The State from Columbia, South Carolina • 18

6 6 CLOSE 9,063.37 Grant Jackson, executive business editor CLOSE $15.39 future, F2 CLOSE $306.50 Fax number NYSE F3 Oil: 771-8480 County's Nasdaq F4 Dow: How to reach us Gold: 771-8376 big numbers in BUSINESS York Study predicts COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA THE dO STATE MAY 1, 1998 SOUTH CAROLINA And news from the region Gannett names Holland to manage WLTX-19 I ARLINGTON, Va. Gannett Broadcasting has finished its purchase of WLTX TV-19 and named Deborah Holland the station's vice president and general manager. Gannett bought the CBS affiliate from Lewis Broadcasting Corp. in a deal announced earlier this year. Holland, who had been the station's general sales manager, will replace Dick Laughridge, who is retiring.

Holland, a University of South Carolina graduate, began working in broadcasting with WMYB, a Myrtle Beach FM station. She started working with WNOK, a Columbia AM station in 1978 as an account executive and joined WLTX a year later. Columbia gets double- NEW YORK Standard Poor's has assigned a rating to Columbia's general obligation refunding bonds series that will be sold May 7. The bonds will be due Feb. 1, 1999, through 2012.

also affirmed its "double-A" rating of the city's outstanding general obligation bonds. said the ratings reflect an expanding economy, low debt burden and strong financial performance. noted that per capita wealth has risen steadily, including growing 11.2 percent last year. Circulation director named AUGUSTA Douglas E. Sumrell has been named circulation director for Morris Communications the company announced Wednesday.

Sumrell, a native of Greenville, N.C., is a former vice president of circulation for The Wichita Eagle in Wichita, and corporate circulation director for Knight-Ridder publisher of The State. COASTAL Barefoot gets new stores MYRTLE BEACH The Barefoot Landing shopping center in North Myrtle Beach has two new stores. Secrets In Stone sells marble sculptures, utensils and home decoration items. Silver Fish sells silver jewelry, collectibles and accessories. THE BOTTOM LINE FirstBancorporation profits BEAUFORT FirstBancorporation, which plans to open a FirstBank branch on Assembly Street, reported first-quarter profits of $240,000, or 33 cents a share on a diluted basis, compared with $194,000, or 27 cents a share on a diluted basis, a year earlier.

Galey Lord profits modest GREENSBORO, N.C. While sales soared at Galey Lord Inc. during its second quarter, special charges kept profit growth modest. The company saw sales rise to $237.6 million during the March quarter, up from $129.4 million a year earlier as it included sales from the acquisition of Dominion Textiles. However, profits rose to $4.1 million, or 34 cents a share on diluted basis, compared with $3.8 million, or 32 cents on a diluted basis, a year earlier.

Buys boost Kenan Transport CHAPEL HILL, N.C. Two acquisitions helped Kenan Transport Co. boost sales and profits during the first quarter. The company said first-quarter revenues increased $28.5 million, up nearly $11 million from yearearlier levels. Profits rose to $1.2 million, or 49 cents a share, compared with $976,000, or 41 cents a share a year earlier.

Since December, Kenan has purchased the transportation assets of Transport South Inc. and stock of Petro-Chemical Transport the trucking subsidiary of CITGO Petroleum. Packaging plant to expand Facility's growth to create 325 jobs in Dillon County By JOHN WELBES Staff Writer The expansion of a packaging plant in Dillon 1 County is expected to eventually bring 325 new jobs to an area of the Pee Dee that has struggled with high unemployment rates. The St. Laurent Paperboard plant in Latta currently makes corrugated cartons, but a $20 million expansion announced Thursday will allow the plant to package clients' goods on-site as well.

In Dillon County the news is as big a deal as the Honda announcement was in Florence County last year, said Hartsell Rogers, the Dillon County administrator. The expansion will initially create 50 to 75 jobs, and 250 are expected to be added in the next few years. "We're just excited as we can be," he said. "That $20 million is a lot of money to be invested in Dillon County." The county had worked with St. Laurent for almost two years on locating the expansion at the Latta site.

"We could have lost it from the United States entirely," Rogers said. The company looked outside the country, as well as at sites in Vir- Two want to share 'friendly skies' ALAN ASSOCIATED PRESS Delta Air Lines CEO Leo Mullin talks Thursday in Atlanta about the passenger benefits of a Delta-United alliance. U.S. has 'dream economy' Reports show blend of increase in growth, decrease in inflation By DAVE SKIDMORE The Associated Press WASHINGTON The American economy delighted Wall Street on Thursday with a combination of faster growth and slower inflation for the first three months of the year. The stock market shot higher, recovering from its interest-rate jitters of just days ago, but it drew a mild caution from President Clinton.

"Markets will go up and down. They will change," he said at a news conference. He attributed gains mostly to the productivity of American workers and busi- ginia and North Carolina, he said. St. Laurent, based in Montreal, Quebec, has more than 3,500 employees and a total of 11 manufacturing plants in the United States and Canada.

Dillon County is providing a feein-lieu of property taxes package for the plant that will assess the expansion at 6 percent instead of the standard industrial rate of 10.5 percent. The county also is doing the site preparation on the land that will be used for the expansion. A cost figure on that work wasn't available. The county's development board said the new investment by St. Laurent will generate a total of $1.3 million for county schools and $800,000 for the county over the next 20 years.

"We roll out the red carpet for companies that want to expand in Dillon County," Rogers said. "That $20 million is a lot of money to be invested in Dillon County." HARTSELL ROGERS, COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR "We believe (St. Laurent's) decision is testimony to what they've experienced with our labor force." In March, Dillon County's unemployment rate was 4.5 percent. A year earlier it was 9.3 per- An alliance of giants Profiles of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, who have revived plans to link their frequent-flier and reservation programs. UAL Delta Ranking worldwide Largest carrier Third-largest carrier Headquarters Chicago 1 Atlanta DELTA Revenue $17.4 billion $13.6 billion Passenger miles 121.4 billion 97.8 billion Employees 91,700 163,400 Pilots 9,000 Fleet 1575 jets 553 jets Hubs Chicago, San Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Francisco, Denver, Cincinnati, New York Washington (Kennedy Airport) What's next Pilots' unions at both Deal will need to be reviewed carriers need to OK deal for any antitrust violations SOURCE: Company reports; research by PAT CARR KNIGHT RIDDER TRIBUNE United, Delta plan alliance Airlines join 'competitive wave' CLIFF will settle for nothing less," said By EDWARDS The Associated Press Gerald Greenwald, United's chairman and chief executive.

CHICAGO United Airlines and "For the business and pleasure Delta Air Lines agreed Thursday to traveler, it means unprecedented link their route systems in a combi- access to an increasingly wider nation that would control more range of destinations and markets than one out of every three seats at home and abroad." on U.S. airlines. The deal is subject to the The Delta-United alliance would approval of both carriers' pilot tie together the carriers' frequentunions. Moreover, the Justice flier programs, allow qualifying Department has said it will exampassengers ine the pact, along with a wave of access to each other's airport club rooms and ing seats on each other's "We believe that the competitive wave of tion future because tomers and the global nesses and to an interest-rate drop caused by Asian financial turmoil. Still, he said, "I hope we could avoid any kind of big swings in the market one way or the other." Growth in the nation's gross domestic product, the sum of all goods and services produced within U.S.

borders, rose to a rapid seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.2 percent in the January-March period, the Commerce Department said. That exceeded the robust 3.7 percent rate in the final three months of 1997 and all but a few economists' expectations. In another sign of strength, the Treasury Department said the government ended Wednesday with $100 billion in its coffers, the largest daily cash balance ever. That indicated tax revenue is streaming into the government, and it increased the likelihood of a surplus in fiscal 1998, the first in 29 years. PLEASE SEE ECONOMY PAGE F5 cent.

Neighboring counties including Marion and Marlboro also have battled unemployment rates that are more than double the statewide average. The company won't have any trouble finding workers to fill the new positions, Rogers said. Of the 325 jobs, about 100 will require advanced training, he said. The wage rate for the jobs wasn't available. In the last year, Dillon County has worked hard on economic development projects and hopes to announce some other expansions in coming months, Rogers said.

John Welbes covers economic development and public companies. He can be reached at 771- 8339 or by fax at 771-8480. Carolina First has new way to grow Bank to establish overseas branch in Cayman Islands By SHERYL JEAN Staff Writer GREENVILLE Mack Whittle, president of Greenville-based Carolina First never fails to think up innovative ways to keep the bank holding company at the top of the heap. The $2.3 billion company, the owner of Carolina First Bank, plans to create an international branch in the Cayman Islands, Whittle said Thursday in an interview after the company's annual meeting in Greenville. It would not be a brick-andmortar branch, but a shell branch set up for the purpose of providing another source of cash to Carolina First to meet strong PLEASE SEE FIRST PAGE F5 Seminar to focus on federal contracts The Center for Women Entrepreneurs at Columbia College will hold a federal procurement seminar May 8 from 9 a.m.

to 3:45 p.m. This is the first time that participants in one of the center's seminars will have a chance to meet federal procurement officers for one-on-one counseling. According to the center's director, Susan Davis, business owners can describe their services to agency representatives, determine if the agency can use the service and discuss steps to secure contracts. During the morning, sessions on funding, marketing and procurement resources for women are scheduled. After lunch, there will be: a panel discussion on selling to the federal government.

The remainder of the afternoon has been set aside for individual sessions between procurement officers and business owners. The agencies that will have representatives are from Fort Jackson, NISE East, Veterans Administration, Charleston AFB, the Navy, and the Environmental Protection Agency. The cost is $75. Call (803) 786-3108 for registration information. CA permit sellplanes.

other alliances are effect the aviaour cuseconomy alliances announced recently by other U.S. carriers, for its potential effect on consumers. PLEASE SEE AIRLINES PAGE F5 BEBETO ASSOCIATED PRESS A trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange laughs Thursday, when the Dow Jones industrial average rallied to erase much of Monday's 147-point slide. 413 1240.