Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 24, 1992                   TAG: 9203240128
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

REPORTED EARNINGS

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia, a Richmond-based health insurer with operations in Roanoke, reported Monday its 1991 earnings reached $75.4 million, up 29 percent from $58.4 million the prior year.

Net assets rose 8 percent from $869.6 million in 1990 to $939.9 million last year.

Last year's earnings represented 3.8 percent of premium revenue, which was $2 billion for the year.

The number of policies in force fell from 983,053 at the end of 1990 to 964,304 at the end of last year.

Blue Cross said it ended the year with reserves to pay 2.17 months worth of claims and operating costs. This was a 17 percent improvement over year-end 1990 reserves of 1.85 months.

Chairman Norwood Davis said the company's goal is to build reserves to a range of 2.5 to three months by 1995.

Rowe Furniture

Rowe Furniture Corp. of Salem on Monday reported a $54,000 loss for its first quarter ended March 1, an improvement over a loss of $250,000 for the corresponding period a year ago. The loss per common stock share was 2 cents compared with 10 cents a year ago.

Rowe's shipments or revenues rose 8.6 percent to $16.7 million compared with $15.4 million a year earlier.