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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 30, 1995                   TAG: 9506300048
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LOCAL OFFICE SOLD

Ferguson, Andrews & Associates on Thursday sold its last office - its Roanoke headquarters - to Davenport & Co. of Virginia Inc., a Richmond-based securities brokerage.

The office at 101 S. Jefferson St. began operating under the Davenport name at 12:15 p.m. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Forrest T. Miles, who was manager in Roanoke for Ferguson, will stay on to manage the Davenport office with the title of associate vice president. T. Michael Smith, who had been president of Ferguson, will join Davenport as vice president.

In all, Davenport hired eight Ferguson account executives and office workers for its new Roanoke location. It becomes Davenport's 12th branch office, all of which are in Virginia.

Davenport's purchase of the Roanoke office comes as something of a surprise. When Davenport took over Ferguson's Lynchburg office June 21, Coleman Wortham III, Davenport's chief executive officer, said the company was not negotiating for the Roanoke operation.

``We recently purchased a Lynchburg office as part of our strategic expansion plan, and this Roanoke addition is a natural fit in those expansion efforts, as well," Wortham said in a statement Thursday.

Ferguson also recently sold its Bristol office to J.C. Bradford & Co. of Nashville, Tenn., and has closed offices in Richmond, Charlottesville and Northern Virginia.

As recently as February, Ferguson had plans to triple its size by buying Anderson & Strudwick Inc., a larger Richmond brokerage. At the time, Ferguson had 51 employees and 5,000 clients. That deal was called off in March after the two firms said they were unable to agree on several matters, including warranties of some investments. By May, Ferguson had begun selling branch offices to other firms.

Ferguson opened for business in May 1992 as a securities brokerage and investment bank intending to operate in Virginia's small cities with more personalized services than those offered by national firms. The firm's founders said they expected to expand into Richmond and Northern Virginia within three years.

Davenport & Co., a member of the New York Stock Exchange, has been in the investment business since 1863.

by CNB