UK companies neglect euro compliance

NEWS Eighty per cent of UK manufacturing companies are still not ready for the euro, according to a report out today. The Benchmark Research group surveyed 1,700 IT managers, and found that only 20 per cent could say their finance and accounting systems are definitely ready to deal in the new European currency. One third of respondents said they are planning to replace their non-compliant systems, but over 25 per cent added that they hadn't even begun the upgrade yet. The survey also found that investment in IT is set to climb among manufacturers to £3.5bn in 1999 from £3.1bn in 1996. Benchmark Research also said nearly 75 per cent of factories in the UK are linked to the Net, although only ten per cent of their internal staff have individual access.