Meantime IBM France SA reported a loss after restructuring charges, equivalent to about $356m, down from a loss last time of $423m. At the operating level, the loss was about $123m, but turnover slumped 15.7% at $5,240m. Exports at the company plunged 36.7% to only $1,800m, but this reflects the fact that the high-end mainframes are made for Europe at the Montpellier plant, and nobody in continental Europe was buying mainframes in 1993. It is noteworthy that in dollar terms, the business done in France, $3,440m, is substantially bigger than the business done in the UK – UKP2,587m – when France is the country that has a state-supported national champion manufacturer intended to minimise the business of US multinationals, whereas in the UK, there is no national champion computer firm subsidised by the state.
