1.   Chief Financial Officer Rick Thoman said IBM expects gross margin to decline one percentage point a year.

2.   Compaq, he added, was taking advantage of its new, lower cost structure so that its margins would not decline.

3.   In recent years, however, many of the independent outlets have struggled as prices and margins have declined and competition from the chains and online outlets has increased.

4.   London-based Sainsbury issued a profit warning in January and said its gross margin would decline in the full year.

5.   Margins have declined because of growing competition in retail stores, Krutick said.

6.   Ollila told analysts the operating margin is slowly declining for that division.

7.   Refining margins have declined with the runup in crude oil prices and the inability of marketers to fully pass the increases on to consumers.

8.   Sainsbury issued a profit warning in January and said its gross margin would decline in the full year.

9.   Sainsbury had issued a profit warning in January and said its gross margin would decline in the full year.

10.   The company had warned in January the margin would decline during the year.