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To: John Mansfield who wrote (25153)	12/31/1998 1:21:00 PM
From: Gord Bolton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116779

Altamira Value Fund top 15 investments AGRA Inc. The Bank of Nova Scotia Blue Range Resource Corporation Class A CPL Long Term Care Real Estate Investment Trust Units Devtek Corporation Class A Dia Met Minerals Ltd. Class A Fort Chicago Energy Partners L.P. Class A Units Getchell Gold Corporation Loblaw Companies Limited National Sea Products Limited Noble China Inc. Open Text Corporation Rogers Communication Inc. Class B Slocan Forest Products Ltd. Viceroy Resource Corporation Food, Banking(trade)and financing, energy, real estate, diamonds, gold, food distribution and marketing, auto parts, building materials, communications, beer for the chinese, and some high tech communications hardware and software.

To: John Mansfield who wrote (25153)	12/31/1998 6:57:00 PM
From: long-gone	Respond to of 116779

Maybe they will tell the "whole" Y2k picture. I just got the Y2k form reply letter from our bank. At the first read, sounds good. After two rereads, I've got to call them Monday. Just can't tell if I'm at risk or not!!! rh

To: John Mansfield who wrote (25153)	1/1/1999 11:39:00 AM
From: goldsnow	Respond to of 116779

U.S. Firms Prepare For The Worst Of Y2K 12:19 a.m. Jan 01, 1999 Eastern By Andrew Hay NEW YORK (Reuters) - The new millennium and its much-anticipated computer bug is still a year away but many U.S. companies are already throwing in the towel. They admit they won't be ready. Companies are beginning to make such frank statements on Y2K risks to cover themselves against possible securities litigation, analysts said. The statements also provide ammunition for their own suits. Companies such as Chevron Corp. and AT&T Corp. say their systems may be vulnerable to significant failures as they grapple with the Year 2000 date change. McDonald's Corp. and DuPont Co. are more confident their machines can handle the date change. They are less sure about those of suppliers and local governments. The Year 2000 problem arises in computers systems that record only the last two digits of a year, raising the possibility they could mistake the year 2000 for 1900, for example. The glitch could confuse computers and microchips embedded in machines, causing them to spit out bad data or not work at all. With Year 2000 errors putting profits at risk, industry consultants report companies doubling or tripling spending to ensure key systems are Y2K compliant and insulated from outside failures. ''The fundamental cost of Y2K is the risk of business interruption,'' said Jeff Ray, a vice president at Compuware Corp., a leading software testing company. Companies have still not done most of the tedious and costly work to fix Year 2000 computer bugs. ''It appears that over half the work will be crammed into 1999,'' said Steven Hock, chief executive of research company Triaxsys Research LLC. Of the 500 largest U.S. companies, 70 percent have been reporting in Securities and Exchange Commission filings on their progress with the Y2K bug. As of the end of September, those companies had spent 42 percent of their year 2000 budgets, according to a report by Triaxsys. At that rate, the Missoula, Mont. company estimates many companies will fall short of fixing all their computers and machines by the Year 2000. As companies realize they and their partners may not achieve full compliance, they are planning back-up systems and looking for alternate vendors. Coca-Cola Co. has contingency plans for the failure of power, water and phone systems. They include stockpiling raw and packaged materials, increasing inventory levels and securing alternate supply sources. McDonald's and DuPont are developing plans to handle problems that may arise if a number of vendors do not fix their computer bugs. While some companies devise contingency plans, others are still wrestling with modifications to their own systems. The technologically complex telecoms sector ranks dead last among all other industries in progress toward completion of Y2K projects, according to Triaxsys. Also behind are the utilities industry and the energy sector. Industries leading the race are banking, securities and insurance, all of which began looking at Y2K up to 10 years ago largely because of regulatory requirements. Most telecom companies only began looking at the issue two to three years ago. Chevron has said it will not fix all its systems by Dec. 31, 1999, and Year 2000 business interruptions could prevent it from making and delivering refined products and producing oil and gas. AT&T has acknowledged the potential for failure across its systems and has cranked up Year 2000 spending by more than 50 percent. While disclosing such problems in SEC filings may protect them from lawsuits, it won't keep the business running if the computers operated by the companies and their vendors don't work. ''You can't announce to your shareholders that you went out of business because of a vendor...but you're going to sue,'' Ray said. Copyright 1998 Reuters Limited.