ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 1997 TAG: 9701210090
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
IBM to announce results later in day
NEW YORK - IBM will break with tradition today and announce its fourth-quarter results after the stock market closes, rather than before it opens.
A spokesman for IBM said that the company had made the change at the request of analysts who sought more time to write their reports without being distracted by daily trading. But several analysts said that IBM was hoping to avoid the heavy swings in its stock price that have accompanied its earnings announcements in recent quarters.
As IBM is one of the 30 component stocks in the Dow Jones industrial average, its share price can have a significant impact on the market. This has happened particularly in recent months, as the company's shares have been soaring.
Today's earnings will be watched carefully by investors who have bid up IBM shares 30 percent since the company last posted earnings in October.
- The New York Times
Harris Teeter says sales are up
Harris Teeter Inc., a Charlotte, N.C.-based supermarket chain with stores in Western Virginia, Monday reported sales for its first quarter ended Dec. 31 of $486.7 million, up 5.2 percent from $462.6 million in the year-earlier comparable quarter.
Sales at stores operating a full year were up 2.5 percent. At the end of the first quarter, 133 stores were in operation, compared with 138 in the prior year. Harris Teeter is a subsidiary of Ruddick Corp.
- Associated Press
UPS plans new Tennessee plant
MEMPHIS, Tenn. - United Parcel Service announced plans Monday for a $59 million package-sorting center in Memphis.
UPS said the company expects to sign a lease next week with the Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority for an 84-acre tract at Memphis International Airport.
The 535,000-square-foot center, expected to open in November 1998, will process more than 250,000 packages and documents a day, UPS said. The company operates a similar sorting hub in Roanoke.
Memphis is the headquarters of UPS rival Federal Express.
- Associated Press
Coal production jumps 2 percent
CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Domestic coal production rose 2 percent to 20.3 million tons during the week ended Jan. 11 from 19.8 million tons the week before, the Department of Energy said Monday.
The U.S. coal industry produced 16.7 million tons in the same week last year.
Virginia mines produced 544,000 tons during the survey week, down from 658,000 tons the previous week but up from 453,000 tons in the corresponding week of 1996.
Domestic coal production so far this year is 32 million tons, 7.5 percent ahead of last year.
The week's production accounts for bituminous and lignite coal.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 65 linesby CNB