Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 42

BUSINESS Thursday, June 30, 1988 Page 12, Section Albuquerque Journal 1 TTK IT.o wii eta JLMi maze" DY JL Leadina June increase. Lower prices for cattle and peaches partly THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Indicators Seasonally adjusted index, 1967100 196 194 192 190 188 Growth Not Threatened By Drop, Experts Say Wall Street. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.89 points to 2,121.98. Traders grew worried about interest rates as the bond market turned in an uninspired showing and yields rose slightly. The dollar was mostly higher against major foreign currencies despite a late sell-off in New York.

It also closed higher overseas. On commodities markets, grain and soybean futures closed dramatically lower as showers fell in the drought-stricken Farm Belt. Effects of the drought were apparent as the Agriculture Department reported that prices paid to farmers for grain and other raw products rose 3.7 percent in June. The department said in a preliminary report that higher prices for soybeans, corn and wheat contributed most to the offset the rise in other commodities. After reviewing the leading indicators report for May, analysts predicted the index would resume its upward track in June.

Many analysts had feared the economy could topple into a recession following the October stock market collapse, but have jettisoned those forecasts in light of stronger-than-expected growth the first three months of the year. The government last week issued a revised forecast predicting the overall economy, as measured by the gross national product, will climb 3 percent this year, a significant revision from the administration's original 2.4 percent GNP forecast made at the beginning of the year. Also Wednesday, Standard Poor's Corp. forecast that consumer prices will rise at a faster pace in the second half, Overall, consumer prices should increase by 4.5 percent to 5 percent for the entire year, compared with a 1987 increase of below 4 percent, the forecast said. Since 1983, inflation has risen at an annual rate of between 3 percent and 4 percent.

And in Washington, the Senate Labor Committee approved compromise legislation to raise the federal minimum wage to $4.55 per hour from the current $3.35 an hour. The government's chief economic forecasting gauge edged lower in May but analysts said Wednesday the slight downturn did not threaten prospects for the economy for the rest of 1988. The Commerce Department said its Index of Leading Economic Indicators slipped 0.1 percent last month, primarily reflecting weakness in the stock market, manufacturing orders and the labor market. But the department revised upward, to 0.5 percent from 0.2 percent, the gain it initially reported for April. Economists dismissed the May decline, the first since a 0.2 percent decrease in January.

They said it did nothing to shake their belief that economic growth would continue at least through the remainder of 1988 with no danger of recession this year. In a separate report, the Commerce Department said new-home sales fell by a small 0.3 percent in May to an annual sales rate of 658,000 units. Analysts said the decrease was so tiny it indicated that demand for homes was holding firm despite increases in mortgage rates. Concerns aboi't interest rates contributed to a decline on 186 184 0 HBHHHBH BDBBB I JJASOND JFMAM 1987 1988 May '87 April '88 May '88 192.6 192.8 188.6 Source: U.S. Dept.

of Commerce l.wUgr-aA' i Landlord Obtains Restraining: Order --r. 1 JL Against Federated SjUT Ji TO1 J'i-r-- Uljj-jj jjk'f'' wwafe 35 1 lJ-Zi T7--rr r. -r wm." i it T. inn 11 ni nil i.vr. I in iillliinliUliiiln tTi i rum mil I 1 I n.

miinii 1 1 1r' By Bob Hagan JOURNAL STAFF WRITER The Toys Us store being built at Winrock Center in Albuquerque is expected to open in November. Toys 'R' Us Store Opens in November By Paul Logan JOURNAL STAFF WRITER different items, varying from family recreational to educational items, computers to crayons, children's clothing to baby food products. Toys Us had $3,137 billion in sales for fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 1988, or a 28 percent increase over the previous year, Miller said. Net earnings were $203.9 million, or a 34 percent increase.

When the fiscal year ended, Toys Us had 313 toy stores in 33 states and 37 foreign countries. The company plans to open 60 stores, including 15 outside the states, this year, Miller said. The chain also has 86 clothing stores called Kids Us, but there are no plans to build in Albuquerque at this time, he said. She is vice president of property management and marketing for Centerwest Properties which manages Winrock Center. "We've been looking at Albuquerque for a while, so when the right opportunity came along, we seized it," Miller said by phone from the company's corporate headquarters in Rochelle Park, N.J.

Toys Us went into Phoenix and Tucson, last year as well as El Paso, Texas, so coming to New Mexico was a natural step, he said. At a typical store, according to Miller, as many as 200 employees are needed during November and December. He said the store will carry about 18,000 Toys Us considered the nation's leader in toy sales, plans to employ between 55 and 85 people in November when it opens its first Albuquerque store. Michael Miller, the company's senior vice president of real estate, confirmed this week that the international chain is building a store at Winrock Center. The company would not disclose the building's cost.

The store will be located east of the Winrock 6 theaters on Indian School Road, on the site of the former Winrock Medical Plaza, which was leveled earlier this month, said Deb Properties had a letter hand-delivered to the Albuquerque store and notified the company's headquarters in California that the landlord was placing a lien on the Federated Group's property in the store, according to the lawsuit. Under New Mexico law, a landlord may attach the personal property of a tenant as surety for rent due or to become due under the terms of a lease, and that property may not be removed from the rented premises without the landlord's permission. But such a lien may only be attached to a tenant's personal property that is actually upon the landlord's property. Despite the landlord's lien, two semi-trailer trucks loaded with equipment and inventory were removed from the store Sunday, according to the Menaul Properties suit. About 1:15 Monday morning an American Square security guard prevented another tractor trailer rig from being loaded at the store, the suit charges.

Federated Group Inc. was not represented at the hearing on the restraining order Tuesday, but the company has since retained a local attorney. No one but Federated Group president Ambrose LaRocco is authorized to make any statements about the company, a secretary at corpo-, rate headquarters in City of Commerce, said Wednesday. She said LaRocco is out of the office until next week. The secretary said LaRocco is at Atari Inc.

corporate headquarters in Sunnyvale, this week. A corporate spokeswoman at Atari had no comment Wednesday. The restraining order issued Tuesday requires Federated Group to provide a complete accounting of the property removed since June 25 "other than in the ordinary course of defendant's retail business," and Federated Group landlord has obtained a temporary restraining order to prevent the California-based electronics retailer from removing any of the inventory and fixtures from their Superstore at Menaul and Candelaria until Federated Group settles its 25-year lease. Federated Group closed the 25,000 square foot store in American Square shopping center Sunday after less than a year in business here. Although the store's floor samples were to be sold at a discount, all unopened inventory was to have been shipped to other Federated Superstores in Texas and Arizona, store manager Richard Preble said last week.

American Square's owners are suing Federated Group for $4.5 million on rent due under the lease. The temporary restraining order, issued by Bernalillo County District Court Judge Woody Smith on Tuesday, forbids the removal of any "furniture, fixtures, equipment, inventory, stock-in-trade and other removable personal property" from the store premises. The order also requires Federated Group to provide a complete accounting of all property removed from the store since Saturday. According to a lawsuit filed by Menaul Properties the partnership which owns American Square shopping center, Federated Group has attempted to remove merchandise from the store despite a landlord's lien which Menaul Properties has placed against the property. On May 7, 1986, Federated Group signed a 25-year lease for the American Square store, according to the Menaul Properties lawsuit.

That lease, which began April 1, Top U.S. Exporters Report Banner '87 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS for the highest monthly showing ever. Auto parts, electronic components, computers, chemicals and other industrial goods were the hot products last year, accounting for $200 billion in exports, or roughly 80 percent of all goods moving overseas. But Fortune noted that even farm equipment, down for three years, made a dramatic turnaround with exports rising 10 percent to $29 billion. Experts attribute the favorable performance to the weaker dollar, which has made U.S.

goods cheaper for foreign buyers. GM headed Fortune's list for the sixth straight year with 1987 exports totaling $8.73 billion. Ford eased out Boeing for the No. 2 slot. Boeing slipped after losing more than $1 billion in sales on overseas sales of 747s.

Other aerospace companies had similar difficulties, including Lockheed, which dropped 14 places because of fewer deliveries of its C-130 Hercules transport planes and P-3 anti-submarine aircraft, Fortune said. General Electric, with 1987 exports of $4.83 billion, held the No. 4 spot. GE spokesman George Jamison noted that despite the exports, the company imported about $2.76 billion in raw materials and parts, putting the company's "balance of trade" at about $2 billion. NEW YORK Led by General Motors, Ford and Boeing, the nation's top exporters had a banner 1987, as a cheaper dollar pushed overseas sales up and in turn helped chip away at the trade deficit, Fortune magazine says.

Exports by Fortune's "top 50" rose 8 percent to nearly S80 billion last year, while total U.S. exports jumped 11 percent to $253 billion, the largest one-year increase this decade, the magazine said in its July 18 issue. And more encouraging, the trend shows no sign of abating. Fortune said exports continued to climb this year, reaching $29 billion in March USINESS DIGEST COMPILED FROM JOURNAL WIRES 1Q87. called for a mnnthlv rental of $15,625, plus a percentage rent orders federated Group to either based on annual gross sales, accord- reiura inai property to me ajdu-ing to documents filed by Menaul querque store or pay the value of ProDerties in suDDort of its lawsuit.

ine removed property into a court- Federated Group opened its store managed trust account pending settlement of the lawsuit. A hearing on the suit has been set for July 13. in August 1987, selling televisions, video and audio equipment, computers, and related home electronics GM, Ford, Boeing Top Fortune's List XEW YORK Following 11 the top 20 of Fortune magazine's list of the biggest exporters, their 1987 export sales and the exports as a percent of their total sales in 1987: 1 General Motors, S8.73 billion, 8 6 percent. 2 Ford Motor, S7 61 billion, 10.6 percent. 3.

Boeing, $6 29 billion, 40 9 percent. 4 General Electric, S4 83 billion, 12.3 percent. 5 IBM, $3.99 billion, 7.4 percent. 6 Du Pont, S3 53 billion, 11 6 percent. 7.

McDonnell Douglas, $3.24 billion, 24.7 percent. 8 Chry sler. S3 05 billion, 11 6 percent. 9 Eastaan Kodak, $2.26 billion, 17.0 percent. 10.

Caterpillar, $2.19 billion, 26 8 percent. 11. United Technologies, $2 07 billion, 12 1 percent. 12. Digital Equipment, $1 92 billion, 20 5 percent.

13. Philip Morns, S1.70 billion, 7 6 percent. 14. Hewlett-Packard, $1.60 billion, 19,7 percent 15. Aiiied-Signal, $1 42 bill.on, 12.2 percent.

16 Occidental Petroleum, $1 32 billion, 7.7 percent. 17. Motorola, $1 30 billion, 19 4 percent. 18. Unisys, $1 20 billion, 12 3 percent.

19 Weyerhaeuser, $1 159 billion, 166 percent 20 General Dynamics, $1 157 billion, 124 percent. When Federated Group opened products, In its lawsuit, Menaul Properties the store. here last Vear company vice president Michael Pastore said complains that Federated Group never gave any formal notice of its the store had an inventory of 9,000 intention to close the store and Products worth $1.4 million. vacate the premises. Instead, the landlord learned of the closing through a story in last Saturday's Journal, Menaul Properties said in At that time, Federated Group had 67 "Superstores" in five Western states and was projecting sales of $500 million in its 1988 fiscal year.

The chain was acquired by us suit. On Saturday afternoon, Menaul Atari Inc-in 1987- SEC Broadens Insider Probe Commission Asks for Help To Investigate Swiss Connection years, the Chicago-based firm said. Meanwhile, Santa Fe officials said the firm's board delayed action on the matter of its poison pill takeover defense plan. Stockholders voted May 24 to rescind the plan. Management, however, is resisting efforts to scrap the poison pill, which can be triggered when an outsider acquires at least 20 percent of the company's stock.

The new real estate strategy was further evidence of the influence of Olympia York, the Toronto-based real estate and natural resources company that became a major stockholder last year and aided the firm in fending off a threatened proxy challenge from Henley. Santa Fe has asked the Interstate Commerce Commission to permit the sale of Southern Pacific to Denver-based Rio Grande Industries Inc. Santa Fe said it intends to sell about $300 million in real estate assets in 1988, about the same amount as in past years. IBM To Phase Out Operations NEW YORK International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday it will phase out some manufacturing operations in Florida, Arizona, Texas, California and Ontario and said it expects 3,000 to 4,000 employees to retire or leave the company.

No one will be laid off in the plan to "further reduce costs, provide for future ZZI growth and speed new pro- ducts to customers," IBM said. IBM said some key elements of the moves to be completed before 1990 include phasing out manufacturing operations at the Tucson, storage products plant and moving the work to San Jose, Charlotte, N.C., and Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; the Tucson development laboratory will continue. Meantime, Rolm Systems telecommunications manufacturing in Santa Clara, will be moved to IBM's nearby San Jose facility. Rolm Systems manufacturing and development in Austin, Texas, ill be consolidated with IBM's main Austin site. Oil Waste Deemed Unhazardous WASHINGTON The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it will not regulate oil and gas drilling wastes as hazardous material but will get tough on states that fail to enforce existing laws governing their disposal.

"We were concerned about layering on another level of regulations," said J. Winston Porter, EPA's assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response. Congress in 1976 gave EPA authority generally to decide what waste needs to be covered by the strict handling and disposal regulations that apply to hazardous wastes, but it required a study before decisions could be made about oil and gas production wastes. The EPA in December completed the study, then allowed public comment. The final report is to be presented today.

An environmental group criticized it as contrary to the public interest. "These substances do contain hazardous wastes with names 14 syllables long," said Mike Matz, Alaska representative of the Sierra Club. The EPA estimated in its report that oil and gas production would be cut up to 12 percent if drilling wastes were treated as hazardous. The cost could have ranged up to S6 billion, Porter said. The American Petroleum Institute had put thoses costs at up to S37 billion the first year and $7 billion annually thereafter, according to Sen.

Lloyd Bent-sen, D-Texas. Santa Fe Keeps Coast Property CHICAGO Santa Fe Southern Pacific Corp. said Wednesday it decided against selling certain West Coast real estate assets it had planned to put on the block in order to help pay its $3.7 billion corporate restructuring debt. Instead, the company said, it plans to mortgage a large nuir.ber of developed properties by year-end and continue major building projects in the San Francisco and San Diego areas. A planned financing package would raise S450 million and boost the value of the company's real estate assets nearly $1 billion over the next five THE ASSOCIATED PRESS vestigation of the alleged scheme, they have subpoenaed trading records from at least five U.S.

brokerages besides Morgan Stanley Co. That firm employed securities analyst Stephen Wang who allegedly leaked the inside information to Lee. WASHINGTON The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked the Swiss government for help in investigating an alleged $19 million insider trading scheme, the chief of the agency told Congress on We've sent subpoenas to a number of firms," said SEC Chairman David S. Ruder told the Senate chief Banking Committee's securities subcommittee that his ZfAnte tTnV 7 i rr aetenaants trading records. Were not investieatine investigators have learned that a Hong Kong business- the firms tijemseiyes wvcMiKumg man accused in the case, Fred C.

Lee, traded some U.S. securities from Switzerland. SE- officials familiar with the investigation, who "We're now seeking information from Swiss author- sPke on condition of anonymity, said that besides ities, and trying to get a freeze on assets he has there," Morgan Stanley, subpoenas were sent to Goldman Ruder told reporters during a break in the hearing. Sachs C0-. First Boston Merrill Lynch Ruder declined to say what the value of Lee's Swiss Shearson Lehman Hutton Inc.

and Charles Schwab trades or assets might be. But Gary Lynch, the SEC's Co. enforcement chief, told reporters that the trades Lee The SEC has accused Wang, 24, of providing Ie with made from the European country were part of the $19 privileged information on at least 25 corporate' takeov- million Lee allegedly earned by trading on inside ers that Morgan Stanley handled The agency siys Lee information. made at least $19 million using the information and SEC officials also acknowledged that in their in- gave $200,000 to Wang..