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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Leaner Food Processors May Provide Fatter Profits

From Staff And Wire Reports

Hot competition in recent years has forced food-processing companies to get leaner. Now profits are rising, helped by record harvests, which have made raw materials cheaper.

In its current issue, Standard & Poor’s Investor’s Monthly tells readers to stick with innovators, such as McCormick (spices), ConAgra (Armour meats) and CPC International (Skippy peanut butter).

Value Line gives its top rating to Campbell Soup, Archer-Daniels-Midland (grains), IBP (beef and pork) and Hudson Foods (turkey). Be warned, though: These stocks are already on the rebound; they’re no longer dirt cheap.

Telephone shopping guide

The Direct Marketing Association and the Federal Trade Commission have prepared a booklet that outlines the basics of home shopping and the obligations of those who sell by mail or phone.

Among the issues covered by “Make Knowledge our Partner in Mail or Telephone Shopping” are; tracing missing orders and how to return merchandise, rules that apply to “negative option” clubs like those that sell CDs and books, and what to do with goods you didn’t order.

For a free copy, write: The Direct Marketing Association; OWL booklet; 1101 17th St. NW; Suite 705; Washington, D.C.; 20036.

Include a stamped, self-addressed envelop.

Utility funds restructure

Utilities funds, traditionally viewed as low-growth, high-yielding investments, rallied with the bond market when interest rates fell in 1992 and 1993, producing unusually high returns.

The flip side came in 1994, when the Federal Reserve pushed up interest rates six times. The bond market fell, and so did utilities funds.

The average utility fund lost 8.3 percent, compared with a more modest loss of 1.7 percent for diversified domestic stock funds.

The utilities funds that held up best were telecommunications funds, which often own shares in wireless, cable and cellular companies in addition to electric utilities. These diverse funds benefited from the rally last year in technology stocks.

Because 1994 was such a terrible year, many utilities funds have been diversifying their portfolios to make them less vulnerable to interest rate movements, said Natalie Andrus, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. Doing so often reduces yields, but makes for more stable investments, she said.

IRS assistance Monday

The Internal Revenue Service will take calls from Washington taxpayers Monday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The toll-free number is 1-800-829-1040.

Stamps on credit coming

The Postal Service Friday awarded a $45.8 million contract to NationsBank to set up a national system for post offices to process credit and debit cards.

The contract calls for installation of 50,000 terminals in 33,000 locations over the next three years, postal officials said.

The terminals will go into use first in Seattle, San Diego and Denver this spring. When the system is complete the Postal Service will be the largest accepter of credit and debit cards in the country, the agency said.

The cards will be accepted for all postal services except money orders and collect-on-delivery.