Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991 TAG: 9103050046
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Roanoke County and city issued 160 licenses in February for start-up businesses, down 45 percent from the 293 issued during February 1990 and off 7 percent from 172 in January.
The change in new-business licensing was sharpest in Roanoke city, where the drop was 71.9 percent, from 231 in February 1990 to 65 last month. In Roanoke County, the number of new-business licenses rose 53.2 percent to 95 last month from 62 a year earlier.
Other figures added to the index this week:
The number of telephone lines in the valley rose 1.8 percent to 127,334 in February from 125,059 a year earlier. The number of lines was virtually unchanged from 127,375 in January.
Valley Metro reported an increase in bus passengers for February. Average weekday ridership was 5,135, up 10.5 percent from 4,649 in February 1990 and 7 percent from 4,801 in January.
An index of regional stocks compiled by Wheat First Securities was up 9.1 percent from January, but down 11.1 percent from a year ago. The index stood at 147.58 points in February compared to 135.29 in January and 165.98 in February 1990. The regional index is driven largely by financial institutions whose stocks have been depressed.
The Roanoke Regional Airport has changed its method of keeping records on passenger traffic. It now includes those boarding chartered planes as well as passengers flying on scheduled airline flights. Airport officials said the number of boardings in January was 22,679, down 4.6 percent from 23,780 in January 1990 and 13.6 percent from December's 26,255.
Roanoke Gas Co. sold 953,274 thousand cubic feet of natural gas in February, up 8.6 percent from 877,434 during February 1990. The report for January, when the weather was colder, was 20.5 percent higher: 1,198,700 thousand cubic feet.
Norfolk Southern Corp. loaded 18,852 coal cars in the Pocahontas fields last week, down 1.2 percent from 19,087 cars a year ago and 9.1 percent from 20,735 the prior week.
Roanoke Valley banks cleared checks worth $137,614,293 last week, up 3.3 percent from the $133,188,650 the prior week, but off 49.1 percent from last year's $270,226,292. Much of that amount is due to greater use of the clearinghouse in Richmond instead of the one in Roanoke.
The 178 homes sold in the Roanoke Valley last month was 53.2 percent less than the 380 sold in February 1990, but 52.1 percent more than the 117 sales in January. - Staff report
by CNB