Frederic Scheer

In another belated financial report, Cannon Group under its new European owners disclosed that its 1987 net loss came to $98.3 million, a 63% increase over its disastrous 1986 deficit. The latest figures indicated to an analyst that the Los Angeles movie maker's debts are now greater than its assets. The company had said April 1 that the 1987 loss would "substantially exceed" the previous year's deficit. The firm's nine-month loss had totaled $41.

In another belated financial report, Cannon Group under its new European owners disclosed that its 1987 net loss came to $98.3 million, a 63% increase over its disastrous 1986 deficit. The latest figures indicated to an analyst that the Los Angeles movie maker's debts are now greater than its assets. The company had said April 1 that the 1987 loss would "substantially exceed" the previous year's deficit. The firm's nine-month loss had totaled $41.

Cannon Group said Friday that its two largest shareholders and top executives, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, have pledged their Cannon stock to secure a $10-million loan from a newly formed company to improve the movie studio's cash position. Golan and Globus, together with two European businessmen and a Luxembourg-based company named Interpart S.A., have formed a new holding company named Intercorporation to make the loan and develop a proposal to restructure Cannon's financing.

Interpart, a Luxembourg company that agreed last week to help financially troubled Cannon Group, disclosed Monday that a key officer has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in financial dealings in his native Italy.

Interpart, a Luxembourg company that agreed last week to help financially troubled Cannon Group, disclosed Monday that a key officer has been accused of criminal wrongdoing in financial dealings in his native Italy.

Cannon Group, the ailing Hollywood film producer, acknowledged Thursday that it is working with its major European stockholders on "various equity and management proposals" but said no final agreements have been reached. The announcement comes a day after a public filing by Comfinance SA and its affiliates stating that they might try to obtain control of Cannon. They hold a 39.4% interest in the movie firm, which also operates theaters in Britain.

European financial backers of Cannon Group have given public notice that they may try "to obtain control" of the troubled Hollywood film maker. In several parts of a new filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Europeans imply that there may be friction between them and Cannon's longtime top executives, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus. The filing also reported structural changes in the Italian-Dutch-Spanish-Luxembourg group.

Among the companies going for gold at the Olympic Games underway in Sydney, Australia, this week is Biocorp of Redondo Beach. The $4-million company is supplying biodegradable straws, cutlery and drinking cups for the two-week event in a high-profile test of Biocorp's products. Made from corn and potato resins, Biocorp's utensils are three times more expensive than plastic dinnerware.

Cannon Group will be blended into a collection of European tourism, banking, hotel and real estate interests under a proposed reorganization unveiled Tuesday. The conglomerate would include affiliates of Interpart S.A. of Luxembourg, which owns 40% of Cannon. Since last June, Interpart has made huge cash infusions in the battered Los Angeles movie producer and theater owner. The new entity is to be called Cannon-Melia Group.

As a surfer, Dean Kubani is used to seeing bits of plastic cups and takeout containers as they bob by his board on the waves of Santa Monica Bay. "I'm always picking up trash and tucking it in the sleeve of my wetsuit," he said. "It's a constant problem." Unlike most other surfers, Kubani, Santa Monica's manager of environmental programs, is in a position to do something about the water-borne detritus.

Cannon Group said Friday that its two largest shareholders and top executives, Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus, have pledged their Cannon stock to secure a $10-million loan from a newly formed company to improve the movie studio's cash position. Golan and Globus, together with two European businessmen and a Luxembourg-based company named Interpart S.A., have formed a new holding company named Intercorporation to make the loan and develop a proposal to restructure Cannon's financing.

Spray-on solar panels, power beaming down from outer space and gasoline-like fuel made from bacteria. Sound far-fetched? Maybe, but these and other futuristic concepts for producing power are being taken seriously in scientific, business and academic circles. Some have even raised millions in funding. This is the dream era for green technology, when even concepts that sound wildly innovative or insane ? depending on who's describing them ? are getting attention. "People who aren't afraid to take chances in completely uncharted waters sometimes succeed beyond their wildest dreams and turn the world on its head," said industrial designer and entrepreneur Richard Alan Hales.

A 14-month investigation into the financial affairs of Cannon Group ended Monday when the entertainment company and three current or former Cannon officials agreed to a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Among its sweeping allegations, the SEC said Cannon misstated pretax earnings from 1982 through the first half of 1986, using those figures to raise $339 million from the public between October, 1983, and April, 1986.