ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, February 20, 1996 TAG: 9602200066
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
NEW YORK - Bankers who shun women as poor credit risks may be missing out on making some good loans.
Women are no more likely than men to default on business loans and in some cases are better loan risks, according to a survey released Monday by Working Woman magazine and Dun & Bradstreet, a business information company.
``Women-owned ventures are at least as reliable as those owned by men,'' said Lynn Povich, Working Woman's editor-in-chief. ``They pay bills, honor their commitments and stick to their business.''
That is true, adds Dun & Bradstreet economist Lawrence Mielnicki, ``even in industries that aren't viewed as traditional for women.''
Dun & Bradstreet collected data on the credit histories and financial status of more than 170,000 American businesses, then compared the results for male- and female-owned firms.
Women who own companies in fields such as transportation and manufacturing, traditional male-dominated industries, slightly outscored men when it came to bill-paying. The survey found that 71 percent of these women's businesses pay on time or early, compared with 69 percent of men's businesses.
Across all businesses, women's firms were found to pay bills on time or early at about the same rate as men, about nine out of 10.
``An impressive 64 percent of women's firms with more than 20 workers pay on time,'' the magazine says in its March issue, which hits newsstands today. ``Only 48 percent of men's companies in that category do.'' -Associated Press Business investing nearly triples in Va.
RICHMOND - Businesses made $5.93 billion in investments in Virginia last year, the Department of Economic Development said Monday. The value of the projects nearly tripled the amount of investment announced in 1994, the report said.
The number of jobs coming to the state from the investments was listed as 30,810, up 80 percent from 1994. -Associated Press Coal production up in nation, off in Va.
U.S. coal production rose 1 percent in the week ended Feb. 10, to 18 million tons from 17.7 million the week before, the Department of Energy said Monday. The industry produced 19.8 million tons in the same week last year.
Virginia mines produced 511,000 tons during the survey week, down from 631,000 tons in the 1995 period. So far this year, Virginia mines have yielded 3,423,000 tons, compared with year-earlier 4,009,000 tons.
Coal production so far this year is 110 million tons, 8 percent behind last year's production at this time. -Associated Press AFL-CIO boycotts The Miami Herald
BAL HARBOUR, Fla. - Hoping to gain leverage in a 7-month-old strike against Detroit's newspapers, the labor movement said it will mount a campaign against The Miami Herald. Knight-Ridder publishes The Herald and 30 other daily newspapers, including The Detroit Free Press.
The campaign began Saturday with an effort to urge readers to cancel their subscriptions to The Herald. Labor supporters passed out fliers saying recent moves to economize at The Herald are intended to offset millions of dollars worth of strike-related losses in Detroit.
Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, said it will assemble community and religious leaders to assist in the boycott and will bring strikers from Detroit to Miami to tell their stories. -Knight-Ridder/Tribune Briefly ...
U.S. financial markets and government offices were closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday. The Treasury Department's weekly auction of three- and six-month bills was postponed until today. Results of the auction and resumption of financial markets tables will be reported in Wednesday's editions of The Roanoke Times.
ACS Inc. of Roanoke said it has begun marketing the DirecPC Turbo Internet Service of Hughes Network Systems. The satellite system connects a personal computer with the Internet at speeds of up to 400,000 bytes per second, 28 times faster than a 14.4 kps modem on a telephone line.
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