News and Record from Greensboro, North Carolina • 18

SATURDAY News Record November 1 6 1 996 B6 actory output down last month 05 percent The General Motors strike contrib uted to the decline the ederal Re serve said The Associated Press WASHINGTON The output of the na factories fell in October for the first time in seven months as autoworker strikes slowed production while some businesses were trimming inventories The ederal Reserve said riday the rip ple effect of the strike at General Canadian plants and later disputes that closed some of US assembly lines was largely responsible for the overall 05 per cent decline But the report also showed that excluding auto plants output at the factories mines and utilities was down 02 percent with most industries sharing in the loss are responding to the pickup in inventories last when consumer spending waned explained economist Mark Zandi of Regional inancial Associates in West Chester Pa By matching inventories with sales busi nesses are setting the stage for increased production as demand strengthens he added suggests the economy will con tinue to expand moderately next A separate Commerce Department report riday showed growth in business invento ries slowed to just 01 percent in September from 03 percent in August and 05 percent in July At the same time sales picked up 08 percent in September after slipping 02 per cent the previous month Many analysts be lieve sales will continue to grow moderately as the Christmas shopping season ap proaches The ed report contained no sign of infla tion saying the industries wer op erating at 827 percent of capacity oqwn from 834 percent in September Analysts say a capacity utilization rate of more than 85 percent would threaten pro ductions bottlenecks that could lead to short ages and higher prices Stocks rose on the reports which were seen as keeping inflation at bay The Dow Jones industrial average rose 3503 points to 634803 its eighth consecutive record close Bonds however lost ground slightly with the 30 year Treasury yield up to 646 from 641 percent late Thursday Prices and yields move in opposite directions The decline in overall production was the first since an identical 05 percent drop in March Many analysts had predicted output would remain unchanged in October actory output also fell 05 percent in October including a 07 percent decline in production of durable goods such as cars that are expected to last more than three years vehicle assemblies dropped more than 7 percent from their September the ed report said falloff resulted largely from shortages of parts made at strike affected plants in Canada and from a strike that had shut down some domestic assembly plants late in the Output of nondurable goods such as chem icals and clothing slipped 02 percent Output at the utilities was unchanged but mining production fell 1 percent after slip ping 01 percent the previous month Against the lower trend the computer and office equipment sector posted a 21 percent increase In its report the Commerce Department said the inventory to sales ratio dipped to 139 from 140 matching the May and July levels the lowest since the government be gan tracking the data in 1982 It meant it would take 139 months to exhaust stockpiles at the September sales rate Although inventories grew 03 percent at factories they fell 13 percent at tne whole sale level Retail stockpiles rose 08 percent Ruddick Corp says Harris Teeter chain is not up for sale Rumors that Ruddick Corp will sell Harris Teeter are the president says By Scott Andron Staff Writer The Harris Teeter su permarket chain is not up for sale the president of parent company Ruddick Corp said riday Rumors have been fly ing in the grocery industry that Ruddick is prepared to sell Harris Teeter to a supermar ket company based in Boise Idaho said John Copeland president under stand how these rumors get started not interested in selling doing Industry analysts say Harris health may be helping fuel the rumors is one of the largest supermarket chains in the country with 811 stores in 19 states mostly on the West Coast Harris Teeter is much smaller than with just 135 stores But the Charlotte based chain has a national reputation for profit ability and customer loyalty Jonathan Ziegler an analyst with Salomon Bros in San rancisco (follows and frequently jhears rumors that the cufnpany is ipohn Copeland I i Ruddick Corp president going to buy Harris Tee ter needs an acquisition and Harris Teeter would be a great property for them to ac Ziegler said Ruddick shareholders would make a tidy profit if the company were sold said Cody McGarraugh an analyst with Scott Stringfellow in Richmond Va And the company would get a lot of cash which it could reinvest Ruth Kinzey a spokes woman for Harris Teeter said the company continues to grow A store just opened in Vir ginia Beach Va Unfounded rumors about the company have circulated for years she said Hr one point we were buying Winn she said one point they were buying That round of rumors got started when Winn Dixie managers held a regional meeting in Charlotte Kin zey said I The meeting had nothing to do with Harris Teeter aside from hap pening in hometown she said don't understand how these ru morsgetj started not in terested In selling I doing Aetna US Healthcare seeks space for Greensboro growth Aetna US Healthcare is looking for an additional 40000 square feet of office space in Greensboro to house a regional operations center a company spokes man said riday going to need the extra space because Greensboro has been chosen as one of six sites for our 'primary operation said Walt Cherniak the Aetna spokesman going to handle virtually all the claim processing provider payments and member work for the entire The health insurance provider currently has 115000 square feet spread over three separate locations in Greensboro It has 672 employees in the city Cherniak said it will be several months before Aetna officials will decide whether to build a new facility consolidate its Greensboro operations or lease the additional space It will also be several months he said before the company will know how many additional employees the new center will need see job growth in that Cherniak said all I can Meredith Barkley Most stocks rally some tech stocks down A volatile day on Wall Street ended with stocks mostly higher riday While the Dow Jones industrial average achieved its eighth straight record high many technology issues got hit with profit taking The Dow gained 3503 points to 634803 Advancing and declining issues were about even on the New York Stock Exchange where volume was a brisk 52662 million shares up from 47857 million on Thursday TRADING RIDAY Dow Jones industrial average CLOSE: 634803 CHANGE: 3503 Volume traded in UP UNCHANGED DOWN 1278 832 1206 SAP 500 Index A variety of com puter hardware and software issues which have been ris ing sharply lately on news of soaring prof its failed to re cover with the rest of the market Intel fell 4 to 115 Microsoft lost at 149 Modem maker US Robotics fell 1 to 66 73762 NYSE Index "39002 NASDAQ Composite Index 126180 UP: 856 However IBM gained 8 to 144 A Merrill Lynch analyst raised his 12 to 15 month price target for the stock to $195 Banks which bene fit from the current economic environment of low interest rates remained strong throughout the day with Republic Bank of New York up 2 to 82 leet inancial up 1 to 52 and Bankers Trust New York up 1 to 84 VimpelCom the first Russian firm to trade on the New York Stock Exchange debuted strongly The cellular phone company was offered at $2050 and rose to 29 Tune Warner buys cable ad firm Time Warner Cable has purchased Cable AdNet North Carolina absorbing the company that for sev eral years has sold cable television advertising for Time Warner officials for both companies said riday Cable AdNet has 117 full time employees in North Carolina including 20 at its Greensboro office on Albert Pick Road Its other North Carolina offices are in Raleigh Charlotte and ayetteville Officials for both companies declined to give the sales price Time Warner will take over the advertising sales company Dec 31 Patty Lumpkin Time vice president for marketing and public information in Greensboro said Cable jobs are safe our perspective be performing the same functions they have been performing for Time Warner for the past number of she said still have the same ad needs had in the Lumpkin said bringing the advertising function in house a lot of sense logistically and from a business for Time Warner Number of bank choices shrinks 0 After last $985 million deal between Southern National Corp and United Carolina Bancshares former customers of tiny Triad Bank find themselves dealing with the biggest bank By David Weidner Staff Writer Another buyout Another megabank Another prom ise that customers be giving up that service That was the message from the deal makers at Southern National Corp and United Carolina Banc shares last week when they announced a $985 million merger It all may be true yet another reality is becoming clear for banking customers in the Triad: Anyone looking to do business with a bank from now on open a checking account take out a loan for a new car or finance a major development will find there simply are fewer choices out there Once the merger is complete expected in June 1997 Guilford County will have 14 banks six fewer than it did in 1992 according to ederal Deposit Insurance Corp Customers also will have fewer people serving them About 1000 employees statewide will lose their jobs once the Southern National UCB merger is complete next summer 10 percent of the combined work force Though some of the cuts will come from bank manage ment many more will be service positions: tellers loan officers and clerks Perhaps no customers stand to be affected more from the UCB Southem National deal than former customers of Triad Bank Triad with assets of $133 million in 1995 was gobbled up by UCB in March in a buyout that eliminated the last Greensboro based bank The deal came as a surprise to Triad customers many of whom banked at Triad on the basis of its homespun slogan banking is better Triad customers were asked to stay on with UCB To entice them UCB chief executive Rhone Sasser prom ised a new range of services once they were integrated into the UCB system James Mims the chief executive and chairman of Triad said he would join UCB as regional executive and make it happen Together they promised that Triad customers would be in the UCB system by the end of September Instead by the time UCB announced its deal to sell to Southern National on Nov 4 Triad customers were still without new UCB account numbers and the ability to make ATM deposits and without many of the services promised at the time of the merger UCB has only installed three automatic teller ma chines in Greensboro Triad customers used to be able to use any ATM for free because Triad have any But a change in federal regulation now allows banks to charge Triad customers to use ATMs Most banks charge them between $1 and $2 per visit In addition UCB is now charging customers $125 per visit bringing what used to be a free service to as much as $325 per visit Part of the delay in integrating Triad customers into UCB according to officials was due to problems merging the two computer systems When the September deadline passed Sasser sent letters to Triad customers asking them to be patient Mims concedes that Triad customer still have UCB accounts nor are they able to use services available to UCB customers Still he says have had very little negative reaction to either the (Southern commercial name) or UCB merger announcements We feel that as a larger bank there are more products and services that would have not been available at Please see BANKS Page B9 vmwwwutimillw Associated Pr Bride to be Jud) 'ield 25 of Byfield Mass is assisted by her fiance Brian Lombara of Ipswich Mass as she tries on wedding dresses during llene's Basement wedding gown sale In Boston 11 'j Lk i 'XT i Mr 1 s1 I ft 5' dress sale brings out beast in brides'to be 0 Women grab armloads of dresses and jostle each other in the rush for a wedding gown bargain The Associated Press BOSTON A melee broke out among more than 200 half dressed brides to be in a downtown depart ment store riday Just as expected The Basement wedding gown sale has been a Boston tradi tion for nearly 50 years And com pared to this marriage should be easy told them just what they had to do: push their way through the door and grab all the dresses they said Ellen Abbott who entered the fray with her daughter Tara a friend who is also engaged and several gung ho members of their wedding parties The coaching paid off When the doors finally opened at 8 am after a big countdown Abbott and com pany snagged so many dresses that they actually handed some off to less aggressive shoppers People had begun lining up three hours early to buy dresses for $249 hundreds and thousands of dollars below regular price Some drove all night to be there hundred fifty bucks a dress? Come said Tara Abbott who plans to marry in 1998 She was slipping the umpteenth gown over her black leotard The price tag said $2000 The event which occurs several times a year has been a fixture at the Boston store since 1947 It also takes place in the Chicago Basement As store employees shouted Walk! the brides and their crews squeezed down a stairway into the basement store Then like reporters running for the only phone they broke into a brisk walk a trot and finally an all out charge with shouts of glee but no flying elbows 1 Dresses of all sizes were mixed together on the racks to prevent a few people from monopolizing one size As a result women ran to the nearest rack opened their arms wide and pulled off as many dresses as they could hoping to come up with something in the right size and the most flattering style All around women stripped down to leotards or bras and pant ies right in the aisles to try on gowns riends guarded piles of dresses and offered advice really said Emily Please see BRIDAL Page B9 Carmike's Circle 6 cinema closes down Even as it opened the largest movie theater complex in Greensboro this Halloween Carmike Cinemas Inc was quietly closing an older multiplex across town The company had said previously that it planned to keep the Circle 6 open in Carolina Circle Mall But it The Circle 6 has been closed since Halloween Carmike even removed the seats from the theaters making it more difficult for a new theater company to move in unemployment rate stays flat RALEIGH North seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged in October at 42 percent the state Employment Security Commis sion said The unemployment rate in October 1995 was 44 percent The state rate remains below the US rate which also was steady in October at 52 percent ESC economists consider 5 percent near full employment North economy added 28400 jobs in October said Parker Chesson state ESC chairman October we saw our second highest monthly jump in employment growth so far this Chesson said riday were created in many different sectors of the economy from trade to EARNINGS 'Xj Editek Inc Burlington reported losses for the third quarter and first nine months of the year despite increased revenue resulting from the acquisition of Medtox Laboratories Revenues increased more than 300 percent in the third quarter from $19 million to $68 million The company reported a net loss for the quarter of $24 million or 10 cents per share including a restructur ing charge of $11 million or 4 cents per share That compares to a net loss of $974000 or 10 cents per share for the same quarter in 1995 or the nine months ending Sept 30 the company reported revenues of $201 million up more than 300 percent from $56 million in 1995 Net loss for the nine month period was $44 million or 22 cents per share including restructuring charges of $19 million or 10 cents per share That compares to a net loss of $28 nffllion or 28 cents per share for the first nine months of 1995 TRADING RIDAY.