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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ken Salaets who wrote (2114)	7/11/1998 6:28:00 AM
From: ForYourEyesOnly	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

MERRILL LYNCH Y2K REPORT: Any comments? Merrill Lynch Paints Rosy Y2K Picture (07/10/98; 9:45 a.m. ET) By Jeff Sweat, InformationWeek Merrill Lynch, sounding a rare optimistic note about the year 2000 problem, says in a new report that most corporations will have their systems in compliance in time for the millennium. The company's Global Securities Research and Economics unit released Thursday its assessment of the year 2000 problem, Y2K: Implications of Investors. In the 450-page volume, which draws from a survey of 3,000 corporations, Merrill Lynch says most companies are two years into their year 2000 efforts and still have a year and a half to finish them. "Microsoft, Latin America, and communism all changed radically in a lot less time," the report says. The report says most U.S. corporations expect to be fully compliant by the end of 1998, though Merrill Lynch officials could not provide exact numbers. However, according to the report, those companies are worried about compliance among their suppliers and customers. Despite those concerns, Merrill Lynch says it's unlikely the disparate systems among trading partners will create year 2000-related problems. "The very complexity and dispersion of these systems is, in fact, insurance against a complete shutdown of commerce when the millennium starts," the report says. Few of the companies surveyed say they expect earnings to suffer significantly, though the study says many of them may see a short-term revenue decrease if year 2000 problems affect key operations and companies can't resolve problems quickly. The study says management practices such as just-in-time inventory and outsourcing could exacerbate year 2000 glitches by increasing a company's vulnerability to outside forces. Regions around the globe reported varying degrees of compliance. European companies, pushed by both the year 2000 and the Euro, are typically upgrading their systems, though Merrill Lynch would not give specific figures. About 72 percent of Asian companies say they will be year 2000-compliant, with India claiming 97 percent compliance, and the Philippines, 86 percent compliance. In Indonesia and China, fewer than half the companies say they will be compliant.