on notice for poor performance.
Review:
=============================================================================
February 11, 1997
CONTACT: Brad Pacheco/Pat Macht
Office of Public Affairs
(916) 326-3991
www.calpers.ca.gov
CalPERS NAMES TOP TEN FINANCIAL LAGGARDS
Apple Computers and Reebok International head target
list
SACRAMENTO, CA -- The $108 billion California Public Employees'
Retirement System
(CalPERS) today released its top ten list of Corporate America's
financial underperformers.
Two of America's corporate giants -- Apple Computers, Inc. and Reebok
International, Ltd. --
head this year's list of companies CalPERS will target for severe
underperformance relative to their
industry peers. The companies will serve as the focus of the System's
corporate governance
activism for the 1997 proxy season.
CalPERS named Apple Computers to the target list because of the
company's downward spiral in
the marketplace as buyers continue to abandon the Macintosh computer
in greater numbers. Based
on research conducted by the pension system, CalPERS believes Apple's
top management lacks
experience in the personal computer business, significantly
disadvantaging it in the marketplace. In
addition, CalPERS is dissatisfied with the high salaries paid to
management in light of poor financial
performance and mounting layoffs.
Reebok International made the top ten list due to its financial
freefall from market dominance.
Despite a recent upswing in the company's stock price, CalPERS is
concerned that Reebok's
management has operated with insufficient accountability to the board
which, if not corrected, could
significantly weaken the long-term prospects of the company.
"It is clear that these companies have lost their competitive edge
and are emerging as financial
deadweight compared to their industry peers," said William D. Crist,
President of the CalPERS
Board of Administration. "As buy-and-hold players in the stock
market, we have an economic
interest and a fiduciary responsibility to our members to become a
constructive voice in urging better
performance."
Apple and Reebok are joined by eight other companies on the target
list. They include two
technology companies: Novell, Inc., of Provo, Utah and Sybase, Inc.
of Emeryville, California; and
two product manufacturers: Stride Rite Corporation of Lexington,
Massachusetts and Bassett
Furniture Industries of Bassett, Virginia.
Filling out the remainder of the target list is one of the nation's
largest food distributors Fleming
Companies, Inc. of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; the hazardous waste
treatment company Rollins
Environmental Services of Wilmington, Delaware; the worldwide leader
of ophthalmic laser systems
Summit Technology, Inc. of Waltham, Massachusetts; and electronic
surveillance system provider
Sensormatic Electronic of Boca Raton, Florida.
Stride Rite, Bassett Furniture, and Rollins Environmental Services
are on the poor performer's list
for a second year in a row.
CalPERS has requested a meeting with each of the company's
independent directors to discuss
issues of performance and shareholder value. If the companies fail to
cooperate, the System will use
aggressive means to improve performance such as voting against
directors and filing shareholder
proposals.
"We are prepared to vote against a corporation's entire board and
sponsor proxy proposals if
needed changes aren't made," said Kayla Gillan, General Counsel for
CalPERS. "It's vital that these
boards begin to look at the key factors that cause underperformance.
Those that don't will
increasingly find it harder to attract capital."
Last week, CalPERS voted against Apple's board of directors at its
shareholders meeting.
According to CalPERS, two or more of Apple's directors sit on four or
more boards and personal
stock ownership is significantly low among most directors.
"As shareholders -- and owners of this company -- we believe that
dedication of all of Apple's
directors and personal incentives are critical to recovery," added
Gillan.
CalPERS quietly began meeting with companies last fall and has met
with independent directors at
Novell, Stride Rite, Reebok, Sybase, and management at Sensormatic
and Fleming Companies.
CalPERS has filed shareholder proposals with Reebok and Fleming
seeking to de-stagger board
terms so that shareholders can vote on all board members at the same
time.
The System is scheduled to meet with Summit Technology later this
month and is currently
scheduling meetings with Apple Computers and Bassett Furniture.
Based on the recent announcement between Rollins Environmental
Services and Laidlaw, Inc.,
which creates a 10-member board with three independent directors,
CalPERS withdrew its
shareholder proposal that called for Rollins to restructure its board
to include a majority of
independent directors.
Each year, CalPERS selects ten companies whose stock rank among the
poorest long-term
performers relative to others in the same industry. CalPERS domestic
equity portfolio contains more
than 1,500 companies.
A study conducted for CalPERS by Wilshire Associates in 1994, and
updated in 1996,
demonstrated that CalPERS corporate governance efforts targeted at
underperformers has paid off.
Despite underperforming the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index by an
average of 85 percent for
the five years prior to CalPERS shareholder activism, the 62
companies that were targeted by the
System from 1987 to 1995 have outperformed the S&P 500 Index by 33
percent over the
subsequent five years.
CalPERS is the nation's largest public pension fund. The System
provides retirement and health
benefits to more than 1 million active and retired public employees
and their families.
For further information about CalPERS, visit the System's web site at
www.calpers.ca.gov.
30 -
CalPERS 1997 CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TARGETS
February 11, 1997
APPLE COMPUTERS, INC. (AAPL) Cupertino, California
REEBOK INTERNATIONAL, LTD. (RBK) Stoughton, Massachusetts
BASSETT FURNITURE INDUSTRIES (BSET) Bassett, Virginia
FLEMING COMPANIES, INC. (FLM) Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
NOVELL, INC. (NOVL) Provo, Utah
ROLLINS ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES (REN) Wilmington, Delaware
SENSORMATIC ELECTRONIC (SRM) Boca Raton, Florida
STRIDE RITE CORPORATION (SRR) Lexington, Massachusetts
SUMMIT TECHNOLOGY, INC. (BEAM) Waltham, Massachusetts
SYBASE, INC. (SYBS) Emeryville, California
NOVELL, INC. (NOVL) Provo, Utah
Novell, Inc., is the leading vendor of network operating system
software and related products.
Products include NetWare, that allows networked PCs to share
peripheral resources, and
GroupWare, network applications that enhance work-group productivity.
Novell has been managed by the board for several months in the
absence of a CEO. Without quick
and fundamental product changes, the company's long-term recovery may
be jeopardized.
CalPERS Holding: 1,722,428 shares
Shareholder Returns -- The value of $100 invested over time.
Oct-91 Oct-93 Oct-93 Oct-94 Oct-95 Oct-96
Novell, Inc.
$100 117 83 72 64 $36
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TO: public_affairs@calpers.ca.gov
Please forward this to the appropriate person(s), and/or agency.
RE: Your recent PR on 10 targeted underperformers, Specifically:
NOVELL, Ticker-NOVL NASDAQ(O)
Please consider this email as support for your proposed/pending
action against Novell, Inc. with regard
to irresponsible actions and poor performance by the Board of
Directors acting as fiduciaries for the
stockholders of this company.
Please also consider this email as authorization to utilize all my
shares of record in this company to vote
against, and for the ouster of the current President and BOD of
Novell, Inc.
I would also request that you send me any and all information on
your actions with this company, as well
as proxy information.
Thank You.
J. P. Antol
**************************************************
Joe Antol, USA
jantol@monmouth.com
monmouth.com
**************************************************
jantol@monmouth.com
monmouth.com
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Marengi, you better come up with something good quickly. Your time is almost up. |
