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

DATE: FRIDAY, February 26, 1993                   TAG: 9302260176
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

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BRIEFLY . . .

Newport News Shipbuilding, Virginia's largest private employer, said Thursday it has agreed with the Japanese shipyard Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. Ltd. on terms of a license that will allow the Newport News yard to build technologically advanced liquefied natural gas tankers. The agreement will allow the shipyard to build tankers using a containment system experts think provides better safety and construction efficiency.

\ Piedmont BankGroup Inc. has increased its quarterly dividend from 15 cents to 18 cents a share, payable March 31 to shareholders on March 16. The company, based in Martinsville, last increased its dividend in September, by 2 cents.

\ Caterpillar Inc., Peoria, Ill.-based parent of Carter Machinery Co. of Salem, and several of its dealers charged the United Auto Workers on Thursday with illegally picketing several Cat dealerships over the past four months. The charge filed Wednesday with the National Labor Relations Board in Peoria accuses the UAW of attempting to involve neutral third-party dealerships in the dispute between the UAW and Caterpillar.

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