ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, January 26, 1996 TAG: 9601260087
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
QVC to feature Va. small business
National television retailer QVC is looking for 30 small businesses in Virginia to feature on its "Quest for America's Best" traveling sales showcase.
The home-shopping retailer will feature merchandise from 50 Virginia companies during the week of April 22. Each business will have the chance to sell up to $30,000 of product on the QVC cable channel: 20 from large manufacturers and the rest from small businesses.
In 1995, QVC visited all 50 states, promoting and marketing local small business products. This year, the retailer is returning to the top 10 performing states, including Virginia.
Local businesses, manufacturers and artisans interested in applying for a spot on QVC should call John Jennings at the Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center, 983-0717.
- Associated Press
Roanoke-area firms win U.S. contracts
Three Roanoke-area companies have signed contracts with federal agencies:
Optical Cable Corp. of Roanoke, an $85,470 contract from McClellan Air Force Base in California to supply fiber optics materials, assemblies and accessories.
Inland Motor Division of Radford, $97,200 contract from the Naval Inventory Control Point in Philadelphia to supply aircraft components and accessories.
Electro-Tec Corp. of Blacksburg, $30,272 contact from Defense Construction Supply Center in Columbus, Ohio, to supply weapons, and $27,948 contract from the Naval Inventory Control Point in Philadelphia to supply electrical and electronic equipment components.
- Staff report
Business failures down just a tad
NEW YORK - The number of U.S. businesses that failed last year declined less than 1 percent to about 71,200, Dun & Bradstreet Corp. said Thursday. Their liabilities, however, increased 29 percent, indicating the failures had a strong impact on the economy.
``The rising level of liabilities contrasts sharply with our experiences in our midyear report on business failures, when the dollar impact of failures was actually lower in comparison with 1994,'' Joseph W. Duncan, D&B's chief economist, said in a statement.
Liabilities of the failed businesses totaled $37.5 billion, compared with $29 billion for 71,500 failures in 1994.
The agriculture, forestry and fishing group saw failures increase 19 percent. Transportation and public utilities were up 11 percent; construction companies reported a 10 percent increase.
Improvement was greatest in the mining industry, where failures fell 17 percent. Wholesale trading companies fell 11 percent, and manufacturers reported a 6 percent drop.
- Associated Press
Briefly ...
ETS International Inc. will teach an air pollution control technologies course to senior technical personnel from developing countries Feb. 21-April 12 in Roanoke. The course, sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development Office of Energy and Infrastructure, will be run by the Institute of International Education. Delegates from Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Jamaica, Jordan, the Philippines, Taiwan and Tanzania will attend.
Doris Berry and Mary Rives Elliott have formed Berry Elliott, Realtors, in Martinsville. The company, with offices at 18 Starling Ave., specializes in residential, commercial, farms, land and rentals. Berry and Elliott had been associated with Rives S. Brown, Realtors, of Martinsville. Berry will be president, and Elliott will be secretary-treasurer. The company has seven full-time agents.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 linesby CNB