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Non-Tech : Raisio - Nutraceutical Pioneer - Top Performing Stock -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: NY0001 who wrote (8)	7/19/1999 4:24:00 PM
From: NY0001	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 11

Benecol selling well in the US. Friday July 16, 6:36 am Eastern Time Raisio says pleased if Benecol U.S. data accurate HELSINKI, July 16 (Reuters) - Finnish food group Raisio said on Friday it was pleased if reports about the market share of its Benecol products in the United States were accurate, but it could not confirm the figures. Merrill Lynch analyst Bram Cornelisse told Reuters that based on independently collected data he had obtained, he believed Benecol had a 2.4 percent share of the U.S. margarine market versus a 0.5 percent share for rival Unilever's Take Control. ''I have not seen the official data, so I can only say that if it is correct we are really pleased,'' Raisio spokesman Sten von Hellens said. The data was for a four-week period starting in late May after cholesterol-cutting Benecol margarines and spreads were launched, Cornelisse said. Benecol is marketed in the United States and internationally by Johnson and Johnson unit McNeil Consumer Products (NYSE:JNJ - news). Cornelisse cautioned, however, that as Unilever had so far conducted no marketing campaign for Take Control he expected its market share to rise. A Unilever spokesman told Reuters late on Thursday that the company was about to start such a campaign. Raisio's share has rocketed on talk of Benecol's U.S. market share, rising 7.4 percent on Thursday and 12.2 percent on Friday to trade at 12.05 euros at 1028 GMT, making it Europe's top gainer . The share has gained almost 130 percent since it hit a low of 5.30 euros in February as investors were cheered by Benecol products being launched in the United States and Europe. But the stock still has a way to climb to peaks of 18 euros reached in May 1998.