The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 16

B-8 THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRERSaturday, August 2, 1980 3 tmaa McDonnell's Future May Fly With Plane Decision "If they decide not to go ahead, there is a very strong possibility they will not be in the commercial aircraft business In the next century," says Michael Derchin, an aerospace analyst for the New York brokerage of Oppenheimer and Co. On the other hand, Derchin and other analysts agree, a decision to launch the DC-11 would significantly depress McDonnell Douglas' earnings for the next five years and could expose the corporation to heightened risk for the remainder of this century. Pressure is mounting for McDonnell Douglas to say "go" or "no go" because Boeing's entry the 757 jetliner depicted in the mockup already is being built to compete for the same customers. Observers believe that McDonnell Douglas cannot afford to postpone action much longer. Failure to act by the end of the year, analysts say, could be tantamount to allowing Boeing to win by default In a market that McDonnell Douglas' Fltzslmmons calls "obviously the biggest In the world today." The market is huge because both the 757 and the DC-11 are designed to replace the Boeing 727, which Is the world's blegest-selllng aircraft with orders for more than 1,800 planes since the first purchase in 1960.

Soaring fuel costs and development of more efficient Jet engines and airframes are expected to make airlines increasingly anxious to replace their three-engine 727 with twin-engine, modern technology Jets. McDONNELL DOUGLAS estimates worldwide demand for 1,700 planes sized like the DC-11, which has 178 seats and a range of some 2,500 miles. Boeing, which also is building a larger, longer-range, twin-aisle plane called the 767, had said the 757 has a potential market of 1,200 planes. In today's dollars, a 757 costs about $25 million and McDonnell Douglas says the DC-11 would be priced competitively. commitments from subcontractors In recent months, but so far they have had little success, industry sources say.

"Airlines are Just not in a plane-buying mood right now," says Eliot Fried of Sher-son Loeb Rhoades, New York. He cited financial losses reported by carriers caught in a squeeze between Increasing costs and recession-weakened traffic. Some airlines also are skeptical of McDonnell Douglas' willingness to commit Itself to a major new commercial program, when the last major project, the DC-10, has yet to break even. A DECISION whether to build the plane, which would become the DC-11, is a critical one for McDonnell Douglas some say the most critical to face the company since St. Louis-based McDonnell Aircraft Corp.

merged with ailing Douglas Aircraft Co. of Long Beach 13 years ago. months have expressed a clear preference for the McDonnell Douglas version, the company says. "There's not a day goes by when I don't get a call from an airline asking about this airplane," says Richard D. Fltzslmmons, director of advanced engineering for Douglas Aircraft the commercial plane-making division of McDonnell Douglas.

But Fltzslmmons cant take any orders. McDonnell Dmuglas hasn't yet decided whether to build the plane, and there Is a growing number of Industry observers who believe the craft will never be more than a mockup. "I do not see McDonnell Douglas having the resources to afford the plane by themselves," says Wolfgang H. Demisch, an aerospace analyst for the New York brokerage of Morgan Stanley and Co. McDonnell Douglas has been actively seeking airline orders and risk-sharing BY KEN GEPFERT 1980, The Los Angeles Times LONG BEACH, a locked hangar door here, there Is a bright orange display that McDonnell Douglas Corp.

says Is "exciting the Imagination" of airline executives around the world. The display Is a mockup of two Jetliner Interiors one being proposed by McDonnell Douglas and the other by Its arch-rival, Boeing Co. THE McDONNELL Douglas version features two aisles, so that no more than two passengers would have to sit elbow-to-elbow. Boeing's has a single aisle and three-abreast seating the same layout that airline passengers have been seeing for 25 years. Airline "decision-makers" who have been escorted through the display In recent IN fti I 1 i He Has His Trade Down To A Science Swiss Banks Offer One-Stop Investing 4 j- iW i nous Dusincssv I An I I X7 CP I ings accounts without having to deal with third parties.

"If you had an account with a Swiss bank for $10,000, they would probably suggest putting maybe 40 in precious metals, another 20 or 30 In a hard (stable) currency like Swiss francs or Oerman marks and keep the rest pretty liquid maybe a three-month certificate of deposit." Swiss money managers historically have been able to keep Inflation from devouring capital because there isn't much inflation in Switzerland. The Swiss Inflation rate hit an all-time high in 1979-5. Keeping domestic inflation rates down is crucial for the Swiss, who must trade to survive and rely upon the strength of the franc. That means Swiss accounts should be attractive to "any Ameri BY WAYNE BUCKHOUT Business Reporter Even nice people keep money in Swiss banks, a young expert on that nation's secretive financial system maintains, some because they like the convenience of one-stop investing. Stashing your money in a Swiss bank won't help if you've really done something wrong, Robert Roe-thenmund explained Friday during an Interview In Cincinnati, one stop on a promotional tour for his book, The Swiss Banking Handbook.

Swiss authorities generally co-operate with foreign law enforcement agencies when fraud or other serious crimes are committed. BUT MERE tax evasion is not a crime In Switzerland. Consequently, Swiss banks shield American tax evaders from everything but their consciences. "What you do with your money before It gets to Switzerland is your business. When it gets there, we protect it as If it were ours." Roethenmund, who is 25, has written several articles and now a book about Swiss banking based upon his studies and experience as a management trainee at Bank Leu in Zurich.

American-born and educated, Roethenmund plans to resume his banking career in Switzerland when he completes studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Roethenmund's book explains that Swiss banks are supermarkets of finance because Swiss law does not separate securities trading from banking. It's possible, then, for Swiss bankers to direct funds into everything from gold bullion to sav can with a little money put asl Je he i wants to keep pace with Inflation." ROETHENMUND concedes that a number of emerging nations are trying to horn in on Switzerland's pre-eminence as a financial safe haven by writing their own Swisslike statutes and opening the doors tn rra rrr mnnau mon BY JIM SMITH Business Reporter Inflation seems to be drying up that thirst for knowledge in some folks. And that takes money out of Rick Huber's pocketbook. Huber, 37, is owner of Earth Sky Center, 225 Main Florence, Ky.

It's a barely year-old shop catering to the scientifically inclined: microscopes and laboratory glassware for the chemist; dissection kits for the biologist, and the blg-tlcket items telescopes for the astronomer. Colleges and high schools give Huber plenty of business in laboratory and biological apparatus. "BUT SCHOOLS are in bad shape financially," Huber said. "I give them as much of a break as I can. I can't make a lot off them." He can make a lot off the Cadillacs of his showroom telescopes ranging in price from $130 to more than $1,000.

But unfortunately, he said, the astronomers among us aren't buying, times being what they are. A jovial, easy-going sort, Huber shrugs off any suggestion of failure. "It's got to work," he said simply. "IllmaJceltwork." Huber is used to adversity, though. It's been tough from the start.

A carbide engineer by trade, the Fort Mitchell native was selling tooling for machinery when he decided he would have more fun making a living from his hobby astronomy. He's been Interested in the subject since that day, at age 12, when he first peered at the heavens through a friend's telescope. "I THOUGHT that was the best thing that ever came along," he said. "Better than sliced bread and canned ham." He plopped down $49.95 he had earned setting pins In a bowling alley for his first telescope, and has been looking skyward ever since. Huber didn't plunge Into the" buslness blindly.

He contacted schools and colleges throughout the area, finding out what they liked and didn't like from their present scientific suppliers. He heard exactly what he had hoped. "Teachers would say they wished there was a store where they could i go and actually see the stuff," he said. The market established, Huber dutifully wrote up a portfolio describing his survey and projecting annual sales and market penetration. Then, he went to banks, looking for the $25,000 he figured he would be needed to start.

"They didn't know what I was talking about," he said. So he went to the Small Business Administration. "THEY DIDN'T know, either." Small wonder. There are only about six or eight shops of the type Huber was describing In the whole country. Almost In desperation, he contacted another banker, a personal friend who had been told about his plans in their early stages.

He got his loan. All the fuss leaves him a bit Incredulous now. "I've even got a Dun Bradstreet (credit) rating." Huber visited suppliers In Michigan, New Jersey and California to arrange for merchandise. He opened in May, 1979. The shop looks a like something out of Popular Science.

Telescopes of varying sizes line the window and the center of the sales room. Display cases along one side carry microscopes and other optical paraphernalia. Shelves along the other wall bear books on varying scientific subjects and, for those so Inclined, jars of pickled cadavers of various aquatic and entomological species, ready for dissection. As far as Huber knows, his shop Is the only one In the country where you can by specimens like that over the counter. HUBER'S SOLE employee, BUI Knox, also an astronomical enthusiast, hounded him at home for months until his store was opened.

Knox bought his first telescope in the shop and later returned to help out. Both are Intrigued by the mysteries of the changing universe, and often spend long nights peering at far-away galaxies and planets. Which is why the store doesn't open until noon. "This makes 'Star Wars' look like kid stuff," declared Huber. "This is real" But as yet, none can match the I track record of the Swiss, whose determination to keep their bank records private recently provoked I an Incident with France in which their borders were briefly closed.

Switzerland's reverence for i banking privacy is tied to Swiss 1 1 i AS- neutrality, Roethenmund says. Recognizing Switzerland's importance as an International mediator, most governments realize thnt "It's not in their Interests to disturb Swiss neutrality too much." Enquirer Photo BY MICHAEL E. KEATING TELESCOPES are just part of Rick Huber's business, but they're his favorite part. This model is equipped with a camera. Money Supply Declines nearly on target he expects to take in $250,000 this year Huber is regrouping to attack the sagging economy head-on.

The location, on a secondary street bypassed by busy Dixie Highway, is less than ideal, so he is scouting better sites. His eye is on Clifton, a neighborhood in the heart of Cincinnati's college community. He plans to make better use of the contacts he built while making his marketing survey, too. "I'll Just have to go out and beat the bushes and tell them I'm here." "How's Business?" profiles people who live and work in Greater Cincinnati. The sky, so to speak, is the limit on telescope prices.

"We Just sent a $60,000 telescope to Kuwait," Huber said. More common, though, are the $500 to $1,000 sales. Some sell for less than $200. HUBER OFTEN packs $3,200 or so worth of equipment into his car and travels to schools, lecturing on astronomy and giving students the chance to watch perhaps hydrogen explosions on the sun through special filters. "It's something they may never see again," he said.

His enthusiasm about the subject is endless, but enthusiasm doesn't pay bills. Despite the fact that sales are banks, fell to a seasonally adjusted average of $373.5 billion from $374.6 billion in the week ended July 16. M1B, a broader measure composed of MIA and funds In checking-type accounts at savings banks and other financial Insltutl-tons, slipped $1.1 billion to $394.4 billion. The New York Fed said commercial and Industrial loans at major U.S. banks fell $105 million to $153.23 billion in the week.

NEW YORK (AP)-The nation's basic money supply fell $1.1 billion in the week ended July 23, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Friday. Analysts were divided, however, on whether the reported decline and a rise in Interest rates this week represented a new tightening of credit by the nation's central bank. The New York Fed said MIA, composed of cash In circulation and checking accounts at commercial Sales Of Women's Clothing Dress Up Palm Beach Profits DAILY COMMENTARY GOLD II nil 11 11 OFFKEWAKHOiSE VICE $000 fl.airtva c. MM ft. or 2100 H.orfK S4.

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PA TTERSON STRA TEGY Letter Mecedes-Benz If you'd rather rent than buy- Palm Beach Inc. said better-than-antlclpated sales of women's clothing more than offset the continuing softness in menswear In the second quarter ended June 28. The company said sales were up a hefty 39 In the second quarter of this year compared with the like quarter of a year ago. Net Income surged even more strongly, 90 above second-quarter "79 levels. The surprisingly strong second-quarter performance was not enough to counterbalance that of the depressed first quarter, however.

Although sales were up 27 for the first half year, net Income was more than 10 below the level of the first half of 1979. Elmer L. Ward president, noted that men's tailored clothing has been under profit pressure all year. "Our short-term goal is to reach the break-even level," Ward said. Ward also observed that more than half of the $38 million Increase Quarter Jma WW rm Chanet Salts SS4470M0 M0.97S400 39.1 NatEarnlngt 11454,000 WjmOX Par Share VJ6 VM 71.0 SfaMmitlu KM Change SaNM (17146! S14M22 27.0 NafCarnlngt SMVUI00 14.271,000 10.1 Par Share S1J7 11.72 OOOommed In year-to-date shipments was provided by companies acquired In the latter half of 1979.

Palm Beach acquired Haspel Brothers, a specialist In lightweight clothing, and Oant a shirt and sportswear maker, in the latter half of 1979. Ward pointed out, too, that the company's interest expense was $2.6 million greater In the first half of 1980 than in the comparable 1979 period. Ward said he expects more than half of the company's volume to come In the second half and, Inasmuch as orders for fall and (Christmas) holiday delivery exceed those of last year, he is looking for sales in the $400 million range. Sales for all of 1979 were $323 million. WE ARE OVERSTOCKED WITH DIESELS.

SAVE THOUSANDS NOW! jjjjj consider a handsome Regency Square Townhouse Luxuriate in the charm and roominess of a private home, with no investment or upkeep! Approximately 2400 sq. It. Living room with fireplace and balconied dining room have combined length of nearly 40 feet 3 bedrooms, two baths, powder room Gourmet equipped kitchen with trash compactor, side-by-side relrigerator I freezer, washer, dryer Lavish closets, walled patios, swim pool, cabanas, restaurant, valet and beauty shops on premises Heat I air conditioning I humidifier controls 24-hour security Next to The Regency just off Madison Road near 1-71, minutes from town, shopping, suburbs. For appointment, please call 871-0100. I First National Adds 7th Affiliate Portsmouth Banking, with assets of about $70 million, operates six banking offices in Scioto County.

The purchase was concluded following approval by Portsmouth's shareholders and regulatory authorities. First National's new acquisition will continue to operate under the same name with Its present board of directors, officers and staff, Liggett said. First National Cincinnati Corp. Friday officially added Its seventh bank affiliate. William N.

Liggett, chairman and chief executive officer of the Cincinnati-based bank holding company, said the $15-mllllon cash purchase of the Portsmouth Banking Co. will both expand First National's scope of financial services and Increase Portsmouth's resources. I 4 1-87971 Rt.4Jvst 07, North of 1-275 Of.