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To: Dexter Lives On who wrote (120413)	6/14/2002 4:49:54 PM
From: waitwatchwander	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 152472

D.C.'s Strategis Group Closes After Layoffs Telecom Company Once Employed 150 By Nicholas Johnston Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 14, 2002; Page E05 Strategis Group Inc., a Washington-based telecommunications market research firm that once had more than 150 employees, closed this week, another victim of the telecom industry's continued woes. According to former employees, Strategis had gone through a number of rounds of layoffs in recent months as demand for the company's market research and telecom consulting services diminished. The number of employees has dwindled to fewer than 50. Initially, the cuts were seen simply as an effort to weather the tough economic times, and the prospect of closing seemed distant. "There wasn't a lot of speculation about the doors being closed until the past few months," said one former employee who asked not to be identified. Officials at Strategis Group did not return calls seeking comment. The group was founded in 1964 as Malarkey, Taylor and Associates, a cable television consulting firm. In 1987 the firm purchased a wireless services research firm, EMCI, and eventually renamed itself Strategis Group. In addition to its Washington headquarters, it had offices in England, Singapore and Brazil, all closed in the past year. "It is unfortunate that the company got into this situation," said Naqi Jaffery, a former senior vice president and chief analyst who resigned from the company last fall. "Basically, the reason is, I think, the Strategis Group was not managed or run as efficiently as it could have been." Strategis Group was owned by C7 Group Inc., a research and consulting company based in Southport, Conn., and Trident Capital, a Palo Alto, Calif., venture capital firm. Peter Cashman, chairman and chief executive of C7 Group, did not return calls seeking comment. Venetia Kontogouris, a Trident managing director and member of C7's board of directors, was unavailable for comment. Continuing market weakness has hurt a number of smaller local firms, from the occasional consulting and services shops, such as Strategis, to scores of network equipment start-ups and the venture capital groups that heavily funded them. "It's definitely a sign of the times," said A. Ozgur Aytar, an analyst with Strategis. washingtonpost.com

To: Dexter Lives On who wrote (120413)	6/14/2002 5:04:52 PM
From: waitwatchwander	Respond to of 152472

Belgacom will be debt-free by year-end BRUSSELS - SingTel associate Belgacom will be debt-free by the end of the year as Belgium's No 1 phone company is on track to lift profit again this year, Belgacom chief executive officer John Goossens said. ''We will be at zero by year-end,'' he said in an interview. Belgacom is on track to meet its forecasts and is ''even doing a bit better than budgeted'', he said, referring to the target he gave in March to raise profit this year, with a ''small'' increase in sales. Belgacom is one of just a handful of European phone companies that are not saddled with crippling debt. The former Belgian telephone monopoly has debt of about 100 million euros (S$169.6 million). Rivals such as Royal KPN and Deutsche Telekom are facing a tougher time wrestling with debt caused by expansion and buying wireless permits. The Belgian government, which owns 50.1 per cent of Belgacom, is still in talks to find a partner for the company after merger discussions with KPN ended last August over a disagreement on valuation. Belgacom, which is not traded publicly, is 12.15 per cent owned by SingTel. .... straitstimes.asia1.com.sg -Bloomberg News, Reuters