Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 16

I a Business eini- today's news of business, finance jJUI and the auto industry 1925 STUPESAKER fit ISIS. i 6 Ct-5. 554 CO. IhS. 15 hOEPOWEC? 4..

7.30 SO' JiRiA GtA 5 '-flv I 3 lie Real Swingers Are OTC Stocks 127 WHFELBASE. T.SC WHEELS mo 4-WHEEL BRAKES COST 75. RJ US CuKiNO BAD ticAM 12 (wmts miiionv bcxkwt these rot CUBS FOQlVEm SWEftF OFFICES ANP IH ABiiCW ONS CAR IN EVEBV SOiI WAS STUCSBAKB 4 (7 prices under $5 a share and almost none will touch a stock selling for less than $2 a share. OTC Securities Review observed that 80 percent of the more than 1,300 biggest winners last year sold fr less than $10 a share at the beginning of the year. Of the 52 stock3 rising at least 1,000 percent, only eight started the year at $1 or more a share, only four at $2 or over and none over $5 a share.

'31 -fif "grOOCBAKEB TOIVFO'q QllB' JN "IV iSs all 5UireBKett Fan9 iri- 'I IF INTERESTED TO SK AUTO ALBUM AT THIS HKWBMPRA "50 in 1962, two disastrous market years. The biggest winner last year, according to OTC Securities Review's survey of 8,300 actively traded unlisted stocks, was Diverso a little known Montgomery (Ala.) concern which the magazine describes as "formerly in the swimming-pool business." Di-verco's chief asset, it said, was a $1,250,000 tax-loss carry forward. Diverco rose from 1 cent a share to $2.12 for an incredible 21,100 percent gain: a $100 "investment" in Diverco at the end of 1967 would have ballooned to $21,200 by the end of 1968. OBVIOUSLY, the odds against selecting a huge winner are enormous. And even if you thought you had one, you would find it difficult to locate a broker willing to execute a purchase order for it.

Lawrence N. Marr, market columnist and broker with Burton J. Vincent Si observed that most brokerage houses will no longer handle purchases of OTC stock at FY DICK GRIFFIN Fre Prcsi-CMcoM Dolly Now Servico There's no question where the real stock market swingers are. Witness More than 1,300 over the counter issues rose 50 percent or more in 1968. No more than half that number on the New York and American Stock Exchanges climbed 50 percent or more last year, even though listed trading is much heavier.

Fifty-two unlisted issues soared 1,000 percent or more last year. Only one listed security did so: warrants of First National Realty Construction on the American Exchange, up 1,014.3 percent. In 1967, there were Go OTC stocks that gained 1,000 percent or more; 3 in 1966; 9 in 1965; and 11 in 1964. If huge profits are possible in OTC stocks, shocking losses are also more possible than with listed stocks. Witness: Ninety-seven actively traded unlisted stocks slumped 50 percent or more during 1968.

Only two stocks listed on the Following are the biggest over-the-counter winners and actively traded OTC stocks. Reprinted with permission of Over-the-Counter Securities Review, Jenkintown, Pa. Mtotfl off the ticker The magazine's list, of big losers shows that low-priced stocks can record huge losses just as easily as high-priced issues. Seventeen of the 97 biggest losers started the year at less than $1 a share and fell as much as 87 percent. The list includes one 50-cent stock that fell to 25 cents (down 50 percent), a nickel stock that fell to 2 cents (down 60 percent) and an 8-cent stock that dropped to a penny (down 87 percent).

ONE IN A SERIES Winners in 1968 Bid Trices Percent 1268 123168 Gain Diverco Inc. $0.01 $2.12 21,100 Commercial International 0.01 0.88 8,700 Amer Intl Development Corp. 0.12 8.00 6,537 B. M. Harrison Electrosonics 0.05 3.25 6,400 BMC Industries 0.01 0.63 6,200 Electronic Transistors Corp.

0.50 16.00 3,100 Metropolitan Communications 0.10 3.00 2,900 Imperial Packing Corp. 0.18 5.25 Duquesne Natural Gas Corp. 0.20 5.00 2,400 Admiral Homes (from 5 cents to Marrud Inc. (10 cents to $2.50) and Vista Petroleum (2 cents to 50 cents), up 2,400 each, tied for 10th. Losers in 1968 Bid Prices Percent i 1268 123168 Decline Tiarco Corp.

$3 00 $0.10 97 Micronetie Corp. 5.00 0.50 90 Trout Mining Co. 3.50 0.38 89 Automobile Banking 5.00 0.63 88 General Utilities Inc. 0.08 0.01 87 Alcar Instruments Inc. 2.75 0.38 87 Marco Electronics 39.00 5.50 86 Crosby Teletronics 1.75 0.25 86 Computer Power IntL 26.50 5.00 82 Phoenix Gems 2.75 0.50 82 Sen.

Hart Lashes Out At Conglomeration Race New York Stock Exchange and two on the American fell that far. LAST YEAR was a record-breaker for big winners over the counter, according to the authoritative over-the-counter securities review magazine. The 1,318 OTC stocks rising at least 50 percent exceeded the previous record of 1,169, set in 1967, and was more than double the 1965 figure of 623 issues. "The results are statistical proof that 1968, like 1967, was another 'year of the great speculation'," the magazine said. "It goes almost without saying that back-to-back years like 1967 and 1968 are unparalleled in the history of the OTC market and explain in good meausre the expanding investor interest both professional and amateur in that market." The year's 97 storks losing 50 percent or more compares with just 11 In 1967, according to the OTC securities Review.

Last year's losers, however, were far behind the 313 big losers in 1966 and the record the plans of the conglomerate, "At stake for (this system) is its growth, Indeed perhaps its existence," he said. Drawing a distinction between the movement of conglomerates into the insurance industry and Into other fields, Hart said that policy holders also have reason to be nervous. THE ORDINARY corporation is in business to maximize re- stockholders and to its policy holders. "What conglomerate managers interpret as conservative investment policies or excessive reserving may be instead only sound management decisions to protect policy holders against unusual contingencies," he warned. Hart, who is chairman of the Senate antitrust and monopoly subcommittee, said most regulators have not ye begun to explore where the policy holder can look for protection under a conglomerate management.

"My fear is that by the time the states and the Federal government get around to assessing what the conglomerate ing what Urn conglomerate! BY TOM KLEENE Free Prist Automotive Writer Michigan Sen. Philip A. Hart Friday lashed out at the poten tial impact of "the present race toward conglomeration" on the insurance industry, the inde pendent agency system and policy holders. Hart told the Independent In surance Agents of Aiicnigan that substantial insurance com panies with their pools of in vestment and income and for its stockholders, he attractive cash flow are "sitting. said but tne insurance company ducks (for the) earnings-hun-i113 a dual responsibility to its gry conglomerates." "WHAT'S GOOD for the in surance Industry is not ncces.

sarlly good for the conglomer ate," he said. "The conglomer ate operates in fy many markets, and it may want different com panies for dif ferent purposes. The conglomer ate may want a Insurance company not be cause it wants to be in the in Sen. Hart because surance business, but this fits into the overall market ing and financial picture of the parent company." Hart raised the question of whether the independent fi.f to Inc. of Paterson, N.J.

Based a snare lor Avis stock on the American Exchange, the transaction is worth approximately $647,000. At the time it was an nounced Jan. 16 Avis was quoted at $12.50. If Auk's forecast of a return to profitable operations proves correct, It would be Avis' first profitable quarter since the first period of 1967 when It netted $16,600 on $7,184,000 sales. Last year the company showed a first quarter loss of $91, 000 on $7,361,000 sales.

Ault said the company's 1968 sales "were about the same" as the $28.9 million reported for 1967 when its loss totaled WA BRUCE, M. ROCKWELL, vice president of the First of Michigan has been elected to the 19-man board of directors of North American Rockwell Corp. Bank Plans Sale of Shares Peoples Bank of Port Huron Friday proposed sale of 30,000 shares at $33 each to present stockholders to increase its capital. President Walter F. Finan said a special meeting has been called for March 18 to vote on the proposal.

The shares would be issued on the basis of one share for each 10 shares pres ently held. Lincoln-Mercury Lincoln-Mercury sales in the Detroit district in January were the highest in the com. pany's history for the month. Sales were 2,377, surpassing the January, 1965, record of 2,329. Mercury sales are up 28 percent over a year ago.

Pleas allow three weeks for delivery. copies of the Detroit Portfolio at 1 .25 each. money order. tip. Armour Co.

management elected only two of its four nomi- nees for director at its annual meeting. General Host Corp. elected its four nominees to the Armour board on the strength of its 57 percent holding of Armour common. The four were Edwin C. McDonald, chairman of Thomson Newspapers Harris J.

Ashton, General Host president; Richard C. Pistell, General Host chairman, and William F. Downey, General Host secretary and counsel. All are General Host directors. Greyhound meanwhile, said it plans to hold its 33 percent of Armour stock "indefinitely." Dow Jonas Newi Strvict Lumber Prices in the Pacific Northwest have been driven to new highs by strong demand and a critically tight raw log cupply in some areas.

A growing shortage of railroad boxcars for transport has added to the pressure. Prices for random-length green Douglas fir 2-by-4s are currently $132 a thousand board feet, substantially above the $109 of mid-January and the $86 of a year ago. Quarter-inch sanded interior grade plywood is currently $144 a thousand, up from $122 in mid-January and $75 a year ago. Dow Jonet Newi Servico Evidence that Volkswagenwerke AG intends to take over NSU Motorenwerke AG mounted when NSU announced suspension of production of a medium-range car. The auto, the 1.6-liter K70, would have been in direct competition with the Audi, which is produced by a VW subsidiary, Auto Union.

VW and NSU are holding talks on a form of cooperation. NSU produced 135,000 automobiles last year. It also makes motorcycles and holds the rights to the Wankel rotary engine. A takeover of NSU by Germany's largest automaker would be another step in the concentration taking place in the European auto industry. -Dow Jones Niwi Servico Price Changes The Maxwell House division of General Foods Corp.

has made selective price increases of about 3 percent on instant Maxwell House, instant de-caffeinated Sanka, instant Yuban, freeze-dried Maxim and freeze-dried Sanka coffees Xerox Corp. set a sale price of $10,000 on its Model 720 copier, previously available only by rental. Xerox also lowered prices on its Model 914 and Model 813 to $8,000 and $2,650, respectively St. Regis Paper Co. announced an 11 percent price increase on gummed box tape, effective March 10.

roo Press Wire Sorvicot Volvo Inc. announced plans for a five-year, $250 million expansion of its car manufacturing facilities. The Swedish company plans to double its export capacity, with total capacity to rise to 275,000 by 1975 and 400,000 by 1980. United Preji International Mergers, Acquisitions Iowa Beef Packers Inc. said the Justice Department has indicated its opposition to the planned purchase of Blue Ribbon Beef Tack Inc.

Kaiser Aluminum And Chemical Corp. has agreed with Preussag Ak-tiengeseilschaft, a German lead and zinc producer, to form a new company to produce aluminum in West Germany Emerson Electric Co. has agreed to exchange a maximum of 736,000 shares for Fisher Radio making the transaction worth about $75 million A formal agreement for the merger of Norwich I'harmacal Co. and Morton International Inc. has been approved by directors U.S.

Industries Inc. has acquired Universal Guardian Acceptance Corp. of Los Angeles Lionel Corp. has acquired Bernard! Bros. a privately held maker of auto wash equipment Shareholders of International Industries Inc.

and Champlain National Corp. have approved the merger of Champlain into International CNA Financial Corp. has agreed to buy Kane Financial Corp. for about $10.4 million in stock Whittaker Corp. has acquired Aircraft Hydro-Forming a privately held maker of aerospace components, for stock.

Free Prass Business Wires movement Is going to mean 7,1 A I onu the Insurance industry, it will If October -by Sitkin Smelting Refining Co. of Which President of the United States made this quotation famous? Sees 8 Pet. Rise In Dow 969 Sales BY JOHN ItEITElt Free Presi Busineu Writer Dow Chemical sales in 1969 should rise "about then have," he said. ACKNOWLEDGING that he has no effective solutions to be applied to his trend, Hart complained that the individual is being sacrificed "to what some believe is the corporation lm perative" in all segments of so ciety. He said that two-thirds of the nation's manufacturing capacity is in the hands of 200 corporations and that this rate of concentration is constantly accelerating.

Urging immediate corrective measures to reverse this trend, he asked his audience: "Do we want to wait until two-thirds of this capacity is in the hands of 100 corporations?" Division Forms Board George D. Clayton Associates Inc. of Detroit Friday announc ed formation of a board of directors and said It plans to expand its pollution control consulting and engineering activities. 7 Lewiaton, and is now a Sitkin division. George D.

Clayton, president, said the company also is seeking a location for a laboratory in which to conduct pollution analysis. The company's activities include services in the air and water pollution, industrial hygiene, food and drug, radia tion, solid waste and sound abatement areas. The company's new board includes Gleinn H. Friedt, Lawrence Polkowskl, Jack M. Abramson, Lewis Sitkin, Mil lard F.

Smith, and Clyde Berry. Dividends Declared Alberts Inc. Initail dividend of 6 cents a share payable March Worts Ltd. Quarterly 30 cents (Canadian) a share payable April 15 to record March 14. USUAL .40 Amr Suasr 11 4-1 3-10 3-15 3-17 Armour Co.

Electrograohic Cp. Florida Got S.40 .25 .10 3-21 3-5 3-4 Toronto Stocks Most Active INDUSTRIALS Stock Volume Hardee 34,817 New Pruduco 24,975 Cdn Curtiss 24,275 Toronmont 21,550 Van Ness 18,125 Revenue Pr. 14,140 Cacti. Bldg. 14,700 Clalrtnne 13,604 Crestbrook 11,295 Int.

Comm. DKc. 10,356 MINES AND OILS Ten-Sol 155,80 McAdam 103.S50 St. Fabien 102,878 Closo 2.10 2.45 2.00 3.45 50 17.75 7.75 2.30 15.50 4.55 .60 1.70 .39 cnestville 76.500 Ana. Un.

Don. 09,450 lis Other Trading INDUSTRIALS Stock Abitibl Brazilian Brinco Can Brew Cdn Imp Bk Con Gas Dom Stores Oofasco Falconbridoo Home Oil A ImoOII Closo stock 10 25 Inter Pics 17.25 LeLur 5.3 Wassey Foro 9 63 Noranda 20 50 Stelco 19 00 Tor Dom Bk 14.75 Traders A 24.25 Trans Cdn 118 50 Union Gas 40 00 Walkers 19 88 Weston A Closo 19.50 11.50 22.88 32.75 26.63 20.25 10.73 40.50 15.50 42.13 16.38 Intl Nickel MINES AND OILS Denlson 69.25 Mclntvro Dome 82 00 Ooemislta XD Hollinoer 32.00 Rio Aloom Hud Bay Oil 82.00 Sherritt Kerr Add 18 00 Steeo Rock Labrador 35.50 United Asb Wall I ake 15 95 124 00 05 26 25 11.63 7 00 7.75 Total Sales: 3,799,000 shares. Courtesy of Goodwin Harris and Windsor, Ont. "Public opinion is the most potent monarch this world knows today." HINTS: He was the fourth president who was born in Ohio. An attorney when elected, ha was also the grandson of a former president.

eight percent" from, last year's $1.65 billion, Carl A. Ger- stacker, chairman of the board of Dow, said in Detroit he said, and the percentage will rise this year. GERSTACKER SAID Dow may soon shut down some of Friday. Dow's Increase in earnings in 1969 will be more than the "two or three percent" gain recorded last year when the company earned $136 million, or $4.51 a share, he said. "We're committed to a 10 per cent per year earnings in- Comsat Asks Price Cut WASHINGTON (UPI) -Communications Satellite Corp.

(Comsat) has asked govern ment permission to reduce by about 40 percent its rates for television service for the Pacific area. The application filed with the Federal Communications Com mission also proposed elimina tion of extra charges for beam ing color television signals via satellite. THE CORPORATION said in a statement the rate reductions were expected to attract suffi cient new programming to keep revenues at least at their pre seit levels. The proposed rate reductions would be along the lines of those which went Into effect for the Atlantic area Feb. 1, the statement said.

Comsat said the reductions were made possible by the placement of advanced Intelstat III satellites over both oceans. Affected would be television programs between the Amer lean mainland and Hawaii, and among those two points and Aus tralia, Japan, the Philippines and Thailand. An example of the cuts is this one for mainland-Hawaii pro grams Where it now costs $750 for the first 10 minutes of transmission of black and white and $937.40 for color, and $21 and $26 re spectively for each additional minute, the new rate for both would be $440 for the first 10 minutes and $12.50 per addi tional minute. Cleveland-Cliffs To Hold Price Line Cleveland-Cliffs Iron which operates iron mines in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Thursday announced it will hold the line on prices this year because of competition in the iron ore market. Cleveland-Cliffs cited competi tive pressures from both domestic and foreign sources as the main reason for holding iron ore pellet prices at the same level that has been maintained for the last eight years.

Anton Buys Plant Anton a manufacturer of auto enthusiasts apparel, has bought a 20,000 spare-foot plant in Hillsdale. Anton's investment in the plant, which will employ 47 people initially will total about 585,000, President William Anton said. These will be new reports not eutdattd reprints. Yob will receive these 103 reports at the same time is our regular subscribers-in your first of lour wtekly editions of full Value Line service for $5. Send check or money order with name, tddress and zip code together with this ad to: The Value Line Investment Survey, Dept jR.45 5 E.

44th St, NYC 10017 (New Stjfcscrfccr Oatr) its Bay City operations to record March 10. the federal government grants! Hiram Walker Gooderham 4 crease" as a long-range aver-'port You can find out in a jiffy. Just send 1 .25 for your Free Press Presidential Portfolio today. Included in the portfolio is a list of Famous Quotations of the Presidents, a Presidential Fact-Finding Wheel, a replica of the Declaration of Independence, and 36 elegant 9x12 inch portraits of the presidents ready for framing. the company's request to im cheap foreign naphtha into a free trade sub-zone there.

About 500 employes would be affected by the shutdown, Gerstacker said. He said certain raw materials cost Dow 50 percent more in Bay City than they would In Europe. About 75 percent of the crude feedstock used at Bay City comes from Canada. The remaining 25 percent comes from Michigan. Dow has said it would continue to buy this amount in Michigan if an oil import license were granted, Gerstacker said he hopes chemical prices will halt their downward trend this year.

He said prices fell an average five percent last year, and has annual sales exceeding $1 million, Ault said. Related companies include Gustav Glaser also of Paterson, a maker of stainless steel commercial baking equipment, and Aerospace Components a Los Angeles producer of space and aircraft filters. Ultradynamlcs also has entered Into a "conditional agreement" to buy 80 percent of the shares held In Avis by Warren Avis, who stepped down last month as chairman but remains a director. Avis as of last April owned 253,000 of the company's 572,000 outstanding shares, or roughly 45 percent. Ultradynamlcs also has an option to buy the remainder of Avis' shares.

Avis Industrial Reports Loss age, he said. CAPITAL expenditures are pegged at $300 million this year but could go higher despite the high cost of money, Gerstacker said. "Our people wanted to spend $350 million this year," he said. "In 1968 we planned to spend $250 million and ended up spend ing $306 million." Even with the extra spending, he noted, "we still have a shortage of many products. We have customers on allocation.

We haven't been able to supply all they need." About 25 percent of Dow's 1968 capital expenditures were made outside the United States, An estimated $1.6 million of he 1968 loss stemmed from the company's Production Cold Forming Division in Lansing which was recently closed down, Ault said. Another $900,000 relates to "special non-recurring writeoffs which were absorbed in 1968." AULT SAID these writeoffs "represent the maximum expected" and that the total $2.7 million loss possibly will be reduced by tax credits from prior years when the final audited figures are released about March 25. Ultradynamlcs makes water purification equipment for industrial and commercial uses Presidential Portfolio Detroit Free Press P. O. Box 1 Detroit, Michigan 48232 i Pleas mail Free Press Presidential I am encloiinq a check Nflme.

Addrei City -Stat. or Avis Industrial Corp. of Madi-iics son Heignts naay issued a recent closing price of $13 preliminary report snowing a loss of $2.7 million for 1968. President Thomas J. Ault pre dicted that the company would return to the black in the current quarter ending March 31, however.

AVIS ALSO announced com pletion of a previously announced plan to sell 49,744 treasury shares to Ultradynam Earnings AG3I Industries Six Month Doe. 11 mi Mil Copies are also available in the Public Service Office of the Free Press Building. Detroit tfmtyuss the acton paper SKM33 thoro centi hot Income Solo ,4,771.