Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170096
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
IN BUSINESS
Study says upturn should last till 1995The economic recovery should last at least until the spring of 1995, according to a new study by Columbia University's Center for International Business Cycle Research.
The center studied the effect of banks' prime lending rate on the economic expansion between March 1991 and January 1992. Comparing this to eight previous expansions since 1954, it predicted with 98.8 percent certainty that even if the prime rate were to begin rising, the recovery would last at least another two years.
And if the prime rate stays low, the expansion should last even longer, said Victor Zarnowitz, an economist at the University of Chicago, who works with the center.
The expansion began in March 1991, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research. By spring 1995 it would be 4 years old, about average for a business cycle in this century.
The center found a strong correlation between the length of an expansion and the movement of the prime rate during the beginning of the expansion. Moreover, the longer the prime rate remains flat or declines after an expansion has started, the longer the expansion is likely to be. - Orlando Sentinel
Top hotel franchiser buys Super 8 chain
ABERDEEN, S.D. - The largest hotel franchise company in the world has bought the Super 8 Motel chain for $125 million in cash, the two companies said Tuesday.
Hospitality Franchise Systems Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has 2,500 properties in the Days Inn, Ramada and Howard Johnson chains, HFS said. Super 8 will add 1,000 hotels to the operation. Last year Super 8 took in $34 million in franchise revenues and had before-tax earnings of $15.4 million, HFS said.
No real estate changed hands. The original Super 8 company, headquartered in Aberdeen, owns 48 motels. - Associated Press
Cattle on increase, sheep decline in Va.
There are more cattle and fewer sheep in Virginia this year than last, the state Agricultural Statistics Service says.
Cattle numbers were up 2 percent on Jan. 1 from a year earlier, to 1.78 million head or more than $1 billion worth, the service said. It was the fourth consecutive yearly gain since 1989, when the state had 1.67 million head. Nationwide, cattle numbers were up 1 percent to 100.9 million head.
Sheep numbers, however, were down 15 percent in Virginia to 122,000, the lowest figure since 1985. The service said low lamb and wool prices and losses due to dogs and coyotes have discouraged many producers. - Staff report
Briefly . . .
\ First Union Corp., Charlotte, N.C., banking company proposing to acquire Dominion Bankshares Corp., on Tuesday declared a quarterly cash dividend of 35 cents per share on its common stock, to be paid March 15 to shareholders on Feb. 26.
\ Bowater Plc., a British industrial conglomerate, said Tuesday it has agreed to buy Richmond-based Specialty Coatings International Inc. in a cash and stock deal worth $434 million. SCI is a precision coater of specialist films and papers that operates in the United States, Britain and Ireland.
\ Circuit City Stores Inc., Richmond-based consumer electronics retailer, Tuesday declared a two-for-one split of its outstanding common stock. Stockholders of record on Feb. 26 will receive certificates representing the new shares on March 19. Circuit City also increased the quarterly cash dividend on the presplit shares from 3 cents per share to 4 cents, applicable with the next quarterly declaration.