(FORTUNE Magazine) – The Really Useful Group PLC British pop composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his publicly held theater production company are about to launch another American invasion. The mop- haired creator of Cats, Evita, and Jesus Christ Superstar recently recruited Broadway's most powerful director, Harold Prince, to produce U.S. shows. The Really Useful Group will also raise the curtain on Webber's London hit The Phantom of the Opera this January in New York. Webber, owner of 40% of the stock, ''would be a whiz kid in finance if he weren't a composer,'' says his managing director, Brian Brolly. The Really Useful Group gets 40% of the profits after a show covers its costs, which include royalties to Webber and Brolly as producers. British security analysts estimate Really Useful Group's profits for the fiscal year that ended in June at $8.5 million on revenues of $29 million. The common stock, which debuted in London in January 1986 at $4.79 a share, has risen 56%, about average for the London exchange.

Seligman & Latz Inc. In 1982, Harold Geneen, former head of ITT, wanted to do a leveraged buyout of this doddering retailer, which runs jewelry and hairdressing concessions in department stores and owns a line of cosmetics. But he needed a hands-on manager. So he called David Cornstein, who had started his own jewelry and watch repair company. ''I was flabbergasted,'' recalls Cornstein, who had never met Geneen. ''He said that if we revived the business and then sold it or took it public, my share would be $275,343,000.18.'' Three years later, with financial help from Nathaniel de Rothschild of the French banking family, Geneen's group pocketed Seligman & Latz for $42 million in cash and $47 million of debt. In 1986 the company's pretax earnings were $22 million on sales of over $400 million. With investors panting for specialty retailers, Geneen says the group will entertain reasonable bids for the company. He seems well on his way to keeping his promise to Cornstein.

North American Philips Corp. Nine investors are suing this U.S. electronics giant and its Dutch parent NV Philips at a most inconvenient time -- when the parent is tendering for the 42% of North American Philips it does not already own. Alan R. Kahn of the New York brokerage firm Kahn Brothers & Co. started suing in June, claiming that Philips consistently impeded its offspring's competitiveness. Kahn seeks divestiture of North American Philips, whose 1986 profits were $68.5 milion on sales of $4.5 billion, and compensation for damages allegedly suffered by its minority shareholders. When the parent offered $50 per share in August, Kahn filed a second suit complaining that Philips was buying off stockholders to kill the lawsuits. Philips says the legal actions lack merit. Arbitragers think Philips will have to pay at least $60 a share. After the bid, North American Philips's stock sold for $54.50.

American Family Corp. Executives who want to learn how to do business in Japan should visit Columbus, Georgia, and ask John Amos. His insurance company, which has a middling business in the U.S., sells 85% of the cancer policies in Japan. American Family earned $100.7 million on sales of $1.4 billion in 1986 -- mostly from cancer coverage that Japanese corporations sell directly to employees and retirees. Amos's nephew and heir apparent, Dan, is so optimistic he added 100,000 shares to his holdings in July. The stock, which recently traded at $17.50 a share on the New York exchange, is likely to be listed in Tokyo by December.