ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, January 13, 1996 TAG: 9601150039
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
Kroger backs Dallas by benching cheese
FORT WORTH, Texas - Don't look for Sargento Shredded Cheese and Cheese Sticks on Sunday afternoon at Kroger supermarkets here.
The grocery chain is pulling products made by the Wisconsin-based cheese maker in its Fort Worth-Dallas stores to show support for the Dallas Cowboys during their National Football Conference championship game against the Green Bay Packers.
The Kroger Co., Cincinnati-based grocer, carries 10 varieties of Sargento products. Company spokesman Evan Anthony said the products are good sellers. but he doesn't know how many Sargento products the chain typically sells on Sunday afternoons.
Anthony said local Kroger stores will sell the company's private label cheeses during the game. ``They're from a plant in Rochester, Minnesota,'' he quipped.
This isn't the first time Kroger has banned a product symbolic of a Cowboys opponent. In 1993, the company pulled Philadelphia brand cream cheese during a Cowboys-Eagles playoff game.
Barbara Gannon, vice president for corporate communications at Sargento, said the company isn't concerned about the effect on sales.
``Obviously people get excited about playoff games and want to support their team,'' she said. ``I don't expect it will hurt our brand in the long run. People come back to quality products. I just hope they stock up before the game.''
- Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Kmart debt ratings reduced to junk
Kmart Corp.'s $4.5 billion in debt securities were slashed to junk status by Standard & Poor's Corp., raising the retailer's borrowing costs and further hampering its efforts to fend off rivals.
``Their cost of financing is far more expensive than Wal-Mart's,'' said Ernest Werlin, president of High View Capital Corp., which invests in high-yield debt. ``I don't know how Kmart's going to deal with that.''
Standard & Poor's also questioned how the retailer will boost its profitability and repay about $3.1 billion of the debt when it comes due next year. If Kmart can't pay back or refinance the debt, it could face another downgrade.
S&P lowered the retailer's senior debt by three notches, to ``BB'' from ``BBB,'' and its commercial paper by two levels to ``B'' from ``A-2.'' It also cut ratings on 17 debt issues backed by store leases three notches to ``BB.''
Kmart called the rating cuts excessively severe and unwarranted.
- Bloomberg Business News
Ames to eliminate stores,1,100jobs
ROCKY HILL, Conn. - Ames Department Stores said Friday it will close 17 stores in Maine, New York and Pennsylvania and cut its headquarters staff, eliminating nearly 1,100 jobs overall in the first big cutbacks by a major retail chain since the poor Christmas sales season.
The job eliminations represent nearly 5 percent of its current work force of 22,000 people.
The discounter said the job cuts and store closings will cause about a $20 million reduction in earnings for its fourth quarter, which ends Jan. 27, and a small loss for the year.
- Associated Press
LENGTH: Medium: 66 linesby CNB