Amoco Corp. intends to trim its work force, sell off some additional non- essential assets and continue to cut costs, H. Laurance Fuller, chairman and chief executive officer, said Tuesday.
”The oil and gas industry is enduring an extremely adverse period,”
Fuller told about 1,100 shareholders at the company`s annual meeting in Chicago. But, he said, the oil business moves in cycles of adversity and prosperity. ”I have every confidence the wheel will turn once again,” he said.
Fuller said the company is studying the question of work-force reduction and should have targets set by the middle of the year.
”Employee levels undoubtedly will be reduced somewhat,” Fuller said. He said the company doesn`t expect to feel the financial benefits of planned cuts until next year or beyond.
At another annual meeting, the head of Zenith Electronics Corp. acknowledged Wednesday that the company`s new high-resolution monitors have been more difficult and expensive to produce and their applications more limited than previously expected.
Jerry K. Pearlman, Zenith`s chairman and president, said the timetable for shipping the monitors in volume to computer manufacturers has slipped by six months to a year. He also said the monitor`s expense may make it uneconomical for all TV sets except the high-definition sets under
development.
Pearlman made the remarks at Zenith`s meeting in Glenview. He deflected concerns expressed by shareholders about the company`s financing sources, particularly a $50 million revolving-credit agreement with its banks that is to expire June 30.
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Pearlman said Zenith is negotiating for an extension of the agreement and continues to study other financing options. Although he gave no indication when Zenith`s long money-losing streak will end, Pearlman said he doesn`t foresee Zenith being squeezed for cash or having problems securing financing. Zenith also announced a joint-development agreement with InSight Telecast Inc. under which Zenith will incorporate circuitry in its products for InSight`s on-screen TV program guide. Zenith said it will be the exclusive manufacturer of sets offering InSight`s guide for the first year of production.
The guide provides titles, showing times and descriptions of TV programs, and facilitates their taping on videocassette recorders.
Amoco`s Fuller said the company is not considering selling anything as sizable as its chemical business, one of Amoco`s three major divisions. The Salt Lake City refinery that has been put up for sale either will be sold in the next couple of months, he said, or Amoco will continue to run it. The refinery runs at a profit, but requires considerable investment to meet new environmental requirements.
Fuller said other properties considered for sale involve business in which Amoco holds a minor market share.
”These are not a matter of selling off the guts of the business,”
Fuller said after the general meeting.