ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 18, 1997 TAG: 9703180044
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
INDICATOR
New car sales declined last month in the Roanoke Valley, according to a report released Monday by the Virginia Automobile Dealers Association. The 447 vehicles registered in February was off 37 percent from January, down 22.9 percent from February 1996 and down 17.4 percent from February 1995. The VHDA said 192 of the cars were recorded in Roanoke, 205 in Roanoke County and 50 in Salem.
Frito-Lay plans bigger Roanoke-area offices
Frito-Lay Inc. of Dallas will build a 16,800-square-foot warehouse and sales office in Roanoke County. The operation replaces a small but similar operation in Roanoke.
The West Main Street location, about 3 1/2 miles east of Dixie Caverns, will employ 37 people and is scheduled to open by mid-August, said Bill Blankenship, a company sales manager. Most of the workers will come from the existing operation, on Mary Linda Drive, he said, but two or three employees will be hired. The Roanoke site will be sold.
Snack chips will be delivered from the new warehouse to the Roanoke and New River valleys. Frito-Lay expects to open a chip factory in Lynchburg in early 1998.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Short-term T-bill rates rise
The Treasury Department on Monday sold $11.6 billion in three-month bills at an average discount rate of 5.13 percent, up from 5.06 percent last week. Another $11.6 billion was sold in six-month bills at an average rate of 5.26 percent, up from 5.18 percent.
The rates were the highest since Sept. 23, when the three-month bill sold for 5.18 percent and the six-month rate averaged 5.3 percent.
The Federal Reserve said the average yield for one-year Treasury bills, the most popular index for adjustable-rate mortgages, rose to 5.72 percent last week from 5.7 percent.
-ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tultex to buy its distributor
Tultex Corp. of Martinsville said it plans to buy one of its distributors and sales agents, California Shirt Sales of Fullerton, Calif. Terms were not disclosed.
The transaction would "bring us closer to the customer," said spokeswoman Kathy Rogers. "We're going from the raw cotton, all the way to distributing the product." Tultex makes and markets activewear and licensed sports apparel.
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