The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • 29

The Orlando Sentinel Tuesday, June 15, 1982 Complete stock market listings, D-4 Dow Jones average30 Industrials 840 30 I 620 810 I 1 1 A I ii it I 24 26 28 31 2 4 7 9 11 14 16 18 May June 0 WCPX loses court test for tax-free bonds By Suzy Hagstrom lf I Five iargest moving companies I gf Company Year Revenue Net carrier I i tons hauled operating income' I II I Nortn Arnerican Van Line "1981 517,000 16,627.000 I 1 1 I A I960 475.000 12,496.000 li A1.1 I. I 9V Burnham Van Services: 1981 99,000 5,324,000 fl 11 I I V' 1980 99,000 4,874,000 Id I 1 Atlas Van Lines- "261,000 4,002,000 I 4 I i960 ast.ooo- 3.422.000 i Aero-Mayflower: 1981 378.000 3,650,000 1980 385,000 2,349,000 I saTT i Allied Van Lines: 1981 591,000 401.000 1 1980 605,000 1.013,000 I I I Net carrier operating income ie the measure of profitability for house- 221' I -1 hokj moving operations. North American and Aero-Mayflower have sub- I I I stantial freight operations as well. Source: Interstate Commerce Commission 1 I OF THE SENTINEL STAFF Leaving the snow blower behind Orlando's WCPtf-TV, Channel 6, lost an attempt Monday to obtain tax-free bonds to build a new television studio. Judge Maurice Paul of Orange County Circuit Court ruled that the station's proposed project for a $9 million bond issue does not constitute correct usage of the bonds as defined by the Florida Legislature.

Paul ruled that the proposed new television studio does not qualify as an industrial or manufacturing plant nor serve as a paramount public purpose basic requirements to permit validation of industrial revenue bonds. It was the first time a judge in this country has been asked to rule on the validity of tax-free bonds as financing for a TV station, according to Leighton D. Yates Jr. of the Orlando law firm Maguire, Voor-his Wells. Yates is the lawyer for the Orange County Industrial Development Authority, which unanimously supported WCPX's proposed $9 million bond issue.

It possibly was the first time the Orange County Circuit Court denied a request for bond validation, according to David Glicken, assistant state attorney. Glicken represented the state attorney's office for the Ninth Judicial Circuit in opposing the bond issue. He was pleased with the court's ruling. felt that if this issue was validated at the circuit level and at the Supreme Court level, this could have opened up the door to anyone who wanted to save money through the issuance of bonds. It would have opened the door to everyone J.C.

Penney's, Arby's, McDonalds, an insurance company, a bank." Yates and Leonard S. Davey, general manager of Please see WCPX, D-8 By Mitch Boretz OF THE SENTINEL STAFF pie problem that Orlando movers don't make much money from people moving to the area, van companies are turning more toward business and freight transfer, and individuals often are turning to truck rentals to save money. Van companies here get at most a trickle of the money that goes to Northern movers who book southbound customers. Fulford Van and Storage the Atlas affiliate, gets nothing from a move to Orlando, President Bill Fulford says. Security Van Storage the Orlando Allied affiliate, gets 10 percent of the revenue from moves to Orlando for handling problems or claims of new Orlandoans, Operations Manager Gary Traynham says.

The only benefit local van companies get, movers Please see MOVING, D-7 When people move to Orlando from Rochester, these days, they leave their snow blowers back home. Because of a tight economy and higher moving costs, the average household move by North American Van Lines weighs about 2,500 pounds, down from about 4,000 last year, says Richard Ferguson, vice president of Murray Van Storage Inc. "They're leaving their 1948 Time magazines in the garbage, or they're selling them," he says, and they're not bringing along sleds and snow-clearing equipment like they used to. To make up for the reduced volume and the sim- The markets Dow Jones average Down 7.89 NYSE Index Down 0.69 Moody's Investors Service 982.0 Prime rate 16.5 Discount rate 12 Mortgage rates All-savers certificates 9.85 Small saver certificates 14.00 26-week CDs 12.753 Closing gold price $317.30 Closing silver price $5,525 Dow Jones bonds Down 0.09 Consumer Price Index 284.3 AMEX Index Down 3.83 OTC Index Down 1.40 Citibank boosts prime to 16.5 Citibank, the last remaining major bank posting a 16 percent prime rate, Monday raised its business loan rate back to the prevailing 16.S percent level. The prime rate has been at the prevailing 16.5 percent level for nearly four months.

Citibank, the nation's second largest bank, cut its rate to 16 percent on May 25 but only one major bank the First National Bank of Boston and several smaller regional banks followed. First National raised its prime back up to the 16.S percent level last week. Orlando shopping center sold The Turkey Lake Shopping Center at the intersection of Kirkman and Con-roy roads at Florida Center in south Orlando has been sold for $3,186 million. Bob Hold, of Hold Hooker, Orlando commercial brokerage house, said Kourdon Investments Inc. sold the property to GMI Associates Ltd.

Both groups are Canadian investors. Hold Hooker handled the sale and will continue to manage the center, Hold said. Key tenants in the center are a Winn Dixie grocery store, an Eckerd's Drugs and a variety store. Kourdon Investments bought the property in 1978 for $1.83 million. Imports outpace domestic cars The price of a typical imported car has risen faster than that of its domestic counterpart over the past 10 years, a study by an international travel consultant firm showed.

Both, however, rose faster than the inflation rate. Runzheimer and Co. said the price of an average imported vehicle increased 148 percent from 1973 to 1982 while the domestic model increased 139 percent. The overall inflation rise was 121 percent for the same period. The firm said the most dramatice price jump for the import 21.8 percent came between 1974 and 1975, just after the 1973 oil embargo.

The domestic car increased 9.9 percent in the same time. Gasoline prices jump 10 cents Oil expert Dan Lundberg says gasoline prices have climbed a dime a gallon in the past two months, with motorists paying another 6 cents a gallon in just the past three weeks. In his weekly Lundberg Letter, Lundberg noted the latest national survey of gasoline prices showed a steady rise in the prices at the pump. The average overall price as of Sunday, which includes federal and state taxes, was 127.6 cents per gallon. The average overall wholesale price, which is without taxes, was 103.54 cents per gallon, up 5.98 cents.

Catalog outfits agree to merge Best Products Co. the nation's largest catalog showroom retailer would acquire No. 3 Modem Merchandising Inc. in an exchange of stock valued at $109 million, the companies announced. Under the agreement approved by the boards of both companies.

Modern Merchandising shareholders would receive 0.73 shares of Best Products common stock for each outstanding share of Modern Merchandising, an equivalent of 6,362,500 Best Products shares. New financial futures and options (proposed) Exchange Chicago Board of Trade As trading grows, brokers striving to handle the load By Laurie Cohen CHICAGO TRIBUNE, Contract Treasury bill and note futures, stock-index futures, prime-rate futures options on Treasury bond and Government National Mortgage Association securities (Ginnie Mae) futures Treasury bill futures, options on certificate JPt futures Treasury bill futures Treasury bill futures, options on stock-" j. index futures Corporate-bond and stock-index futures, options on stock-index futures Treasury bond options. Ginnie Mae options, stock-group options Agency Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) CFTC CFTC CFTC CFTC Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) SEC and CFTC SEC Chicago Mercantile Exchange Commodity Exchange Kansas City Board 1 lol Trade New York Futures Exchange Chicago Board Options Exchange Chicago Board Options Exchange fNew York Stock Exchange American Stock Exchange Index-value contracts Treasury bill, bond and note options, Ginnie Mae options, stock-group options stock-index options Treasury bill and note options, stock-group options, stock-index options, certificate of deposit options Stock-group options, foreign-currency CHICAGO As exchanges prepare to flood financial markets with new trading instruments, concerns are surfacing from Washington to Wall Street about the ability of brokers and their customers to keep up with the innovations. The contracts that securities and commodities markets hope to begin trading this summer go by such exotic names as stock-index options and options on financial futures.

While cheering the exchanges' efforts, some brokerage-firm officials worry that the plethora of new products will tax their powers to train brokers and smoothly process transactions. "The exchanges are very creative about what they're doing; I admire that in the laboratory sense, but I'm not sure it's in the best interest of the public," said Neal Seltzer, a partner in charge of options at William Blair Co. in Chicago. "It is much easier for four or five exchanges to work on and produce products" than for brokerage firms to "get up to speed" on selling them, said Michael Mullan, vice president of E.F. Hutton Co.

in New York. "We find ourselves under tremendous pressure in terms of time." Congressional critics also fear that an expansion Please see TRADING, D-2 ''Philadelphia Slock' sExchanoe 1 options SEC SEC SEC Pacific Stock Exchange Stock Stock-group options Stodk-group contracts Already approved but not yet traded Souroas: Securities and Exchange CommMon, Commodity Futures Trading Convrtielon and Chicago Tribune. Casselberry electronics firm flies despite 'turkeys' Dick Marlowe BUSINESS recent market penetration particulalry in the field of electromechanical components. AFCOM has grown to become one of the largest companies of its kind by warehousing and' cataloging more than 25,000 items and getting the fasteners and components to manufacturers quickly. In recent years, he said, the competition has become ferocious.

"It's the difficulty of the market," said Rogers, "everything is so competitive." And with everybody out to land whatever business is out there, he added, "Small, routine orders have become an event It's a buyers market and they know it It's a real slugfest getting the order." Excited about Central Florida's chance of becoming a high-technology manufacturing center, Rogers said, "I am absolutely ecstatic with Gov. Graham's trip (a mission to lure more electronics firms to Florida) to California. It's one of the best things for businessmen I've seen happen recently." Now that the Florida banking industry has started to mature, he added, "banks could certainly open the door by welcoming the caliber of companies that would come out of California." And, noting that both entrepreneural companies and "top shelf companies" are ready to spill out of California's Silicon Valley in search of a better environment Rogers said the attitude of Florida banks could be the key in luring them here. Ever since Dermott Rogers referred to the Florida banking industry as "a bunch of turkeys" a few years ago, he has been catching it pretty good from bankers. The author of one of the hate letters Rogers received even went so far as to punctuate his remarks by enclosing a turkey feather.

What set Rogers off back in the early 1970s was a series of frustrations in his attempts to arrange the financing for a fast-growing company he was building, American Fastener Components Inc. Now one of the world's largest distributors of elec- tronic fasteners, connectors and electromechanical components, AFCOM is heading for 1982 sales of somewhere around $23 million. Based in Casselberry, AFCOM turned in a record-shattering month in May, booking $1.88 million worth of business and shipping out $1.82 million worth of nuts, bolts, screws and electromechanical components. Looking back on his now-famous quote on Florida bankers, Rogers says. To be very honest, I was right.

They were a bunch of turkeys." But, even though he still has his major banking account in Boston, Rogers is mellowing. "Florida banks," he said, "are growing up. In all fairness, I have to say we have a much more sophisticated and adult banking community developing here. They are getting out into the community and saying, We can tailor loans to meet your needs Before the maturing process set in, said Rogers, the attitude among Florida bankers was, "well make the loan if you fit our requirements." Cavendes seeks to void merger C.A. Cavendes Socieded Financiera of Venezuela has asked a federal court Jacksonville to void the May 20 merger of Alliance Corp.

into Florida National Banks of Florida, officials said. Cavendes, which as Florida National's largest shareholder opposed the acquisition as diluting its holdings, charged that Florida National needed to have a binding stockholder vote to approve the purchase using stock. Florida National contended that Florida law says such approval is not needed if the purchase involves less than 20 percent of an institution's stock outstanding. Cavendes is claiming that Florida National, in violation of that statute, counted shares held by its trust department in order to keep the Alliance payment under 20 percent of its shares outstanding. Despite the lack of cooperation from Florida banks in days gone by, Rogers built his company rapidly.

In the years between 1976 and 1978, said Rogers, "40 percent growth was the norm." In the past two years, however, sales increases have been effected by an international recession. Growth has been limited to a "modest" 10 percent annually. "That's not growth," said the usually optimistic Rogers, "that's hanging in." While he would like to attribute the record May sales to an improved economy, Rogers said he doesnt see the gains as an indication of an early end to the recession. The increased sales, he added, "are strong when compared to where we've been but are not when compared with where we would like to be." The gain, he said, is more a reflection of the company's Noting that his own firm is doing more business with Florida banks than ever before, Rogers said "Florida banks will at least talk with the entrepre neurs today. Before, they couldn't have gotten through the lobby." -r-.