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

DATE: SATURDAY, May 14, 1994                   TAG: 9405160132
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

REPORTED EARNINGS

Ben Franklin Retail Stores Inc., Carol Stream, Ill., operator and franchiser of craft and variety stores, reported net income of $5.7 million, or $1.02 per share, for its fiscal year ended March 31. The results included an $8 million gain for an accounting change and compare with net income of $3.1 million, or 56 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales for the just-completed year were $337.9 million, down from $346.2 million a year earlier.

Dibrell Brothers

Dibrell Brothers Inc., Danville processor and distributor of leaf tobacco and fresh flowers, reported net income of $2.5 million, or 19 cents per share, for its third quarter ended March 31, compared with the previous year's $7.0 million, or 52 cents per share. Sales for the quarter were $251.6 million, down from $259.5 million a year earlier.

Lowe's Companies

Lowe's Cos. Inc., North Wilkesboro, N.C.-based building supply and home improvement retailer with operations in the Roanoke Valley, reported net earnings of $51.8 million, or 35 cents per share, for its first quarter ended April 30. That compares with $29.4 million, or 20 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales for the quarter were $1.39 billion, up from $992.1 million a year ago.

Pulaski Furniture

Pulaski Furniture Co. reported net income of $1.6 million, or 69 cents per share, for the first half of its fiscal year, ended April 17, up from $1.1 million, or 49 cents, a year earlier. Sales for the half were $65 million compared with $60.1 million a year earlier. In its second quarter, Pulaski reported earnings of $877,000, or 30 cents per share, up from $683,000, or 24 cents a share, a year earlier. Sales were $32.9 million compared with $30.5 million in the 1993 second quarter.

Unilever

Unilever, the Anglo-Dutch parent of Elizabeth Arden Co.'s operations in Roanoke, reported a net profit of $440 million for its first quarter, or $1.57 per share, up from $437 million, or $1.56 a share, a year earlier, assuming constant currency exchange rates. Revenues totaled $10.05 billion in the quarter, a 4 percent increase over $9.68 billion a year earlier.