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The court appointed an examiner to recommend further damages and told him to determine what part of LVMH's spending from 1999 through 2002 on everything from advertising to borrowing was paid "to maintain its image and to thwart the denigration of which it was the victim because of the actions" of Morgan Stanley. A day later, another French company, Sodexho Alliance, a worldwide catering company, went on the warpath against another American investment bank, Citigroup's Smith Barney. Sodexho plays hardball: in the United States last year, it went to the Supreme Court in an unsuccessful effort to block a classaction lawsuit filed by black former employees. That bias suit goes to trial later this year. It appears that when Adrian Cattley, Smith Barney's analyst, called last week to ask about a securitisation of receivables that was mentioned in the annual report, the company chose to answer few questions. Mr Cattley then reached an erroneous conclusion about the effect of the newly disclosed securitisation on cash flow, and his report sent the share price down on Monday.
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