Baan to focus on better integration: Dutch business software firm Baan Company said its low share price would not stop it from further acquisitions, although they would be small, and its main focus at the moment was better integration between existing subsidiaries. "When you have a stock price that is depressed it does make it more challenging to do large acquisitions, but I would certainly say thatwe will continue to look at doing small technology acquisitions," Mary Coleman, the company's newly appointed president, told Reuters in a telephone interview. "You can pick up some very good little technology companies for a minimal amount of money," she added. Baan's share price has fallen from a high of 108.70 guilders in April and was trading down around six per cent at 21.00 guilders on Thursday after it announced a net nine month loss of $31.7 million from a $18.3 million profit a year earlier. Baan also said it would take a one-off charge of $110million in the fourth quarter associated with a 20 per cent cut in its workforce.

Cabletron says Asia-Pacific growth strong: US computer network equipment maker Cabletron Systems Inc. is enjoying impressive sales growth in Asia-Pacific despite the region's economic crisis, a senior company official said. "We are currently witnessing a 100-per cent growth in business in the Asia-Pacific region," Daniel McConaghy, vice president of Cabletron Systems,Asia Pacific, told reporters in Bangalore. "Our partners and clients are looking to be more and more competitive in the current economic situation and are turning to us for our products," McConaghy said at the launch of a Cabletron testing and benchmarking centre. "Asia-Pacific is an important market for us and the economic crisis does not mean we stop investing here." McConaghy said international technology consultant IDC had declared Cabletron as India's leading switching company in its 1997-98 report on the Local Area Network switching market. "The Indian market is growing and we have a 22-per cent share of the market," he said. He said that earlier this year Cabletron had invested $3million in the software development centre it set up in India's commercial capital Mumbai.

Rothmans sees steady full-year result: Cigarette maker Rothmans Holdings Ltd said on Friday it expected to post a full year pre-abnormal profit for the year to end-March 1999 close to its 1997-98 result of A$97.3 million. "It isexpected, subject to markets and operating conditions remaining stable, that the group will achieve an attributable profit for the year to March 31, 1999 close to last year's result, excluding the abnormal profit of last year," the company said in a statement accompanying its half year result. Rothmans earlier announced a pre-abnormal net profit for the six months to September 30 of A$58.59 million, up 21.5 per cent on the same period a year ago. "The group anticipates that the competitive environment in its major markets will remain, that industry volumes will continue to decline significantly in New Zealand and that the very difficult trading conditions in Indonesia will persist," Rothmans said.