Financial wizards at Standard and Poor’s have dropped the corporate credit and bank loan rating for Gateway to “junk” status. Gateway is one of Sioux City’s largest employers, with a computer manufacturing facility just across the river in North Sioux City, South Dakota. Gateway spokeswoman Donna Kayther says despite the low S-and-P rating, the company remains upbeat. She says the outlook is based on the current market outlook.Gateway had a 512-million dollar loss for the first two quarters of the current fiscal year, but Kayther says that’ll improve.S-and-P ranks Gateway as “double-B”, the second-highest junk grade. It reflects extremely competitive conditions, a declining revenue base and the company’s expectation it won’t return to material profitability until fiscal year 2002.
