ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, December 17, 1993                   TAG: 9312200308
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-18   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BRIEFLY . . .

Charter Federal Savings Bank said Thursday the trading symbol for its common stock would be changed temporarily to CHFDD for 30 days beginning Dec. 21. The change is a result of the previously announced 1-for-5 reverse stock split of the thrift's outstanding common stock, effective Dec. 20. Trading in the common stock will continue under the CHFD symbol in the pre-reverse-split shares until Dec. 20. On Dec. 21, the price per share on the Nasdaq Small-Cap Market will reflect the effect of the split.

Penn Virginia Corp. has declared a one-time dividend of $1 per share payable Dec. 31 to shareholders on Dec. 17. The special dividend was declared as a result of the sale of the company's lime and limestone operations, which was completed Oct. 21. The company's 1993 dividends will total $2.90 per share. Also, the directors authorized the company to buy up to 5 percent of the outstanding share's of Penn Virginia's common stock.

Phoenix-based Doubletree Hotels Corp., manager of the proposed Hotel Roanoke after renovation, said Thursday it has completed its merger with Boston-based Guest Quarters Hotels Partnership. The combined company, operating under the name Doubletree Hotels, will manage the 96-hotel, 24,000-room national hotel chain carrying both the Doubletree Hotels and Guest Quarters Suite Hotels brands. The new, privately held entity is the sixth-largest U.S. hotel chain in the "first-class" lodging category.

TeleBrands Direct Response Corp. of Roanoke has filed a patent infringement suit against Direct-to-Retail, Natick, Mass., claiming the defendant's packaging of its sunglasses unfairly competes with TeleBrands' Ambervision glasses, which have been sold via direct-response TV and in retail stores since 1987. TeleBrands has defended its Ambervision sunglasses in patent infringement suits before. The company also has a patient infringement suit pending against the same company for infringement on its Dental White Professional Tooth Whitening System. 


 by CNB