THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 4, 1994 TAG: 9407020505
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BUSINESS WEEKLY STAFF
LENGTH: Long : 108 lines
More Americans are likely to be using wireless communications devices sooner and more cheaply if the merger of Bell Atlantic Corp.'s and Nynex Corp.'s cellular phone operations goes through, executives of the two companies said.
The $13 billion combination of the Bell Atlantic-Nynex holdings is the first major alliance between two Baby Bells. It positions the as-yet-unnamed new enterprise to become a national player in the fast-growing wireless world.
The planned merger of the Bell Atlantic-Nynex operations would not have an immediate impact on Hampton Roads.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Virginia may become a for-profit company and begin selling stock to the public, a move that would reverse its 59-year tradition of nonprofitability.
The health insurer is also changing its name to Trigon Blue Cross and Blue Shield.
Changing its for-profit status and selling stock would allow the Virginia Blue access to money needed to acquire companies and services to strengthen its ability to compete in a fast-changing health care industry.
A move into for-profit status would require approval from the company's 15 board members, 14 of whom are not company employees.
A Department of Motor Vehicles sweep of 20 Norfolk and Virginia Beach car dealerships last week could lead to steep fines or possibly even jail terms for some of the dealers if they are convicted, a senior DMV investigator said.
As a result of the inspections, 19 of 20 dealers will be charged by DMV with a total of 366 misdemeanor violations of the state's motor vehicle code, said Edward P. Ryder Sr., DMV's assistant director of investigations. Five of those charged are new-car dealers; 14 sell used cars only.
The agency said the alleged violations include a failure to maintain proper business records and misusing temporary tags.
Pending home sales in May for Hampton Roads have surged from a year ago, signaling that the uncertain status of interest rates has not spooked first-time home buyers in the region, industry experts said.
Metro MLS, the statistical arm of the National Association of Realtors, said the number of contracts for May increased 13.4 percent to 1,690, worth $186.5 million. There were 1,490 for May 1993.
Nationally, home sales fell overall due to the lower number of sales in the West, which offset gains in the Northeast and the South. Housing economists blame rising interest rates for the slide.
An experiment that would allow Virginia Power to build and operate separate generating plants for its major customers has won support from a State Corporation Commission hearing examiner.
The plan, which must be reviewed by the SCC's three commissioners, is an effort by the state's largest electric utility to hold onto some of its larger industrial and commercial customers.
Virginia Power, which provides electricity to more than 1.8 million customers in Virginia to northeastern North Carolina, said it was ``delighted'' by the favorable recommendation.
Virginia Natural Gas, citing stronger demand in Hampton Roads, said it will spend almost $23 million installing two new pipelines for local distribution of the fuel.
The Norfolk-based utility said it picked up almost 9,300 customers during 1993, bringing its roster of customers to 195,000. Of these, 179,149 are residential customers.
One of the new pipelines will run from a site near Military Highway and Interstate 464 in Chesapeake to a location near the Farmer's Market in Virginia Beach.
The first phase of the construction - two miles of 20-inch pipe in Chesapeake - began last month and is likely to be completed in October, the company said.
Farm Fresh Inc. is turning to a former executive to help lead the Norfolk-based food store chain to more profitable times.
Keith E. Alessi, a former president and chief operating officer for the company, will rejoin Farm Fresh as chief financial officer. He left the company in 1991 to manage his own chain of supermarkets.
Alessi is the second-largest individual stockholder in Farm Fresh - he owns 4.4 percent of the chain. He is also a board member.
Douglas R. Voris, the chain's executive vice president and chief administrative officer, left the company last week. Timothy E. Kullman, the chief financial officer, leaves Friday.
Landmark Communications Inc.'s European cable-TV network, ``travel,'' has expanded from its base in England into four Scandinavian countries and plans to enter about 10 more European and Asian nations this year.
Jerry Glover, commercial director for the London-based network, said in an interview Thursday that ``travel'' on Monday picked up 300,000 cable subscribers in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark.
That is in addition to the 500,000 subscribers that ``travel'' has gained in England since launching there Feb. 1.
The Hampton Roads economy could suffer later this year if higher interest rates slow the activity of the rate-sensitive construction industry, a regional economist said.
To a large extent, the local economy has been dragged forward over the past year on the coattails of a rebound in commercial and residential construction. That activity, along with a pickup in service industry jobs, has helped offset the loss of thousands of jobs at area shipyards to defense cutbacks.
But David G. Garraty, a professor of economics and management at Virginia Wesleyan College, said it appears likely that the Federal Reserve will tighten credit further.
Seasonal factors boosted the May unemployment rate in Hampton Roads and elsewhere in the state, but job growth remained strong in areas not affected directly by defense cuts.
College students finishing classes and beginning the search for a summer or permanent job inflated the labor force and the number of unemployed in May.
In Hampton Roads, that pushed the May jobless rate to 6.1 percent, up from 5.4 percent in April, the Virginia Employment Commission said. Last May, the local unemployment rate stood at 5.2 percent. by CNB