Bangkok--2 Aug--Standard & Poor's The number of entities poised to benefit from upgrades reached 393 in July, 11 more than the number reported in June and 15 more than reported 12 months ago, according to an article published yesterday by Standard & Poor's. The report, titled "Upgrade Potential Across Credit Grades And Sectors," said that comparative studies on the prevailing trend for the past 23 months project the relative growth rate of potential bond upgrades outpacing the growth rate witnessed for potential bond downgrades. "Financial companies predominate among sectors most likely to benefit from upgrades, displaying a high percentage of issuers listed with a positive bias," said Diane Vazza, head of Standard & Poor's Global Fixed Income Research Group. "Nonetheless, financials are less well positioned than earlier, and weakness in home-equity portfolios add to the need for substantial increases in provisioning to increase reserves for large U.S. banks. Indeed, the share of financial companies with positive bias has progressively declined since the beginning of the year. Within nonfinancials, the high technology and metals, mining, and steel sectors appear especially well placed for potential rating upgrades." By rating category, the preponderance of potential upgrades was in the 'B' rating category, including the 'B+', 'B', and 'B-' rating designations. These constituted 34% of the total pool of potential upgrades. Of the total, 124 companies are members of various Standard & Poor's equity indices. The report is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, the real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. If you are not a RatingsDirect subscriber, you may purchase a copy of the report by calling (1) 212-438-9823 or sending an e-mail to [email protected]. Ratings information can also be found on Standard & Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; under Credit Ratings in the left navigation bar, select Find a Rating, then Credit Ratings Search. Members of the media may request a copy of this report by contacting the media representative provided. Media Contact: Mimi Barker, New York (1) 212-438-5054, [email protected] Analyst Contact: Diane Vazza, New York (1) 212-438-2760 Key Contacts: Americas Media Relations: (1) 212-438-6667 media_ [email protected] Americas Customer Service: (1) 212-438-7280 [email protected]