LONDON -- Standard&Poor's CreditWire 9/16/97 -- Standard&Poor's today assigned its single-'A'-plus long-term and 'A-1' short-term corporate credit ratings to Schneider S.A. (Schneider). The outlook on the long-term rating is stable. At the same time, Standard&Poor's rates Schneider's French commercial paper program 'A-1'. The ratings reflect the French-based group's leading world positions in electrical distribution, industrial control and automation. They also reflect the group's improving financial profile, as evidenced by its high discretionary cash flows and falling leverage. The group's strong business profile is based on its generally healthy market positions of its five business units (transmission and distribution, low voltage, final low voltage, industrial control, and programmable logic). All these units benefit from a
