the date field (F3) is custom formatted, mmm-yy
edit, its definatley somthing up with the date field (F3), as when i select another field instead of F3 for the OR criteria, e.g.
=IF(AND(C3="IBM",OR(E3="UK")),J3,111)
it picks up "UK" with no problem, so there is something wrong the date field...