No sooner had IBM Corp announced a grotesque $5,463m net loss for the fourth quarter, which included a first ever operating loss of $45m or eight cents a share, yesterday, than IBM UK Ltd chipped in with figures that were relatively even worse than those of its parent. IBM UK, which does not normally report until a month or more after its parent, presumably thought it would be best to get all the bad news out of the way at the same time. It made a pre-tax operating loss of UKP398m, and restructuring took another UKP218m for a total pre-tax loss of UKP616m, up from a loss last time of UKP124m; turnover fell 6% to UKP3,751m; domestic sales and exports were each off 6% at UKP1,606m and UKP2,145m. The company shed almost 1,000 employees during the year, leaving it with 13,934. Chairman Sir Tony Cleaver complains that unusually, reductions in product costs were unable to keep pace with price trends in the market. Worldwide, only the RS/6000 did more business in the fourth quarter 1992 than 1991. IBM says it expects sales and general administrative expenses to decline by about $1,000m this year through its restructuring efforts.
