Lexington Herald-Leader from Lexington, Kentucky • 24

1 it T'r tii Lexington HerakReader Thursday September 2 1999 Easiness 1 Block agrees to buy Olde 4th-largest US discount broker I credits fori 25 straight wins in burley hands at the Kentucky State Fair He has ribbons and plaques dating to the 1970s to merge operations with Olde but she said it was very unlikely that any Okie locations would be dosed anything there is going to be McDougall said we can better serve 16 million Block customers in- this Olde manages' $37 billion in assets for 600000 clients The average age' of those clients is 50 and they earn roughly $67000 a year Demographically a nearly perfect match with top 4 million customers They earn $65000 annually and average 44 in age a Herald-Leader business writer Jim Jordan contributed to this annuities and mutual funds and handling financial planning investment decisions spring from tax said taul Mackey a senior analyst with Buckingham Research Group in New' York very wealthy go to trust departments major investment firms the Merrill Lynches of the world But a huge mass market worried about retirement educating kids a huge opportunity to cross-sell to Olde Discount offers brokerage and other financial services at 181 branch offices in 35 states The company was one of the first discount brokers to open an office in Lexington Block spokeswoman Linda McDougall said die company had not even started on a plan STAfF This has been a tough year far Warner whose wife of 50 years Barbara died Jan 1 of complications from heart surgery She had beat involved in every phase of tobacco production from sowing beds and transplanting to' atrip- ping This year's award for stripped burley was fovW he these years she stood he side me She there in per- -son but she was there in Health permitting Warner plans to return to die state fair r-next year And if beaten be it he said 1 die time comet that If get beat HI be the first to1- -gratulate die Warner denied it but retorted you had a speaking engagement would you want to go out with an old wrinkled-up shirt? He said "To have a good sample of tobacco every leaf has to be the same color the same length die spine His fastidiousness pays off in ribbons and cash prizes Warner say what he earned at the fair this year but said some of the money goes to his granddaughter in Fort Thomas And there are non-cash com-pliments for his tobacco Samples of his leaves are taken by the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to show visitors at its re-gional office in Lexington TOBACCO: Cash prestige come with winning From Pra Cl ter in the annual coptest stripped burley 'has told me that will strip tobacco all day aqd maybe select only one or two leaves for die state fair" Claycomb said apparently knows what die judges are looking for and he does it Warner acknowledges that he is picky when selecting the choicest leaves Someone once accused him of ironing his tobacco leaves because they were so smooth ASHLAND: In spite of good news stock dips Ftom Pace Cl It could happen though Reuters named several companies that might try to top bid including Vulcan Materials Co of Birmingham Ala and Granite Construction Inc of Watsonville Calif believe the deal will be successfully Ashland spokesman Stan Lampe said tender offer expires Sept 20 Stateside the company also -t 1 APAC stock is near a 52-week low set last Shares of Ashland dosed yeatorA" day at down cents i-w the New York Stock That is down 20 percent share price of $48375 whetfH questions I- I I pant attains each additional year of A similar plan adopted July 1 by -IBM has triggered protests from seine of die computer giant's workers around the country' its face it seems to me that there is real question about die legality of Sanders said IBM spokeswoman Jana Weatherbee said that white some workers oppose the new plan it is essential fcr the company to keep pace with benefits packages df-1 fered by competitors like InteL More than 300 companies have converted to die cash-balance pension plans which can reduce costs by cutting future bene-fits to middle-age workers while allowing younger workera to take a larger payout if they leave before retiring Oitics say losers in these plans are workers with 15 or more years of service Under more traditional defined-benefit pension plans workers receive the maximum amount based on length of service and their level of salary in final years before retirement 1 announced the acquisition of die assets of Buster Paving Co in Texas and Oklahoma bringing die number-of APAC acquisitions for the last 11 months to 13 worth a total of $160 million Ashland would not disclose die purchase price -but industry experts estimated the deal was worth $45 million to $60 million (The company had previously told the Herald-Leader that its first 11 acquisitions of fiscal 1999 totaled $83 million) Lampe would say only that Buster Paving is the biggest acquisition APAC has made since buying the Masters-Jadcson group in late 1997 Despite 1 recefit growth at Lampe said that many lysts still evaluate Ashland as manly a petroleum stock and other second-tier refining marketing companies suCk Sunoco ha ve seen shares 15 percent to 20 percent from cent highs Reach Jamk Butters at 231-3201 or- by Vi- I i I i It -SE- ft As A i i rf" ii i i i 1 i i A AC( i IRS rais By Curt ASSOCIATED Oitics of a popular new kind of pension plan said yesterday a confidential Internal Revenue Service memo bolsters their claims that theaplaru violate ageiiscrimination laws Rep Bemie Sanders an independent from Vermont said die IRS district office in Cincinnati raised questions about that bearout "what I and others have been saying: If the rate of accrual goes down as workers get older then die plan violates die Sanders is among 40 members of Congress who have requested an investigation by the Equal 'Employment Opportunity Commission and the Labor Department The memo dated September 1998 and released this week by Sanders says die cash-balance plan at an unnamed company not satisfy the clear and straightforward of age-bias law because the benefit accrual rate as a partici Kentacky Caattaaicatisaa 1-8(0-928-3791 Serving Clients la Kmtucky ft Areas Sim 1914 to a And we're By Cheryl Wlttsnauar ASSOCIATED I KANSAS CITY Ma Tax preparer Block which'has been buying mortgage and accounting bininesses has agreed to buy the fourth-largest discount broker Block said it is acquiring Detroit-based Olde Financial Corp the parent company of Olde Discount Corp for $850 million in cash in its largest single acquisition yet The move takes die Kansas City-based Block closer to its goal of becoming a one-stop financial-services center for mainstream families and provides the company an opportunity to generate more revenue from its 16 million customers That involves not only preparing taxes but selling WLEX: No Mg changes planned at NBC station From Paco job was yesterday He has' been visiting Lexington and WLEX during die last few wepks There also is no immediate plan to replace night news anchor Tom Kenny who resigned last month after he was identified in police documents as a customer of a Lexington prostitute Kenny was not charged with a crime feel a pressing need to rush to judgment or searches It seems to me the news department the anchors and reporters has a lot of Nielsen said need to be able to talk to members of die staff and get their Throughout his career Nielsen has been known for plao-: ing a priority on market research and figuring out what the wants according to a 1993 article in the Rochester Business Journal- i Under his leadership there will be ongoing market research at WLEX he said want to talk to as many of our customers as we he WLEX's sale to Charleston SC-based Evening Post ing Co also dosed yesterday The Evening Post went out- side its TV stations to find a general manager for WLEX WQKR in- Rochester is owned by the Ackerly Group a Seattle firm Under the Evening Post WLEX an NBC affiliate will offi-dally be named Cordillera Communications but it will do business as WLEX Communications LLC The Evening Post which has been snapping up TV stations and newspapers during die 1990s owns 10 stations in Arizona Colorado Idaho Louisiana Montana and Texas Lexington is one of the larger markets WLEX the first TV station to broadcast in Lexington was created in 1955 by Guthrie Bell and Doug Gay Herald-Leader news researcher Linda Niemi contributed to this report Reach Amy Baldwin at (606) 231-3314 or by e-mail ah Publication Date isocaMor sbibser Herald-Leader Thur Be Monday: Tlies iuEsnflttFnEmi7 Herald-Leader Thur Living Wen Tlies dndMnfi HVMMWKSmKUtil! 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