As for the British ambassador, the soft-spoken Sir Stephen Wall, he is close to John Major--but for the past two years this has often seemed something of a disadvantage.
The ideal scenario: the yen stabilizing at current levels, the renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar holding firm, and Wall Street and Europe coming in for a soft landing.
The company's stock is languishing in part because Wall Street mistakenly lumps the company in with others in the soft semiconductor industry and in the wireless infrastructure business.