ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070045
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
Quaker sidesteps Snapple-sale queries
CHICAGO - Quaker Oats Co.'s plans for its Snapple drinks are still about as clear as a bottle of mango iced tea.
Snapple once again proved a drag on company profits, but Quaker chairman William D. Smithburg on Thursday did not address persistent rumors about the iced tea and fruit-juice drinks line.
Quaker's stock has risen sharply in recent weeks on talk that the company is shopping Snapple around for a sale and may be forced to throw in Gatorade as an enticement. Potential suitors are said to be PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola Co., among others.
Smithburg, after reporting Snapple sales fell 8 percent last year, refused to comment on the rumors. Instead, he reiterated a series of previously announced initiatives to stop the line from losing money, as it has done since Quaker bought it for $1.7 billion in late 1994.
``Obviously, Snapple continued to disappoint us,'' Smithburg told analysts in a conference call. But he later added: ``If an action is deemed appropriate to build value to shareholders, we will take it. But it will be based on value, not speed.''
-Associated Press
Jobless claims take another big drop
WASHINGTON - The number of newly laid-off workers filing claims for jobless benefits fell 12,000 last week, the biggest drop in three weeks.
The Labor Department said Thursday that new applications for unemployment insurance totaled a seasonally adjusted 325,000, lowest since 321,000 in the week ended Jan. 11. The decline was the largest since claims plunged 45,000 that week.
The four-week moving average of claims fell 10,250 to 331,000, lowest since 330,500 in the period ended Nov. 9.
-Associated Press
Black workers seek part of Texaco deal
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. - Six black workers who would be left out of Texaco's huge race-bias settlement say they deserve the money even more than those who are getting it.
The proposed settlement excludes ``arguably the group most in need of a voice,'' according to court papers filed late Wednesday.
The $176 million settlement was reached in November after disclosure of tape-recorded conversations in which executives belittled black employees.
If approved by a federal judge, it would pay the 1,342 ``African-Americans employed in a salaried position subject to the Texaco Merit Salary Program'' between 1991 and 1996.
Of the six workers who filed a motion to intervene, five are paid hourly rather than salaried, and the one salaried worker apparently is not covered by the merit program. The papers estimate 100 to 300 other workers are in the same circumstances.
-Associated Press
Briefly ...
* ETS International Inc. of Roanoke said Thursday its Richmond subsidiary, ETS Water & Waste Management Inc., has received a contract from Delmarva Properties Inc. to install a temporary sewage treatment plant in New Kent County. The contract is valued at $799,950.
* Housecall Home Healthcare, which has six locations between Roanoke and Martinsville, is expanding this week into Chatham in Pittsylvania County. Nancy Kelderhouse, regional manager, said Housecall has about 175 employees in that area. The regional office is on Apperson Drive in Salem. The company is owned by Atlanta-based Housecall Medical Resources.
* Thirty-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 7.74 percent this week, down from 7.88 percent last week and the lowest since 7.67 percent at the start of the year, according to a national survey released Thursday by the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. On one-year adjustable rate mortgages, lenders were asking an average initial rate of 5.51 percent, down from 5.55 percent and the lowest in nine weeks. Fifteen-year mortgages averaged 7.25 percent, down from 7.38 percent.
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