Hartford Courant from Hartford, Connecticut • 68

F8 THE HARTFORD COURANT SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1984 Pratt Bows Out, Leaving Navy A-6 Jet to GE PORTFOLIO FIRMS: BOTTOMS UP The 1960s boom in disposable diapers caught the nation's diaper service industry with its pants down. But business hasn't dried up. In fact, the Chi But the Navy announced this week that Pratt Whitney never entered a bid and that the only engine offer it received came from General Electric. As a result, the Navy said it will begin installing the GE F404 turbof an engines in improved models of the A-6 starting in 1988. The F404, which is built at GE's plant in Lynn, already powers the Navy's F-18 Hornet fighter.

The new GE engine designed to develop up to 20,000 pounds of thrust. It will replace the Pratt Whitney J52, a turbojet which produces up to 11,200 pounds of thrust. In confirming that it had decided not to bid on the A-6 project, Pratt Whitney said it didn't have an engine that could meet the Navy's requirements. The Navy wanted an off-the-shelf model an engine already in production. Pratt Whitney, which has a family of several new engines in the testing stage, decided not to enter a Navy competition to equip the aircraft with newer and more powerful engines.

The decision to sit out the competition follows Washington reports several weeks ago that the Navy had already been warned 'Pratt Whitney would avoid the contest withGE. A top official of Pratt Whitney's corporate parent, United Technologies President Robert J. Carlson, reportedly met May 25 with Navy Secretary John F. Lehman Jr. and commented, "We're not going to bid on the A-6." However, after word of the Carlson-Lehman meeting leaked from the Pentagon, a UTC spokesman denied that the company had already made a decision to ignore the competition.

In a June 6 statement, UTC said "We have received the Navy's 'Request for Proposals' (the formal invitation to bid) and we are still studying the proposals." By ROBERT WATERS Courant Staff Writer Pratt Whitney has quietly bowed out of the Navy's A-6 light attack bomber program, a weapon system that has produced more than $2 billion in business for the East Hartford-based jet engine builder during the past 25 years. The A-6, a sophisticated $40.5 million, carrier-based attacker known as the Prowl-ei becomes the third front-line Pentagon aircraft program this year to switch to jet engines produced by Pratt Whitney's arch rival, General Electric. The Navy's F-14 Tomcat and the Air Force F-16 Falcon, both supersonic fighters, also are scheduled to switch to GE engines. Pratt Whitney, which has made the twin engines for the Grumman-built A-6 since it was introduced into the fleet in the late 1950s, confirmed Friday that it has cago Tribune reports, diaper services are holding their own with a 12 percent to 20 percent market share, the same level as before the onslaught of the paper pants. Although the number of diaper services has dropped from 200 to 110 since 1961, stronger marketing efforts have aided the industry, which believes it can maintain market share and perhaps grow.

Diaper services are expected, for instance, to target childbirth classes, long a fertile ground for the promotion of disposables. Richard Conley, general manager of Dy Dee Wash in Chicago, acknowledges the industry has to beef up its image even though it can't afford the national TV advertising that promotes disposables. Conley has a quick retort for parents who might favor paper over cloth diapers: "Would you wear underwear made of plastic and paper?" INSURANCE: PARTS 1 1 I kr-, If you're already outraged by the cost of car replacement parts, an Alliance of American Insurers study will drive you to despair. The alliance. liMii lv 'L i.

I Ij) I which annually determines the expense of reconstructing a totaled car, found it would cost $32,548 for the parts and a paint job for a 1984 four-door Plymouth Reliant. That's more than 3Yz times the purchase price of the new car, and doesn't even include labor, says the alliance in an Insurance Institute for, Highway Safety report. "Only a fraction of a new car's parts need to be damaged before costs become greater than the value of the car," says the alliance. "At that point not when an automobile is impossible to repair is the car considered by insurance companies to be a total loss." POTPOURRI: PAY UP said producing an upgrade of the J52 engine to meet the Navy's engine specifications, would have required substantial Navy funding which was not available. The Grumman A-6, which presents an ugly duckling appearance compared to its carrier-based companion, the sleek F-14 Tomcat fighter, features a hook-like boom in its nose for air-to-air refueling.

It is a subsonic aircraft that is known as a workhorse bomber for the Navy and Marine Corps. Some critics have complained that the under-500 mph A-6 cruising speed makes it a sitting duck for ground-based anti-aircraft fire. However, defenders note that low level bombing requires slower speeds because ground targets cannot be accurately spotted by pilots traveling at supersonic speeds. See Pratt, Page F9 St. Regis Bid Ended By Murdoch By DIANE LEVICK Courant Staff Writer Publisher Rupert Murdoch's News International PLC said Friday it will not pursue a hostile takeover of St.

Regis Corp. in view of that company's proposed $1.8 billion merger with Stamford-based Champion International Inc. News International originally said Monday it would make a tender offer within five days to bring its holdings in St. Regis, a New York City-based forest products firm', to 50.1 percent of the outstanding stock. On Tuesday, Champion said it would seek up to 60 percent of St.

Regis' common stock at $55.50 per share and all outstanding shares of St. Regis Capital Corp. $4.30 convertible exchangeable preferred stock, 1983 series, at $81.03 per share. Champion's tender offer commenced Wednesday. News International said Friday it would not proceed with its tender offer "in view of the filing of tender materials on Aug.

1" and "the announced related transactions between Champion International and St. Regis." The Murdoch organization added that "it reserving all options available to it with, respect to St. Regis and Champion" but a Murdoch spokesman refused to elaborate. New International had planned to offer $55 per share if St. Regis did not complete its planned acquisition of Colonial Penn Group an insurance firm, or $47 per share if it did.

Murdoch already owns 1.832 million St. Regis common shares 5.6 percent but his spokesman would not say Friday whether the publisher would tender them to Champion. Because Murdoch bought the shares for $65.14 million, he stands to make more than $30 million prof it if he sells them. "If you look at his prior practice, he takes his profit and runs," said John A. Ball, Champion senior vice president for public affairs.

Ball said he expects the same practice on the St. Regis stock. Responding to Murdoch's decision not to attempt a St. Regis takeover, Ball said with a chuckle, "We applaud his good judgment." Champion's prospectus implies, and industry sources speculate, that Champion would oppose the Colonial Penn acquisition if the merger is successful. Although Champion has not stated its position, Ball did say Friday, "Our basic business is pulp and paper, not insurance." Champion makes and distributes paper, packaging and wood-based building products.

If Champion takes over St. Regis, the Stamford company may end up with a 22 percent stake in Colonial Penn anyway, the prospectus shows. St. Regis currently owns 9.9 percent of Colonial Perm's outstanding common shares and has agreed to acquire an additional 12.1 percent. -f if 4qsS Jkf A In- i i -II 111 II '111 I Anacleto Rapping The Hartford Courant Enfield restaurant.

Their 16th Big Boy restaurant, the sixth in Connecticut, will open in Avon Monday. Believe it or not, for two years the nation's large law firms have generally held the line on salaries for first-year lawyers, but the going rates will Ronald Abdow, seated left, and his brother George, owners of Abdow's Big Boy restaurant chain, sit in the "atrium" of their 3 Abdow Brothers Cooking Up a Success Besides the Big Boys, the Abdows own the Ivanhoe restaurant and lounge in West Springfield; P. J. Scott's dinner house in Chicopee, and a new $1.4 million warehouse and corporate headquarters in the Springfield Industrial Park. Competitors do not take the Abdows lightly.

"We make regular visits to Abdow's (Big Boys) just to see what's going on," said Thomas C. Dumit, Connecticut area supervisor of Ponderosa an Ohio-based restaurant chain. See Abdow, Page Fll By JOHN HYLAND Courant Staff Writer Twenty-f iVe years after cooking their first hamburger at the small restaurant they had started in West Springfield, brothers George and Ronald Abdow are now running a multi-million-dollar restaurant empire: The Abdow The corporation is one of 21 franchisers running nearly 850 Big Boy restaurants in the United States, Canada and Japan. Big Boy is a division of The Marriott Corp. The original crew of 35 who worked at the former Abdow's Hi-Boy restaurant before the Abdows bought their Big Boy franchise in 1963 has mushroomed to 1,250 workers who produce 7Vi million meals a year at 15 Abdow's Big Boy restaurants in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Each of their Big Boys grosses about $1.5 million annually, placing the Abdow chain at or near the top of the Big Boy network in annual per-restaurant sales, a Marriott executive said. The Abdows are scheduled to open their 16th Big Boy restaurant and sixth in Connecticut on Route 44 in Avon on Monday. rise this fall, says the National Law Journal News Service. Salaries were held in check by pressure from cost-conscious clients and a relatively low inflation rate. Major law firms in New York City, a bellwether for nationwide rates, were paying between $43,000 and $47,000 since 1982.

This fall, salaries for first-year associates will increase 7 percent to 8 percent to $50,000, and some smaller specialty law firms may approach $54,000. Other cities' law firms will follow suit, surpassing the $40,000 mark which has been a "psychor logical roadblock" in the past, the Journal says. "It may have to go up some merely for psychological reasons," says one unidentified New York recruiting coordinator. "There's a limit to what we can't give them." RETAIL: HOMEMADE Continental's Quarterly Loss Sets Banking Record There's good news for fast-food junkies who don't mind a little irony. Now they can buy fast-food style items in the su-Dermarket to cook at Chicago Tribune CHICAGO Continental Illinois Corp.

reported a net loss of $1.16 billion Friday for the three months ended June 30 the largest quarterly loss ever reported by a banking firm reflecting loan loss provisions and writedowns in preparation for a proposed rescue package developed by U.S. banking agencies. David G. Taylor, Continental's chairman, predicted the holding company's results in the third quarter will continue to be affected by "a high level of non-performing capital. In return, the agency will get 80 percent of the holding company's stock.

The banking firm had reported a net income of $31 million, or 78 cents a share, for the second quarter of last year. For the first six months of 1984, it reported a net loss of $1.13 billion, which compared with a year-ago profit of $62 million, or $1.56 a share. The six-month loss included a $705 million provision for possible credit losses and a $425 million provision for losses on the sale of loans to the FDIC. Continental said its non-performing loans totalled $2.7 billion on June 30, up from $2.3 billion at the end of the first quarter. The second-quarter deficit includes a total loan-loss provision of $990 million, including a provision of $425 million on loans to be sold to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

as part of the plan intended to save the firm's major bank, Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Co. of Chicago. In addition, the bank charged off $626 million of loans as non-performing foreign loans. A special meeting of Continental shareholders has been called for Sept. 26 to vote on the plan, under which the FDIC will buy $4.5 billion of poor loans from the bank for $3.5 billion and also inject $1 billion of new home, says Martin Friedman, Miami-based editor of New Product News.

"You'd think the fast-food people would try to figure out what people are buying in the supermarket to cook at home. But it's the other way around," says Friedman in a UPI report. Swanson is offering Great Start Breakfast Sandwiches that resemble Egg McMuffins, and another company is successfully marketing Micro-Magic Fries which come in single-serving boxes ready to be microwaved. Friedman, who prowls supermarkets for new products, has also noted the debut of Famous Fido's Canine Cookies, available in a flavor called chocolate liver chip. LABOR: TIME OFF July Car Sales Best Since 1978 While some of the nation's employees accepted cuts in pay and health insurance benefits in recent years, vacation time armarenrlv rpmainprl ca.

1984 1983 Comparisons for the month and the final 10 selling days are strict percentages because those periods this year and last year had the same number of selling days. However, the year-to-date percentages were figured according to the number of sales per day because this year has had 179 official selling days compared with 178 through the end of July last year. Ford said it sold 65,026 cars in the final 10 selling days of July, up 20.5 percent from a year ago. In July, Ford sold 162,568 cars, up 25.7 percent from 129,358. For the year, Ford has sold 1,171,754 cars compared with 887,621, an increase of 31.3 percent on a daily-rate basis.

GM said it delivered 155,616 cars in late July, up 11.6 percent from 139,441 a year earlier. For the month, GM sold 398,858, up 14.6 percent from 347,966. For the year, GM has sold 2,917,014 cars, up 24.4 percent from 2,331,293. Chrysler sold 32,073 cars in late July, 6.4 percent more than the 30,132 of a year ago. Chrysler sold 82,691 cars in July, up 10.6 percent from 74,785 a year ago.

This year, Chrysler has sold 595,865 cars, 16.7 percent ahead of last year's pace, 507,599. AMC sold 11,083 cars in late July, 87.6 percent more than 5,907 a year ago. The company sold 23,763 in July, 69.7 percent ahead of last July. For the year, AMC has sold 120,019 cars, up 3.6 percent from 115,127 a year ago. The AMC figures do not include Jeep sales, which are running at more than double last year's rate.

Associated Press DETROIT U.g. automakers on Friday recorded their best July sales since 1978, with figures 18.6 percent ahead of last year's pace. Among the Big Three, Ford Motor Co. sales were up 25.7 percent, General Motors were up 14.6 percent and Chrysler Corp. sales rose 10.6 percent compared with July of last year.

The annual selling rate was 8.8 which is near the U.S. auto industry's capacity. Meanwhile, American Motors on the strength of large fleet deliveries and a cut-rate financing plan, recorded July sales 69.7 percent above last year's rate. American Honda Motor Co. Inc.

sales were more than double last July's sales when its sole U.S. factory was still in the early stages of production. Volkswagen of America Inc. said sales of its U.S.-made Rabbit, which has been discontinued in favor of a new subcompact called the Golf, were up 7.6 percent in July. The U.S.

industry sold 684,112 cars in July, 18.6 percent better than 576,864 of a year ago. That came to 27,364 a day, the best since a average was reached in July 1978. For the last 10 days of July, the U.S. industry sold 271,260 cars, up 15.7 percent from 234,385 in the comparable period a year ago. That was the best late-July showing since 1979.

For the year, American carmakers have sold 4,930,455 models, 25.3 percent ahead of last year's pace of 3,911,890. cred. "The trend is toward giving more vacation, both in terms of shortening the required years of service for more time off and increasing length of maximum vacation time," said Steven Markman, compensation specialist at the Conference Board. The New York Daily News reports that a survey last year by the New York Chamber of Commerce and Industry found employ-- ees at all levels tvnirallv cpt twn ujppIic' MAY 1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period JUNE 1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period JULY 1st Period 2nd Period 3rd Period .18,754 26,471 .23,279 28,350 .31,493 42,278 .23,518 23,435 .25,681 28,872 .28,057 31,116 .19,372 25,575 .22,986 25,981 .29,298 33,908 paid vacation after one year of service, mile wkkks auer live 10 seven years, four weeks after 15 years, and five weeks after 20 years. But then, in Eu- rope, nearly every company gives four weeks' vacation from the first year, and some union contracts require six weeks after three years.

DIANE LEVICK 'Average daily U.S. car sales during 10-day sales periods in 1984, compared with same periods in 1983. Domestic cars only. Source: Ward's Automotive Reports, an industry trade journal in Detroit. -ij r-.