NEGATIVE VIEWS ON GLAXO

Glaxo Holdings fell out of favor with the stock market last week on the back of negative comments from several quarters, along with suggestions that its much-mentioned (and perhaps envied) cash pile was not as safe as might have been thought.

Analysts have been looking at Glaxo's investment portfolio ahead of its fiscal year-ending June 24 figures and, according to the Financial Times, some of them believe that perhaps as much as half of the L2 billion ($3.06 billion) is in the badly-hit global bond market. This news was accompanied by rumors that a US bank had downgraded Glaxo stock.

Then Goldman Sachs' analysts in London put out a note downgrading their forecasts, and Lehman Bros apparently is to publish some negative prescription figures for the company's leading antiulcer drug, Zantac (ranitidine), which is also facing patent challenges (see page 20).