"The first quarter of last year was relatively weak, which makes this year's first-quarter performance look especially strong," he said.Analysts said IBM had benefited from a broad restructuring programme undertaken 18 months ago. The company spent $900m on restructuring last year, and another $1.4bn buying back some of its shares.Strong cash flow meant that IBM's cash position remained relatively static year on year, ending the quarter at about $10.5bn.Sales overall were up 18 per cent to $15.7bn, led by a buoyant market for personal computers. Sales in Europe, the Middle East and Africa rose nearly 16 per cent to $5.4bn.Separately, IDG Marketing Services, a UK marketing company, predicted home sales of PCs in Europe would climb to 8 million by 1997 from about 5 million now.. Brown & Jackson, the troubled Poundstretcher discount store group that was rescued from collapse by the South African group Pepkor last summer, yesterday announced a capital reconstruction and a £10m rights issue. Under the deal Pepkor, the largest discount retailer in South Africa, is further committing itself to the group by injecting at least £20m in addition to the £12m invested last July. A further £10m will be raised via a seven-for-three rights issue. A share consolidation will result in 100 existing shares being consolidated into one new ordinary share priced at 10p. The directors warned shareholders that if they did not approve the proposals the company was likely to cease trading.A spokesman for Pepkor said: "The South Africans dipped their toe in the water last year and have now decided to commit to Poundstretcher.
They see the company as their vehicle for expansion here and in western Europe."Since taking control of the company, Pepkor has closed nearly 40 stores and will close a further 20, taking the chain down to between 180 and 200 stores. Peripheral businesses have been sold to concentrate solely on the Poundstretcher format.Results for the year to December were announced yesterday, showing that losses including exceptional items increased from £12.7m to £16.3m. Sales increased slightly to £151.8m, with sales in the second half improving strongly. In the 15 weeks since the year-end, like-for-like sales were up 9 per cent on improved profit margins.. Few politicians have experienced such extremes of success and defeat as did Milovan Djilas, the Yugoslav politician and writer. Imprisoned for his Communist activities in the kingdom of Yugoslavia before the Second World War, Djilas became one of Marshal Tito's leading partisan commanders during the war and one of the architects of the new Communist regime when the war ended That was the peak of his success. He became disillusioned with the Tito regime because of its failure to live up to his vision of a socialist society.
He then wrote a series of critical articles that resulted in his being expelled from the Yugoslav Communist Party and sent to prison - the same prison as he had been held in by the monarchy. He spent nine of the next 10 years in prison and was only released under an amnesty in 1966. From then until his death Djilas enjoyed a sort of semi- freedom, unable to publish his views or to travel abroad but able to make his views known occasionally in the Western press. Although unable to play an active part in Yugoslav political life, he remained a severe critic of Soviet-style Communism, and as such was one of the first to begin its destruction.Unsuccessful as a politician, Djilas achieved considerable distinction as a writer. His autobiographical works - Land Without Justice (1958), dealing with his childhood in Montenegro, and Memoir of a Revolutionary: wartime and power (1973), dealing with his career as a leading Communist - are remarkable documents, written with great skill and of lasting historical value. They constitute the most outspoken and honest account of a Communist revolution by a participant. His prison years were spent translating Milton's Paradise Lost into Serbian.
