Williams Chairman Keith E. Bailey said Tuesday the company’sunaudited third quarter financials, which are expected to bereleased today, will include $70 million, or 10 cents per share, inpre-tax charges and write-downs.

“A combination of certain energy market credit losses and adesire to concentrate our resources on the very robust growthopportunities within our three core businesses has led us to takethese steps,” Bailey said. “We recognize these actions will producethird quarter reported net income that falls below the range ofmarket expectations. But, as we continue to critically assess allof our ongoing activities, we believe the sharpened focus willbetter position us to improve results in the future.”

Bailey said third quarter 1998 results include charges for assetwrite-downs in the communications solutions unit, a loss provisionfor certain network applications that have been re-evaluated as totheir long-term viability, credit loss accruals for certain energycapital and retail energy activities, and additional MAPCO-relatedmerger costs.

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