The Orlando Sentinel from Orlando, Florida • Page 42

C-10 The Orlando Sentinel, Saturday, August 10, 1996 Tobacco hits blue via Philip ruling chips Morris Cartoon driving new ads The animated Speed Racer is staging a comeback with spots for Volkswagen and ESPN. I i i i ii. Mjutmifr-niwinil ASSOCIATED PflESS In the fast lane. Speed Racer joined the ranks of cartoon officer for Arnold Communications, the Boston-based ad agency that created the ad for Volkswagen. The Speed Racer cartoon series was produced in 1966 in Japan and was imported to the United The company's stock sank $14,625, contributing toalossof32.18bythe Dow industrials.

NEW YORK Blue-chip stocks closed lower Friday after a late sell-off as Dow component Philip Morris and other tobacco stocks were hit by news of a verdict against the industry in a Florida case. "The market wasn't expecting something like this in a lazy slumberlike Friday session," said Bill Meehan, a Prudential Securities market analyst. "The implication is if a jury finds against one, there's the chance to find against them all." After drifting much of the day, the Dow Jones industrial average lost 32.18 to 5,681.31. For the week, the Dow rose 1.48. On the New York Stock Exchange, advancing issues outpaced declines 1,237 to 1,020 on light volume of 325.2 million shares.

Philip Morris lost $14,625 to $90,875 on the NYSE. Chip stocks declined at the open after Thursday's report of a fall in new semiconductor orders, but bargain-hunting later stemmed the losses. Memory-chip makers were hit the hardest, with Micron Technology off 87.5 cents to $24,625, and Texas Instruments down $1 to $46.75. But microprocessor leader Intel Corp. rose $1,625 to $82,375.

"The semiconductor shares have come back to life" from July's virtual bear market in Nasdaq stocks, said Marty Kearney, a trader at PTI Securities. "Orders will pick up since it's a seasonally slow period, but some of these stocks are ahead of themselves." The Nasdaq composite index edged down 0.24 to 1,137.27, up .12.35 on the week. The Standard Poor's index of 500 stocks was off 0.49 at 662.10, off 0.39 from last Friday. America Online lost $4.12540 $29.25 despite a strong quarterly earnings report. Investors remained the most popular characters command licensing fees that can exceed what it may cost to sign a live celebrity.

The advertisers and owners of the rights to Speed Racer would not say how much it cost to use the cartoon hero. Volkswagen of America features Speed in a 30-second commercial that debuted last month for its sporty GTI model. Speed finds his Special Formula Mach 5 race car has been sabotaged but accepts an offer to drive the GTI instead to victory. The ad is part of the German-owned car company's "Drivers Wanted" campaign, which attempts to show its cars' appeal to active people who like to drive. "A good part of our target market are people in their 20s and 30s who grew up with Speed Racer," said Ron Lawner, chief creative DILBERT By Scott Adams i i i i -i ASSOCIATED PRESS NEW YORK After winning automobile races on television for 30 years, Speed Racer is tasting commercial celebrity.

animated hero of the 1960s cartoon series has been moonlighting this summer in commercials for Volkswagen and ESPN, the sports cable network. He joins an expanding cast of cartoon characters who have been turning up in advertising in recent years. The characters give advertisers a celebrity without the risks associated with real people. They also carry nostalgic appeal for viewers who grew up watching them. The "Peanuts" gang of comic strip characters such as Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy have appeared for years in ads for insurance company Metropolitan Life.

Nike has used Bugs Bunny in sneaker ads with basketball star Michael Jordan. And Pepsi drafted Wile E. Coyote for a soft drink commercial with football star Deion Sanders. "The cartoon characters never say anything bad about your product," said Dave Vadehra, who heads Video Storyboard Tests which gauges consumer response to commercials. The downside, he said, is that INTERNATIONAL Music publisher: Court backs its 'Fantasia' case LONDON Boosey Hawkes, a British music publisher, said Friday that a U.S.

federal court had backed its copyright lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co. over a video release of the film Fantasia The lawsuit is related to the use of the musical "Composition "The Rite of Spring" by Igor Stravinsky. Boosey Hawkes acquired the copyright to the music in 1949. The group said the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled the rights granted to Disney by Stravinsky at the time Fantasia was made in 1939 did not include the right to distribute the film on video to consumers.

STATE Poe Brown purchases Anderson, Reeve assets DAYTONA BEACH Poe Brown Inc. announced Friday that it bought the assets of Anderson, Reeve Associates Inc. of Scotts-dale, Ariz. The assets and staff of Anderson, Reeve will be combined with the Phoenix office of Poe Brown. Anderson, Reeve is a property and casualty agency.

Poe Brown Inc. is a general insurance agency based in Daytona Beach and Tampa and is among the nation's leading independent insurance agency organizations. NYSE H.J. Heinz, down 62.5 cents at $33,125. The food-products concern expects to report higher profit than last year in its just-ended 1st quarter but not as much as analysts had expected.

Heinz attributed the weaker-than-expected results to its decision to do away with quarterly sales incentives to retailers. Nasdaq Nordstrom, down $3.50 at $3825. The retailer reported 2nd-quarter earnings that fell well short of Wall Street expectations. Nordstrom attributed the earnings decline to larger-than-expected markdowns, the result of a realignment of its merchandise from department to department Quarterdeck, up $1 at $8.75. The stock rose again on rumors that McAfee Associates might make an offer to buy the software-utilities maker.

System Software Associates, down $3,563 at $8.75. The maker of factory software said it expected to snow a substantial loss for the quarter ended July 31 System Software said it expects revenue of less than $90 million, down from $105 million in the year-ago period. AM EX Fresenlus, up $2,625 at $20,375. The German pharmaceutical and medical technology group's net profit surged 51 during the 1st half of 1996 on a 27 increase in sales. Source: Associated Press concerned about a possible repeat of a service blackout and nervous about subscriber and revenue growth, industry analysts said.

The American Stock Exchange index edged down 0.97 to 550.80, up 1.83 on the week. The NYSE composite index of all listed common stocks fell 0.47 to 353.44 and was down 0.43 for the week. The average price per share fell 5 cents. "The good inflation news just keeps piling up," said economist Sung Won Sohn of Norwest Corp. in Minneapolis.

"I think it would be difficult for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates under these circumstances." In the first seven months of 1996, wholesale prices have risen only slightly, at a 1.9 percent annual rate. Even excluding volatile food and energy components to get the so-called "core rate" of price changes, producer prices in July were up a scant 0.1 percent after a 0.2 percent June increase. Energy costs, which ran up sharply earlier in the year, came down for the third month in a row during July. Economist David Orr of First Union Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., said "pipeline pressures" were absent once again in July.

Prices for intermediate goods, materials that are still being processed, fell 0.3 percent after a 0.5 percent June drop, while crude goods prices were up just 1.2 percent after a drop of 2.3 percent in June. FREE Shop At Home Service Call The Store Closest To You To Schedule An Appointment Needs with installation excluding tale items 10" Pillow Edge pitchmen this summer. toon Network has been carrying the series. Lawner said his agency proposed using the character last year when it competed for the Volkswagen advertising account. ''Speed is the ultimate driver, and we wanted to do a driver's cam- paign," he said.

ESPN has been using original Speed Racer animation from the series along with real drivers and officials for a multicommercial campaign that started in May to drum up viewership for its NASCAR race telecasts. Rights owner Rocknowski said his company was surprised by the sudden interest in the 30-year-old series and hadn't sought the attention. But now he is exploring merchandise and other tie-ins. "These ads are giving Speed Racer a whole mountain of exposure," he said. IN FACT, "INCOMPETENCE." HAS BECOME OUR MOST PROFITABLE PRODUCT.

UOULIT BEAT OUT "LYING TO CUSTOfAERS: Quincy's restaurants fell 12.5 percent to $67 million. Commercial Net Commercial Net Lease Realty an Orlando-based publicly held real estate investment trust, reported a profit of $8.5 million on rental and other income of $14.6 million for the six months ended June 30. That was up from a profit of $6.2 million on $9.2 million in income in the comparable year-earlier period. In the second quarter, Commercial Net reported a profit of $4.5 million on income of $7.6 million, up from $3.1 million on income of $4.7 million a year earlier. The company, which invests in free-standing retail properties that are leased long term to major retailers, has steadily expanded its holdings during the past few years.

The company owns 182 properties in 29 states. From AP, Reuters, Bloomberg News Service and staff reports We Now Carry A Full Line Of Natural Stones 20 Off All 2 Flat July prices back slowing-economy idea YOU EnPLOVEES ARE. THE. KEY TO OUH ECONOfAIC SUCCESS. EARNINGS Koger Equity Inc.

JACKSONVILLE Koger Equity Inc. reported rental revenue of $48.1 million for the six months ended June 30, compared with $47.7 million for the same period last year. Excluding rental revenue of about $1.9 million from three buildings that were sold July 31, 1995, rental revenue for the buildings owned by the company increased about 5.1 percent. The company reported a profit of $2.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, compared with $2 million for the same period last year. Funds from operations increased $1.7 million to $8 million for the quarter ended June 30.

Alamo Rent A Car Inc. FORT LAUDERDALE Alamo Rent A Car Inc. and its North American and European affiliates States a year later, said Jim Rock- nowski, executive vice president of Speed Racer Enterprises Inc. of Santa Monica, the owner of the U.S. program rights and license.

He said there were 52 original episodes in the series in which Speed often has to overcome villains and dishonest rivals en route to victory. It ran almost continu-ously in the United States through 1986, he said. Rocknowski and his father obtained the series rights in 1991 and made a deal with the cable network MTV to run it the next year. More recently, cable's Car- ANYTIME COE NEED A LITHE STOCK-PRICE BOOST, WE JUST FIRE ANOTHER BATCH OF YOU. IT'S LIKE PRINTING rAONEY! have announced improved results for the second consecutive quarter.

Combined revenue for Alamo and its affiliates was $379 million, 11 percent more than 1995 revenue for the same period. Alamo's second-quarter combined loss of $2 million was a $12 million improvement in operating results over the $14 million loss incurred during the same period in 1995. FlagstarCos. SPARTANBURG, S.C. Flag-star loss widened to $17.4 million in the second quarter because of continued weak results in its Hardee's and Quincy's restaurants.

The loss of 49 cents a share reported Friday compared with a loss of $13.6 million, or 40 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Revenue dropped almost 8 percent to $627 million from $681 million in the year-ago quarter. Quarterly revenue from Hardee's restaurants decreased 8.7 percent to $160 million from the same quarter a year ago. Sales at ibj(kk 9 TV I gf Princeton -we-III I 1 The rate of inflation probably won't merit an interest-rate increase this month, analysts say. REUTERS WASHINGTON Less expensive energy helped flatten wholesale prices in July, the Labor Department said Friday, bolstering hopes a slowing economy was bringing inflation under control without the need for interest-rate increases.

The department said its Producer Price Index for finished goods was unchanged last month after rising 0.2 percent in June, showing virtually no inflation pressure and offering little hint that any was in the pipeline. Coming Vh weeks before Federal Reserve policy-makers meet Aug. 20 to consider interest-rate strategy, the report triggered a bond market rally by suggesting the central bank can safely keep on hold. Your Flooring We Don't Sell Seconds 10" Slate or AMERICA'S BEST SPA ORLANDO'S LOWEST PRICES 16" 16" First Quality Assorted Colors iVeNow Cam A Full Une Of Regina) 50 off on Every Spa in Stock! Assorted Colors 5 9 0 Sq. Ft SAVE 30 Suggested Retail -Best Service -Best Prices -Best Quality ITA 01 A 13" 13" Slate Finish Assorted Colors 990 Sq.

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