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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 1, 1994                   TAG: 9410030046
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

Two petitions for bankruptcies with business affiliations were filed this week in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Western Virginia in Roanoke. One is a personal bankruptcy that the court listed as a business filing because of commercial connections that could make it of interest to business creditors and customers:

Ernest Junior Walker, trading as Walker Fence & Railings at 4302 Shenandoah Ave., Roanoke, filed for a wage-earner plan, estimating both assets and liabilities at $50,000 to $99,000.

Jacqueline Newbill, a self-employed manicurist doing business as Personality Nails, 716 Townside Road, Roanoke, filed for liquidation, listing assets of $25,475 and liabilities of $16,415.

- Staff report

Savings bank ends stock offering

Southwest Virginia Savings Bank said Friday it closed its initial stock offering to the public Tuesday and is awaiting approval by federal regulators of the bank's conversion from a mutual, or depositor-owned, to a stock, or shareholder-owned, savings bank.

Bill Watson, a bank vice president, said he could not comment on how many shares were sold until the Office of Thrift Supervision approves the proposed conversion. The bank is expecting word as early as next week on when the transaction might be final.

The bank mailed a prospectus and proxy statement Aug. 22 to customers and some other Roanoke Valley residents. It offered 718,750 shares of stock for sale at $10 a share. It formed a holding company, SWVA Bancshares Inc., to handle the sale of the stock.

- Staff report

Earnings ...

Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. of Bassett reported net income of $4.6 million, or 32 cents per share, in its third quarter ended Aug. 31. That compares with $4.7 million, or 32 cents per share, a year earlier. Sales were $124.9 million, up from $121.2 million. For the nine months, net income was $16.5 million, or $1.14 per share, compared with $17.9 million, or $1.24 per share. Sales were $381.3 million, up from $370.4 million.