ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 26, 1997 TAG: 9703260060
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF THE ROANOKE TIMES
The trucking company works in combination with a Shorewood Packaging Corp. plant in Roanoke.
Shorewood Transport Inc. sent notices to its 90 Roanoke employees Tuesday that the local plant will close in 60 days, according to an executive vice president of its parent company in New York City.
Howard Liebman, who is also chief financial officer of Shorewood Packaging Corp. in New York, said notices were sent under a federal law that requires companies to give at least two months notice about plant closings.
The company will "notify Wall Street" about the Roanoke facility's closing today, Liebman said, presumably meaning it will file a notice with the public company's shareholders of a likely charge against future earnings.
Liebman said earlier this month that the parent company was studying how Shorewood Transport Inc. fit into the packaging company's future. He said then that Shorewood hadn't decided whether to sell the trucking company, shrink it or enlarge it, but that it made sense to sell it as a going concern.
Sherwood Transport employs about 90 people, more than 70 of them as truck drivers, at a plant on Mary Linda Avenue in Statesman Industrial Park in Northeast Roanoke.
The trucking company is affiliated with a packaging plant which also is in the industrial park. Shorewood Packaging makes high-quality folding cartons for consumer products, including tobacco products, cosmetics and compact discs.
Liebman declined to discuss the situation further in advance of today's public announcement and made no mention of any effect on the packaging plant.
Liebman's comments came late Tuesday.
Shorewood Packaging has reported earnings of $4.86 million for its third quarter which ended Feb. 1, representing an increase of 100 percent over the same period last year. Sales for the quarter were $99.35 million, compared with $93.1 million a year ago. The company's common stock, traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market, closed Tuesday at $18.37 1/2 a share, down 12 1/2 cents from Monday.
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines KEYWORDS: JOBCHEKby CNB