Compagnie des Machines Bull SA wants another European partner to take a 17% stake during the the second stage of its privatisation, chairman Jean-Marie Descarpentries said, announcing first half losses sharply reduced. Its 17% shareholders are NEC Corp, Motorola Inc and France Telecom, which likes to present the fiction that it is something more than an agency of the French state. The hard part will be finding a European company with the necessary means and interest: Siemens AG has the one, but likely not the other. The company is aiming for sales of $20,000m by the year 2,000 with a profit margin of 4%, Descarpentries said, but the former figure looks hugely over-ambitious and unrealistic without an enormous acquisition. The first half loss was equivalent to $25m, down from $366m a year ago. Turnover fell 10% to $2,480m.
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