THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, May 10, 1996 TAG: 9605100630
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
For Norfolk Southern Corp. stockholders the news couldn't have been much better.
``We set records for net income and earnings per share,'' said David R. Goode, Norfolk Southern's chairman, chief executive and president. ``We improved customer service, surpassed an already exceptional employee safety record, bettered out productivity and asset utilization and attracted 85 new industries to our lines.''
More than 200 shareholders gathered Thursday in Norfolk for the railroad's first annual meeting in its home city since 1993.
Goode told them that January's 4-cent dividend increase made Norfolk Southern's 56-cent quarterly dividend the industry's highest.
On the safety side, Goode all but announced that Norfolk Southern won a record seventh consecutive E.H. Harriman Memorial gold medal for employee safety. The annual award, which goes to the railroad with the best safety record, will be announced Tuesday.
``Unfortunately, the industry today is under an extraordinary spotlight as a result of a recent group of tragic accidents. . . . ,'' Goode said. ``And, inevitably we're hearing suggestions that someone - the government perhaps - knows better than we how to improve safety. I don't believe that, and I will resist the suggestion that anyone can make us safe but ourselves.''
Goode also told the audience that the railroad has plans to turn around its foundering port subsidiary, Lambert's Point Docks Inc.
The Norfolk cargo terminal is off to its worst year in history and may end up handling less than 150,000 tons of cargo in 1996. The terminal has plans to dredge its biggest berth and recently reached an agreement with the dockworkers union to reduce cargo-handling wages.
Goode declined to elaborate on the plans for the terminal.
The annual meeting was the last for nine-year director Robert McNair, a former South Carolina governor.
At the meeting, shareholders re-elected former railroad chairman Arnold B. McKinnon, former Virginia governor Gerald L. Baliles, Gene R. Carter and E.B. Leisenring Jr. to the board. Carter is Norfolk's former superintendent of schools. Leisenring is chairman of a Philadelphia insurance company.
Norfolk Southern also announced Thursday that it's replacing a quarterly newsletter to stockholders with toll-free telephone service.
Callers to the number will hear a recording of the most recent earnings report or can request copies of Norfolk Southern's annual report and other corporate documents. It also will allow them to make address changes and other inquiries. The service's number is (800) 531-6757. by CNB