The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 21

hjjp nmmy BUSINESS THE RECORD B-3 "WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1996 Pto Jersey Report Mutual Life to shut its Teaneck office The company, which is based in Maplewood, develops a line of low-salt and low-cholesterol cheeses. MERRILL LYNCH ACQUIRING LENDER'S SERVICE NEWARK Merrill Lynch Co. Inc. has agreed to acquire Lender's Service a provider of appraisal, title, and closing services to the mortgage and real estate industry. Terms were EARNINGS not disclosed.

Merrill Lynch will Residential Services Corporation acquire Lender's Service from of America, a subsidiary ot the Newark-based Prudential Insurance Company of America. Wellman Inc. Autolnio Inc. Shrewsbury Fair Lawn First quarter, 1996 Second half, 1995 Higher material cost reduces Income 1996 1995 1995 1994 Revenues $301 $276.1 Revenues NA Net Income $11. 7M Net Income S829.3K NA Per Share $0.35 $0.67 Per Share $0.11 NA Bel Fuse Inc.

American Re Corp. Jersey City Princeton First quarter, 1996 First quarter, 1996 1996 1995 1996 1995 Revenues S15.9M Revenues S649.8M Net Income Net Income $49.1 Per Share $0.44 $0.30 Per Share $1.01 $0.73 SHAREHOLDERS APPROVE WEDCO-ICO MERGER BLOOMSBURY Wedco Technology and ICO Inc. said Tuesday that shareholders of both companies have approved the acquisition of Wedco Technology by ICO. Wedco shareholders will receive either 2.2 ICO common shares and $3.50 a share in cash or 2.84 ICO common shares for each Wedco share. ALPINE LACE PLANS STOCK BUYBACK MAPLEWOOD Alpine Lace Brands Inc.

said Tuesday that it plans to repurchase as many as 150,000 of its common shares. Alpine Lace said it has about 5 million shares outstanding. From staff and news service reports The Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York said Tuesday that it will close its Teaneck office within two years and add about 340 jobs in Manhattan. Under terms of an agreement with the city, the insurer will also retain its current 200 jobs in New York for 17 years, and may add 222 jobs during that time. MONY will get about $1.9 million in city and state tax breaks to keep the jobs in New York.

Of that money, $364,000 will come from the Big Apple. MONY will also get up to $3.8 million in city tax breaks if it creates the 222 jobs during the 17-year term. The company generates about $4.5 million annually in total New York City tax revenue. MONY Chairman Michael Roth said the company chose New York "to consolidate metropolitan operations under one roof." Roth said that most of MONY's 350 jobs in New Jersey will be eliminated through attrition. Some of the 340 jobs MONY plans Liquidation called likely He used to be chief operating offi Northeast corridor," Kelly Conway, vice president of marketing and advertising for The Sports Authority, said Tuesday.

"We'll definitely take a look at the Herman's leases as they become available." Another Herman's competitor, New York-based Modell's Sporting Goods, would not comment. Most Sports Authority stores are much bigger than Herman's locations. But the Herman's stores still might be a good match for The Sports Authority, whose chairman, Jack Smith, has talked about using smaller stores to move into urban markets where real estate is scarce. Smith already knows Herman's. From Page B-1 asked the judge to allow it to con-- duct going-out-of-business sales, 'hire a liquidator, and implement an employee severance plan.

Herman's also wants the court's go-ahead so that it can begin rejecting pleases for some of its stores. "I suspect there is a greater likelihood that the company will liqui-' date rather than emerge from Chapter 11," said Todd Slater, an analyst with Lazard Freres Co. in New York. "It sounds like they're keeping their stores open in order to sell all the merchandise and close them down," said Kurt Barnard of Barnard's Retail Marketing Report in Scotch Plains. Warning! Your Children Could Lose Up To 12 Of Their Inheritance To The IRS! RocheUe Park, NJ If your net worth is above $600,000, the IRS and attorneys have some deadly traps they are waiting for you to fall into.

A FREE REPORT called "How To Legally Avoid Losing Up To 12 Of Your Estate To The IRS And Attorneys" has been made available for the first time. Call (800) 554-3332, 24 hours, to get your copy, and find out what the IRS does not want you to know! cer at the company. "Maybe what happens here is that they Sports Authority go in and take the inner-city locations of Herman's," said one analyst, That does not answer the question of what would happen to Herman's many suburban locations. The Sports Authority has had little trouble finding space in North Jersey, where it has stores in Paramus and Wayne. Herman's is no stranger to Bankruptcy Court.

The company filed for Chapter 11 protection in 1993, just after being acquired by an investor group led by two New York banking companies and the Taggart-Fasola Group. your paperwork in as little as 24 We were the recipient of the SBA Wages, confidence both on upswing But increases trigger fear of inflation Approval Shouldn't Mil Bf! Our status as a preferred SBA knder means we can Diamond Award for lending more money to more businesses than any other lender in New Jersey. And process hours! a So, new Can tha StockOuote Hotline 24 to add to its New York office will be filled by the company's former New Jersey employees, he said. MONY's New York office is at 1740 Broadway. Teaneck Mayor Peter M.

Bower said the job loss would be significant for Teaneck: "Job losses, are always devastating to lives and families." But Bower said that job consolidation was "not unusual" and that too much is made of the New York-New Jersey tug of war over jobs. "We're trying to lure their Yankees over here, and everyone is trying to get more businesses." A spokeswoman for the state Department of Commerce, Lisa Kruse, said the impending losses were "disappointing" but unavoidable. "It sounds like this was a corporate decision to consolidate, and we would have no control over that," Kruse said. "I don't think there is a border war certainly not on our behalf." tar hours a dav for an instant uDdats X92 Y93 Z0311 .13 fttncwpL mans rq) iTg The Associated Press WASHINGTON Workers' wages are rising at the fastest pace in four years and consumer confidence is surging. But those signs of a reviving economy are also raising concerns about inflation.

The Labor Department said Tuesday that its Employment Cost Index rose 3 percent over the 12-month period through March. This included the steepest advance in salaries since 1992. "It tells me there are the beginnings of some pressure on wages, although it's too soon to say it marks a trend," said economist Richard Berner of Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh. Although the report showed the biggest rise in total compensation in two years, it was unlikely to relieve the anxiety of many workers, whose stagnant wages have become a political issue in this campaign year. Benefit increases were among the smallest on record and included the first quarterly decline since with 17 million dollars in loan approvals in the first 6 months of the SBA fiscal year, we're on track to win it again.

if you need the capital to start-up business, to acquire or refinance a building, or to purchase machinery, equipment or inventory, we're your bank). Call today and talk with an SBA loan specialist at Prestige. on youc portfolio of stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. "Touchtone phones only. Follow these simple instructions: Each ticker symbol consists of up to five letters.

Each letter corresponds to two digits on your telephone. The first number is the position of the telephone button on which the letter appears. The second number is the letter's position on that button. For example. is 2-1; "IF is 2-2.

eta The letter is. 0-1 and is 0-3. If the stock symbol includes a period or a slash rthe period Is 13 and the slash is 11. Check with your broker if you are not sure of your ticker symbols. Translation Chart A21 Bx22 C23 D31 Ee32 Fs33 G41 H42 143 js51 K52 U53 M61 N62 063 P71 Q01 R72 S73 Call 1 800 SBA 2005 CD Member FDIC Prestige state bank Main Office 1 Royal Road.

Hemlnjton. Nl. 9M) (0W200 Readlni Ridge Center 8 Reading Road. Remington. N.

(90t) 8064MO Rarttan Borough 34 Ea9 Somerset Street. Raritan. Nl. I08 21S-9M When a retailer is liquidated, its merchandise and real estate are sold to generate cash to pay creditors. The Herman's name could also be put up for sale, so it is possible the chain could survive in some form.

Other sporting-goods chains will be the benefactors of Herman's troubles by taking over leases for Herman's stores at bargain prices, analysts said. The Sports Authority a fast-growing chain of sporting-goods superstores based in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. did that this year when it bought up many of the leases of an Atlanta-based chain. "We certainly make it no secret that we would like to saturate the the government began monitoring them in 1982. And though white-collar compensation rose 3.4 percent and beat the 1995 inflation rate of 2.5 percent, blue-collar wages and benefits rose just 2.2 percent, as did those of service-industry employees.

The index is considered the best measure of labor costs, which represent about two-thirds of a product's price. According to a survey by The Conference Board, consumer confidence in the economy surged in April as worries over finding jobs dropped to a six-year low, The proportion of respondents who see a tough job market fell from 26.2 percent to 21.3 percent, the lowest percentage in more than six years, said the business-funded economic think tank. "The consensus forecast continues to call for steady, sustainable growth, somewhat above 2 percent for the four quarters of this year," said Assistant Treasury Secretary Joshua Gotbaum, addressing the U.S. Treasury Department's Borrowing Advisory Committee. "To us, that still seems to be the most probable outcome." 01 "iTT afli 1 if! iff rT Shift T81 Ux82V83 W9i I I TRUST I Equal HouslnB lender, Equal Opportunity Lender Into Lower Car Payments.

This low rate could get even lower with the Sure Win Auto Loan. It's a whole new kind of auto loan. And it could save you hundreds of dollars in interest over a comparable fixed-rate loan. That's because your low opening rate of 8.25 APR will go lower if the Prime Rate drops, which means lower monthly payments. But it can't go higher, so you'll never pay more than your opening rate and payment.

Whether you're buying a new or used car, or refinancing a loan, you can't lose. Just look at these low payments on a 10,000 loan: On new '96 cars at 8.25 APR with 60 months to repay, you'll pay only $203.96 a month. On 94 and '95 models at 8.75 APR with 60 months to repay, you'll pay only $206.37 a month. Other rates and terms are available for older vehicles. i From Page B-1 selling business," Wilzig said, in a reference to the merger mania that has transformed the banking in- dustry in New Jersey.

"We are in 'the service business." At Tuesday's annual gathering, held at a posh Ramada hotel, WU- zig held nothing back in describing The Trust Company's success since he became a director in 1968. For instance, he pointed out that when he joined the bank, it had only $200 million in assets. Today its assets total more than $2.5 billion. The Trust Company's stock has also risen in value over the years: A $10,000 investment in the bank in 1983 is worth $252,000 today. On Tuesday, shares of The Trust Company closed at $14, down 37V4 cents.

The stock is up i 13 percent from its 52-week low of $12.25. Indeed, the bank has garnered a reputation over the years for treat- ing its customers and shareholders well. Still, the bank has not been without its share of troubles. In 1994, the Federal Deposit Insur- ance Corp. issued a cease-and-de-' sist order against The Trust Com-" pany.

The order meant, among other things, that the bank had to revise its lending policies, main- tain a capital ratio of at least 6 percent, and hire additional man- agement to help supervise the bank. On Tuesday, in response to a shareholder question, Wilzig indi-- cated that closure of the issue was near. He said The Trust Company had complied with the last of the FDIC requests on Jan. 30. An FDIC spokesman said Tuesday that the order was still technically in effect.

What's more, you can: Defer your first payment up to 90 days (interest accrues during deferral period). Apply in advance and pre-qualify for up to 100 financing. Gear up now at any United Jersey Bank branch. Or apply by phone, Monday through Friday 8 am to 6 p.m. or Saturday 9 a.m.

to 1 p.m. 1-800-mB-FAST Rates include a 12 discount for payments automatically deducted from a United Jersey Bank Checking Account Rate rRennr 41 Offer tray hf withdrawn ny time. The Prime Rale is as published in The Tall Street loumal on the first business day of the month. Annual Percentage Rate (APR) for 1996 autos is based on Prime Rale, wule the APR for 1994 and 1995 tnodefs Prime plus 12. UNITED JERSEY BANK Oppomsitf lender, fctanber FDIC Member of Summfe tank.

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