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

DATE: FRIDAY, December 2, 1994                   TAG: 9412020045
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

Charter Federal Savings Bank said Thursday it has completed the sale of its Danville branch to Co-operative Savings Bank of Lynchburg.

The sale includes deposits of about $41.2 million. Charter retained some loans associated with the branch.

The transaction, which will result in a pretax gain of about $2.4 million, follows Bristol-based Charter's strategy of concentrating its banking activities along the Interstate 81/Interstate 40 corridor between Knoxville, Tenn., and Roanoke. The bank said it will proceed with expansion in that area.

-Staff report

Briefly ...

Grachan & Burke, a Lynchburg accounting firm, has opened an office at 114 E. Main St. in Bedford. The office will provide accounting, income tax and consulting services to businesses and individuals.

Con-Way Transportion Services, a Menlo Park, Calif., freight trucking company with operations in Roanoke, has combined its Con-Way Southern Express and Con-Way Southwest Express into a single regional carrier. The two regional carriers together have 3,800 employees; 6,270 trucks, tractors and trailers; and 101 service centers.

Cybermotion Inc., Salem manufacturer of mobile robots for security and nuclear monitoring, said it has received a $456,488 contract from the U.S. Army's physical security equipment office. It is the third of three government-related contracts, worth more than $1 million, that the company has received this year.

Procter & Gamble Co. auctioned its 21-acre peanut butter plant in Portsmouth on Wednesday for less than a quarter of its assessed value. The winning bid of $460,000 was submitted by Langley Corp., a Tennessee real estate investor. Tax records show the property is valued at $1.8 million.