The shares fell to 8.65 euros, their lowest point this year, as the company said it would report a $250 million fourth quarter loss, or $1.22 per share, on revenues of $142 million. Its third quarter loss, originally $0.16 per share, was revised upwards to $0.24

Market leader in enterprise resource planning software, German company SAP also disappointed its shareholders recently, with fourth quarter losses in Japan and confirmation of the worldwide slowdown in the market in 1999 -- it said it expected sales to grow by 20-25 per cent this year. However, it still managed a rise in 1998 pre-tax profits of 15 per cent.

Baan's poor second half performance means it is braced for a large full year loss -- of around $280 million. Baan said much of its fourth quarter loss could beattributed to an aggressive restructuring plan, announced at the end of October. He said then it would take a pre-tax charge of $110 million. On Wednesday, it said restructuring would account for a total $160 million.

The plan, in response to the group's disappointing third quarter performance, included personnel reductions, office closures (sale of businesses and asset write-downs.

``The total impact of the non-recurring charges and revenue reduction combine to account for approximately $210 million of the loss for the fourth quarter," Baan said.

Its third quarter loss would also be more than the $31.7 million, or $0.16 per share, because it changed the treatment of its acquisition of CAPS Logistics.