3 OCTOBER 1998, Page 34

No problems

SOMEONE in Goldman Sachs's back office is whistling to keep his partners' spir- its up. He is running a corporate ad which shows a stern and rockbound coast such as the Pilgrim Fathers landed on. The spiel that goes with it tells us that stormy mar- kets are good for investors: 'Turn to Gold- man Sachs and turn your challenges into opportunities.' I remember a chairman of Imperial Chemical Industries who used this line to rouse the troops. 'I don't want to hear any more about problems,' he would cry. 'We don't have problems. We have opportunities, opportunities. Is that clear?' `Well, yes, chairman,' he was at last told, `we do seem to face a large number of insurmountable opportunities.'