11.   CORPORATE GERMANY CUTTING BACK The streamlining of corporate Germany is accelerating, reflecting pressure to shed businesses that drag down overall profit.

12.   General DataComm said it may also shed some businesses and cut less-profitable product lines as part of the restructuring effort.

13.   Hanson has been shedding businesses in the past year to focus the company and pare its debt load.

14.   He also shed ancillary businesses such as an agricultural seeds business, Asgrow, and an interest in a chicken breeding joint venture.

15.   If Polaroid sheds the polarizer business that had been its foundation, it truly will have wandered far from its roots.

16.   In fact, the German multinational seemed a bit relieved to shed the business that overshadowed its global position in chemicals, pharmaceuticals, plastics, oil and gas.

17.   In nearly all cases, the companies that have shed businesses have been rewarded with a bounce in their stock price.

18.   International Multifoods said shedding the business, which exported poultry to a distributor in Russia, will reduce earnings.

19.   Its name was changed back to NCR, and it began shedding unprofitable businesses and rebuilding.

20.   Kingfisher is shedding business to focus on home-improvement and consumer electronics.