The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page 36

fie (tilalpfe Inquirer business 12B Friday, Oct. 10. 1980 4 PUC will see if PE can justify finishing Limerick unit is scheduled for early 1985, and the second unit is to follow two years later. When construction of the plant was announced in 1969, completion was scheduled for 1975 and 1977 at a cost of $1.2 billion. The PUC will study three areas: The cost of construction delays at Limerick and whether those delays were reasonable.

The escalation of cost estimates for the plant and whether the anticipated costs are reasonable. Whether PE needs the plant to provide adequate service to its chairman Susan Shanaman said the press of rate cases before the commission might delay a finding on Limerick until after a decision is made on a pending PE request for a $304 million rate increase. While the PUC could not prevent PE from buildinng such a plant, it could prevent it from recovering any of the construction costs by refusing to include them in the rate base. The PUC's call for an investigation comes after six years of construction, which has cost $1.5 billion and brought the plant about halfway to Commercial operation of the first in PE's service area makes the plant unnecessary. PE is expected to reply that, despite rising costs and sufficient generating capacity, Limerick will save money for its customers.

Because construction expenditures are not charged to consumers until the plant is actually in operation, the PUC traditionally has taken the position that it has no jurisdiction over them. But the PUC has grown increasingly concerned that those construction decisions ultimately affect the price customers pay for electric power. "In today's world, costs are so criti cal that we can't always afford to say we'll get to issues a little later," Shanaman said. In PE's current rate case, the company has asked the commission to allow it to collect $79 million a year in Limerick-related costs from its customers before the plant goes Into operation. Shanaman said the Limerick investigation would not automatically eliminate this request from the PUC's rate considerations.

"I'm going to let the parties argue what we should do and make a decision based on that," she said. The case is expected to be assigned in about a week to an administrative law judge for the collection of testimony, i Yesterday's decision was a reversal of a stand taken by the PUC in April, when members said they would not investigate the need for the plant during the course of a PE rate hearing. Both the April request for an investigation and the request that was approved yesterday were made by Pennsylvania consumer advocate Walter Cohen. Cohen contends that the sluggish growth of electricity use Sales are slow for sixth month at retail chains ft rt.cv'' 5it iv Mm mm- INA's Saul at the new center: 'Time spent in a setting like By Andrea Knox Inquirer Business Writer The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) said yesterday that it would try to determine whether Philadelphia Electric Co. should continue to build the Limerick nuclear generating station.

In a unanimous decision, the commission ordered an investigation to determine whether the estimated $3.8 billion cost of the plant is excessive and whether the company needs an additional power plant. No time limit was set for the completion of the investigation, and PUC Business summary Schools, hospitals, get funds Compiled by The Inquirer Staff Pennsylvania schools and hospitals have received $6.2 million in grants from the federal Department of Energy to pay for energy conservation measures, the department said yesterday. The funds are to be used either to study current energy systems or to make physical improvements, including insulation and upgrading of heating systems. Thirteen Philadelphia-area institutions received grants. Those awarded more than $25,000 each were: Bensa-lem Township School District, Great Valley School District, Beaver College, Springfield Township School District (Montgomery County), School District of Philadelphia, the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, $578,000, and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, $241,000.

Nationwide, 3,861 grants totaling $109 million were awarded. Regional Machinists at the Scott Paper Co. plant in Winslow, Maine, have agreed to a new two-year contract, ending a 14-wcek strike that had idled about 700 employees, the Philadelphia-based paper manufacturer announced. The employees, members of the International Association of Machinists, will receive an 8 percent in each of the two years, along with improved fringe benefits. The company recently settled with members of the United Paperwork-ers International Union and the International Brotherhood of Electri-' cal Workers, who struck at about the same time as the machinists, but who continued to stay off the job pending resolution of the machinists' dispute.

The Winslow plant was expected to resume full operation Monday, the company said. Grocery Store Products a mushroom cannery in West Chester, will shut down by the end of the month, putting 200 employees out of work. "It is economically unfeasible to continue the operation," said a spokesman for Clorox Oakland, parent of the cannery. "It's an old plant." The cannery sold its products under the in label. The spokesman said Clorox would continue to produce its Kitchen Bouquet seasoning sauce and Cream of Rice cereal at another West Chester plant that employs 40 workers.

Clorox also operates a mushroom cannery in Kennett Square that employs 230. Hajoca Corp. of Ardmore bought the assets and business of Virginia Plumbing Suppliers Lynchburg, Va. Terms were not disclosed. Ametek Inc.

of Paoli bought the Haveg Industries plastics business of Wilmington-based Hercules Inc. for an undisclosed amount of cash. The deal involves a plant in Marshallton, that employs about 250 and produces industrial plastics structures and materials. Annual sales are about $14 million. American Medical Affiliates Inc.

of Jenkintown said that earnings from continuing operations reached or 9 cents a share, in the fiscal year ended June 30, up from $114,743, or 8 cents a share, the year before. Net income in the 1979 fiscal year, including $80,087 from discontinued operations, was $194,903, or 17 cents. Revenues of the hospital operating concern rose to $38.69 million from $32.49 million. National Reversing a recent trend, assets of money-market funds increased by $217 million to $77.5 billion for the week ended Oct. 8, the Investment Company Institute said.

The increase is the first in seven weeks, during which assets of the funds fell 5 percent. The funds have suffered because of comparatively better re-tprns available in savings certificates and other such instruments. Exxon Co. U.S.A. announced a new natural gas discovery on South Marsh Island Block 99 in the Gulf of Mexico, which it says has reserves in multiple sands estimated at 100 billion cubic feet.

A place to ta IN A opens vast training center Philadelphia Inguifer JAM L. McGARRITY this is just more valuable' Si 8 sSOf' the Whitemarsh complex Associated Press NEW YORK Despite indications that the recession has ended, consumer spending at retail stores remained sluggish in September for the sixth consecutive month, major chains said yesterday. Sears, Roebuck the nation's largest retailer, reported a 3.9 percent drop in sales compared with September 1979. It was Sears' biggest decline since March, when retail sales plunged industrywide as the recession took hold. Other major retailers posted modest gains last month, but none kept pace with inflation.

"The sales gains we're seeing are among the lowest of the year," said Jeff Edelman, an analyst at the Wall Street firm of Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. The Commerce Department is expected to release overall retail sales figures for September today. Consumers reluctant Sears, whose sales have been weakest among major retailers throughout the recession, is particularly hampered by consumers' reluctance to buy major appliances, Edelman said. Sears officials said sales for the five weeks ended Oct. 4 fell to $1.67 billion from $1.74 billion in the comparable period last year.

Sales for the first nine months of the year were 2.3 percent below the level at this time last year. mart, the second-largest department store company, showed a 12 percent sales gain for September, the largest among major retailers. But chairman Bernard M. Fauber noted that even that increase was "not sufficient to offset inflation's impact on gross margins and expenses." Fauber predicted that the company's earnings for the three months from July through September would drop from last year's level, and he said he was even less confident about earnings gains in the final quarter. J.

C. Penney reported a 2.3 percent gain in sales for September, with total sales reaching $1.03 billion, compared with $1.01 billion in the same five-week period last year. Costly items not selling Penneys president Walter J. Neppl said the company's sluggish sales reflected consumers' unwillingness to buy costly items such as household furnishings. But winter fashion merchandise, particularly women's sportswear and men's clothing, sold well, he said.

The company also reported strong sales of energy-related and do-it-yourself items, such as cold-weather clothing, fireplace accessories, automotive tune-up kits and ready-to-as-semble furniture. Among other major retailers reporting September sales results: Montgomery Ward a Mobil Corp. subsidiary based in Chicago, said its sales rose 4.4 percent to $504.1 million in the five weeks ended Oct. 4 from $482.7 million in the comparable period last year. F.W.

Woolworth based in New York, reported sales were up 4.6 percent to $658.2 million from $629 million last September. Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores Inc. said its sales rose 8.5 percent to $553.4 million from $510.2 million in the comparable period last year. company said. Provident ends the quarter with $2.7 billion in assets and $1.8 billion in deposits, compared with $2.4 bullion and $1.6 billion a year ago.

Heritage Bancorporation Heritage Bancorporation of Cherry Hill, parent of Heritage Bank, also reported third-quarter results, with operating earnings and net income off from the period a year ago. Operating income for the period was $3.14 million, down 6 percent Stock Market Indexes DOW JONES 9SS.96 INDUSTRIAL AVERAGE DOWN .03 975 950 925 875- NEWY0RK STOCK EXCHANGE 77 74 75.72 DOWN 0.30 71 I SEPTEMBER I OCTOBER Philwttphia Inguif Gold, silver are up, but market falls Associated Press NEW YORK Gold and silver stocks jumped sharply yesterday as the broader market sank for only the second time in the last eight trading days. Analysts pointed to no specific news development that would have pushed the market lower, but some suggested that investors were selling for quick profits on the market's recent strong gains. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks fell 5.03 points to 958.96. That still left the blue chip index with a net gain of 37 points during the last eight days.

It also fell 5 points Tuesday. Analysts said institutional investors appeared to pull out of trading by afternoon. Big Board volume came to 43.98 million shares, down from 46.58 million in the previous session. Gold and silver stocks were one of the few sectors showing strong gains. The price of gold bullion gained $12.50 to $689.50 in London.

Gold gained $9.40 a troy ounce to close at $685.90 on New York's Commodity Exchange. Bullion dealers say concern about the war between Iran and Iraq in the oil-rich Persian Gulf region was behind the metal's rise. Among precious-metals stocks, ASA Ltd. rose 2 to 89V2; Campbell Red Lake Mines gained 2 to 77; Hecla -Mining gained l's to 48 and Home-stake rose 4'2 to 79. Domes Mines bucked the trend, falling xk to 12714.

International Business Machines topped the NYSE most active list but was unchanged at 70 as of the 4 p.m. close. IBM gained more than 2 points in the previous session. Among other actively traded issues, Natomas dropped to 38 and Louisiana Land Exploration fell 2 to 59. Both are resource exploration and development companies.

The Standard Poor's index of 400 industrial stocks fell 0.79 to 149.21. 500-stock composite lost 0.61 to 131.04. The NYSE composite of common stocks dropped 0.30 to 75.72. On the American Stock Exchange, the market value index gained 0.60 to 347.27. In over-the-counter trading, the NASDAQ composite index rose 0.35 to 197.53.

for quarter from $3.36 million in the third quarter of 1979. Adjusting for a securities loss of $160,000, net income was $2.98 million, down 11 percent from $3.35 million in the same period last year. For the year so far, Heritage's operating income was $9.87 million, or $2.53 a share, compared with $9.77 million, or $2.50 a share, for the first nine months of 1979. Net income has decreased slightly to $9.62 million, or $2.46 a share, compared with $9.78 million, or $2.50 a share. SIC? V1 1 By Rick Edmonds Inquirer Business Writer INA which does a good many things these days besides write insurance, yesterday opened a $17 million conference center in Whitemarsh Township, the largest and most elaborate facility of its type in the Philadelphia area.

Half of the complex, perched with a commanding view on 200 acres at one of the highest points in the region and resembling a prosperous junior college, will be used by INA and its clients for management training, and the other half will be rented to other businesses for conferences. With brick courtyards and cedar beams and paneling (and racquetball and tennis courts and a golf course alongside), the center is a bit of a showplace and INA has commissioned both a movie and a multimedia slide show for a scries of opening and dedication parties that began this week. But there's more to the venture than show. "The insurance industry has not traditionally paid as much attention as we ought to to training and development," INA chairman Ralph S. Saul said yesterday.

"Compared to the banking industry, certainly compared to IBM and the like, we have lagged. "What we produce is an intan- in investments and hospital management. "Basically, all we've got to sell expertise," said one INA executive. So spending big on a place train employees makes business sense. In the long run, Saul said, INA probably save money by having a center of its own, rather than spending heavily to hold training sessions at various motels and resorts.

And the company has retained a conference center management compa-(See INA on 16-B) Luncheon is held for clients at gible, not nuts and bolts," he said, "but to do it well requires a high quality of training." Saul has been a sharp critic of cutthroat pricing competition in the property and casualty insurance business, and said at last spring's annual meeting that INA was determined to compete for clients with quality of service even when that means charging more. Now the country's eighth-largest diversified financial company, INA has centered its recent growth in subsidiaries specializ Earnings Operating income for the quarter was $7.84 million, or $1.84 a share, compared with $5.88 million, or $1.40 a share, in the third quarter of 1979. After taking into account the securities loss of $1.94 million, net earnings for the period were $5.90 million, or $1.38 a share, compared with $5.88 million, or $1.40 a share, in the comparable period a year ago. ing is to will Provident National's operating income rises By Rick Edmonds Inquirer Business Writer Provident National parent of Provident National Bank, yesterday reported another profitable quarter, with operating earnings up by about a third from the same period last year. However, the corporation chose to sell off $46 million of its lowest-yielding government securities at a substantial loss, reducing net earnings for the period to about last year's level.

For the year so far, Provident has increased operating income by 33 percent to $23.11 million, or $5.43 a share, and net income by 44 percent to $21.41 million, or $5.03 a share. The corporation said that higher net interest income, trust income and gains in the repurchase of capital notes were all factors in the strong performance. The bank and Providcnt's large investment management subsidiaries each had earnings gains of about a third for the quarter, the.