ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997 TAG: 9704080049
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
Profits at the biggest American companies surged 23.3 percent in 1996, easily outrunning worker income gains and other measures of economic health, Fortune said in its annual ranking released Monday.
Aided by low interest rates and low inflation, ``the companies of the Fortune 500 have restructured, re-engineered, refinanced, downsized, laid off, split up, and merged their way to prosperity,'' the magazine said.
``Corporate America, hell-bent on controlling costs, is still finding new ways to squeeze more profit from each dollar of sales,'' the magazine said.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
LENGTH: Short : 23 linesby CNB