Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 4, 1993 TAG: 9302040090
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN BUSINESS
Bank of Japan may cut its discount rateTOKYO - The Bank of Japan is planning to cut its official discount rate Thursday by 0.75 percentage points to match the rate's historic low of 2.5 percent, Japanese media reported Wednesday.
Several of Japan's trading partners, including the United States, have called on Japan to take steps to stimulate domestic demand as a way to boost imports and help correct its ballooning trade surplus.
The official discount rate is the interest the central bank charges on loans to commercial banks. It influences many other interest rates.
A Bank of Japan official declined to comment on the reports. - Associated Press
NS says coal strike would hurt railroad
NORFOLK - The head of Norfolk Southern Corp. says a spreading coal strike would have a severe effect on his company.
"Any disruption of production in the coal areas is going to have an effect on us," NS Chairman David R. Goode said Tuesday at a meeting of the Hampton Roads Maritime Association.
Union miners have set up pickets in a selective strike against subsidiaries of Peabody Holding Co., the nation's largest coal producer.
The strike involves about 7,000 miners in five states. - Associated Press
Best merges staff, closes office space
RICHMOND - Best Products Co. Inc. is consolidating its office staff and closing a major portion of its Henrico County headquarters. The catalog-showroom retailer is shutting 66,000 square feet of the 300,000 square feet of office space in its building off Interstate 95 north of Richmond.
The company has cut its headquarters staff from 1,100 in 1988 to about 700. During that time, the chain cut its stores from 227 to 168.
Spokesman Ross Richardson said Best will start seeking a new tenant for the building. - Associated Press
NationsBank plans 4 regional centers
RICHMOND - NationsBank said it plans to put a regional customer service center in suburban Richmond that eventually will employ more than 300 people.
Charlotte, N.C.-based NationsBank said the Henrico County center will begin operations late this year or early next year. It will be part of a customer network that also includes centers in Charlotte, N.C.;Dallas; and Tampa, Fla.
NationsBank will consolidate its seven existing centers into the four locations. - Associated Press
Va. Power's budget $211 million smaller
RICHMOND - Virginia Power cut $211 million from its budget in 1992 and finished the year with its smallest work force in more than a decade, the utility said Tuesday.
Virginia Power pared $145 million from its $847 million capital improvements budget and $66 million from its $824 million operations and maintenance budget. The utility's total budget for the year was $2.9 billion.
Employment was cut more than 500, mainly through an early retirement package. The company's year-end employment of 12,122 was the lowest since 1981.
Virginia Power serves more than 1.8 million customers within a 30,000-square-mile area of Virginia and northeastern North Carolina, including portions of Alleghany, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt and Rockbridge counties. - Associated Press