Austin Business Journal articles from October 1991

Austin Business Journal archives from October 1991

Apple-IBM-Motorola join forces. (alliance to create a compatible personal computer system)
October 7, 1991... Austin is about to play a major part in the future of the personal computer industry. Apple Computer Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Motorola Inc. have forged an alliance in which they will work together to create a compatible...

Quality: key to competing. (topic at the Austin Quality Forum attended by members of Austin business community)
October 7, 1991... Members of the Austin business community joined an international network of businesses last week in dedicating their companies to produce better products and services. The unprecedented even drew more than 800 people to the Austin Quality...

MCC laser project OK'd for multichips. (Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp.)
October 7, 1991... The federal government has given the go-ahead to a local company to make future technology more competitive. Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corp. (MCC) has been authorized to implement Phase II of the Laser Direct Write Project by...

Cypress grows. (Cypress Semiconductor Corp.'s record earnings)
October 7, 1991... Another local chip manufacturing company proved it is crunching its competition after a recent announcement of record earnings. California-based Cypress Semiconductor -- which houses local facilities in Round Rock -- announced 1991 second...

Strong pulse. (Arrhythmia Research Technology Inc.'s profit)
October 7, 1991... A locally based public company's products continue to profit strongly in the biomedical industry. Arrhythmia Research Technology Inc. -- which markets cardiology products to the electrophysiology marketplace -- announced revenues of $4.4...

Mortgages sold. (Franklin Federal Bancorp and its subsidiary, FFB Mortgage Capital Corp.'s purchase of $200 million mortgage loan servicing portfolio)
October 7, 1991... The federal government has authorized the sale of $200 million worth of mortgages to a local savings and loan. Franklin Federal Bancorp and its mortgage banking subsidiary, FFB Mortgage Capital Corp., were approved by the Resolution Trust Corp....

Houston companies head to Austin area. (Cardio Metrics Inc.; Integrated Gas Systems Inc.)
October 7, 1991... Two growing Houston-based firms announced last week they will be moving their headquarters to the Austin area. One firm, Cardio Metrics Inc., will be moving to a 30,000-square-foot building in the Walnut Creek Business Park in Northeast Austin....

Hibernia shedding Texas bank market. (Hibernia National Bank)
October 7, 1991... Financially troubled Hibernia National Bank has reorganized its operations, sold a substantial portion of its assets and is negotiating a deal to sell its Texas banks. New Orleans-based Hibernia is in "serious discussions with interested...

BIG program for little business loans. (Austin's Businesses Interested in Growth)
October 7, 1991... Austin's BIG program is gearing up to begin helping very small businesses in January, said Greg Smith, commercial loan manager in the city's Planning Department. The Businesses Interested in Growth (BIG) program should help micro-enterprises...

First gas-fired AC installed in Austin. (air conditioner)
October 7, 1991... An air conditioner run by a natural gas-fueled engine is cooling the Gracy Title Co. building at Seventh and Lavaca streets in downtown Austin. The 80-ton capacity unit -- the first commercial-sized air chiller in Austin to operate on natural...

Convention center opens in 9 months; hoteliers could not be happier at the prospect. (Austin Convention Center)(Focus: Meetings & Conventions)
October 7, 1991... The Austin Convention Center is rapidly taking final shape downtown and local hoteliers couldn't be happier. The 50 conventions already booked into the center are expected to draw more than 250,000 people, who will spend $75 million, much of it...

Meanwhile, city promotes music, sights. (Austin Convention Center to open in 9 months)(Focus: Meetings & Conventions)
October 7, 1991... "People keep telling me that Austin is the best kept secret in the country and my job is to eliminate that," said Raylene Brookshire, acting director of the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau (ACVB). The Austin Convention Center, of which...

Cooking up a profit. (Ben's Long Branch Barbecue restaurant) (Company Profile)
October 14, 1991... When conventioneers come to Austin next year, Ben Wash hopes they will arrive on an empty stomach. "One of the main things people want when they come to Central Texas is to taste the barbecue," said Wash, owner of Ben's Long Branch Barbecue in...

Texas tough on taxes. (Texas' out-of-state tax audits )
October 14, 1991... Any out-of-state company owing Texas taxes had better watch out. Texas is second only to California in initiating out-of-state tax audits, according to a survey of more than 400 U.S. companies sponsored by Pennsylvania-based Vertex Inc. More...

Reorganized 7-Elevens test changes in Austin. (7-Eleven Food Stores)
October 14, 1991... Using Austin as a market laboratory, 7-Eleven has made a series of sweeping changes, including a facelift, new products on the shelves and lower prices at its 50 Austin-area convenience stores. As part of the campaign, 7-Eleven has also...

Sager: Supercuts success story. (Alan Sager of Supercuts) (Interview)
October 14, 1991... What's a balding Ph.D. who once was an aide to the chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court doing running a haircutting franchise? Very nicely, thank you. Alan Sager, who also happens to have a law degree and teaches government at the...

Gov's plan for small business. (Texas Governor Ann Richards)
October 21, 1991... Gov. Ann Richards stood before a crowd of 150 people last week and derided the state's record of economic development. "In the past decade, the fastest-growing occupation in Texas was janitors and cleaners, low-skill, low-paying jobs that will...

Texas Research Institute Austin Inc. (Contracts)
October 21, 1991... Texas Research Institute Austin Inc. announced the award of a $750,000 contract from the Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration to develop a Magnetic Flux Leakage Inspection System.

C.F. Remington House Associates Inc. (Contracts)
October 21, 1991... Holiday Fenoglio Docherty & Gibson Inc. has arranged a fixed-rate loan for C.F. Remington House Associates Inc. in the amount of $4.7 million for the Remington House Apartments at 600 Barwood Park.

Natural Resources Inc. (Contracts)
October 21, 1991... Natural Resources Inc. has been selected to provide landscape construction and management services at St. David's Hospital.

Greater Texas Landscape Services. (Contracts)
October 21, 1991... Greater Texas Landscape Services has been awarded the landscape management contract for Balcones North, owned and managed by KMS Ventures.

Eastside bank starts delayed. (opening of NCNB Corp. and Banc One Corp. branches in East Austin)
October 28, 1991... East Austin will have to wait just a little longer for bank branches to open in the heart of that community. Six months ago, NCNB Texas-Austin announced it would open a branch bank by the end of this year in a renovated Eastland Plaza shopping...

7-Eleven ad attack. (Seven-Eleven Food Stores' advertising campaign in Austin, Texas)
October 28, 1991... Images of lava lamps and meditation crystals filled television screens all over Austin last week as a sonorous voice incanted "times are changing at 7-Eleven." The 30-second spots produced for the Austin market by the J. Walter Thompson ad...

Mag publisher quits chamber. (Austin Texas Magazine Inc.; Austin Chamber of Commerce magazine publishing contract)
October 28, 1991... Plans by the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce to resume publication of its monthly magazine suffered a serious setback recently when the firm hired to produce the magazine quit before delivering the first issue. The chamber was notified by...

Council to review tax-abatement rules. (Austin City Council)
October 28, 1991... Amid mounting controversy over tax abatements, the Austin City Council has begun looking at proposed revisions to the current guidelines for giving business certain breaks from city property taxes. Many of the revisions proposed last week by...

Ad slump endures. (Austin, Texas area publications' advertising revenues)
October 28, 1991... Executives at 53 percent of Austin area publications responding to a recent survey say their advertising revenues are down from last year. The survey by the Austin Media Directory is the latest indicator that the national slump has affected local...

Ad-standing. (advertising agency Warren/Martino receives four Touchstone Awards)
October 28, 1991... A small Austin advertising agency has done it again. Warren/Martino -- the nine-employee advertising, marketing and public relations firm that recently won a National Addy award -- received four Touchstone Awards. The awards were sponsored by...

Small business names concerns. (Texas Conference on Small Business)
October 28, 1991... Texas Conference on Small Business Taxation is the issue of primary concern among small business owners in Texas. That was the consensus, anyway, during the recent Texas Conference on Small Business in Austin. At the conclusion of the...

Travis no. 5 in jobs. (Travis County, Texas)
October 28, 1991... Travis County is one of five Texas counties predicted to be among the fastest-growing areas in the United States for new jobs through the year 2000, according to state Comptroller John Sharp. "While most of the country will see employment...

Power PCs: Apple, IBM, Motorola team up on PC system. (alliance to create a compatible personal computer system)(Texas Trends )
October 28, 1991... AUSTIN -- Austin is about to play a major part in the future of the personal computer industry. Apple Computer Inc., International Business Machines Corp. and Motorola Inc. have forged an alliance in which they will work together to create a...

Epic's ESOP experiment pays off. (Epic Healthcare Group; employee stock option plan)(Texas Trends) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1991... DALLAS -- The Southwestern art displayed throughout Epic Healthcare Group's Dallas headquarters exhibits the West Texas heritage of the man who leads the company. In the same way, Epic's corporate culture is a reflection of that man -- Kenn...

Smog fight ignites building boom in Houston. (smog-fighting chemical, MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... HOUSTON -- A smog-fighting chemical with a tongue-twisting name is spawning a multimillion-dollar construction boom in Houston. Half a dozen major Houston energy companies have unveiled plans in recent weeks to build plants producing methyl...

Catfish farmer rocks boat in San Antonio. (Ron Pucek, Jr. incurs wrath of Texas water conservationists)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- Ron Pucek Jr., Bexar County's infamous catfish farmer, has incurred the wrath of nearly every regional water conservationist in South Texas. For nearly six months now, Pucek and his partner, Louis Blumberg, have been the subject...

Air Force removes carcinogenic waste. (trichloroethylene contained in buried drums at Carswell Air Force Base)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... FORT WORTH -- A hazardous waste cleanup team clad in protective gear earlier this month began removing "badly corroded and leaking" drums of carcinogenic chemical waste discovered buried at Carswell AFB earlier this year. Trichloroethylene...

Austin: haven for software wizards. (Texas)(Focus: Computers)
October 28, 1991... If computer software is the fuel of modern society, then Austin is one of the important refinery towns. It's not yet a world software center, spewing out shrink-wrapped packages of WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3. It's more of a software colony,...

Computer manufacturers sell direct in Austin stores. (Texas)(Focus: Computers)
October 28, 1991... If you want to buy a personal computer, Austin is definitely the place to be. In addition to the standard retail and discount outlets other cities our size have, Austin is unusual not only in having four computer manufacturers within its...

Racal-Chubb Security Systems Inc. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... The National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded a $700,000 contract to Racal-Chubb Security Systems Inc. to install a fire and security system at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Wesson International Inc. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... Wesson International Inc. announced it has been awarded contracts by NYMA, a Washington, D.C.-based systems integrator, and Daniel Webster College of Nashua, N.H., to provide a customized range of air traffic control training systems and support...

Chandler Woolley Bonnett. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... Chandler Woolley Bonnett reports it has been named agency of record for the Rehabilitation Hospital of Austin, a part of Rehab Hospital Services Corp.

Jancom Engineering Co. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... Jancom Engineering Co., an Austin-based firm, announced it has completed construction drawings for Alamo Community College District in San Antonio. The plans will be used to install telecommunications cabling for three campuses.

The Nyfeler Organization Inc. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... The Nyfeler Organization Inc. announced it has a contract with Trammell Crow Co.'s industrial division to complete a program of facility compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 10-building program involves three Trammell Crow...

Natural Resources Inc. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... Natural Resources Inc. announced it has been selected to provide landscape construction and management services at Seton Northwest Hospital.

Micro One Inc. (Contracts)
October 28, 1991... Micro One Inc. of Dallas has been selected to design, install, integrate and support a 159-node network connecting the Houston, Dallas and Austin offices of the law firm of Hutcheson & Grundy.

Advanced Micro Devices. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Advanced Micro Devices reported third-quarter revenues of $289.4 million and net income of $17.1 million before the preferred stock dividend. After the preferred stock dividend, quarterly net income amounted to 16 cents per common share. Revenues...

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Cypress Semiconductor Corp. reported revenues for the third fiscal quarter of 1991, which ended Sept. 30, of $71.6 million, an increase of 29 percent over the $55.6 million posted for the third quarter of 1990 but a decline of 4.7 percent from...

Cullen/FrostBankers Inc. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Cullen/FrostBankers Inc. reported net income of $503,000 or 6 cents per common share for the third quarter of 1991. The $1.9 million loss, or 21 cents per common share, for the first nine months of 1991, compares with an $8.8 million loss, or $1...

Harold's Stores Inc. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Harold's Stores Inc. reported net earnings for the 13 weeks ended Aug. 3, of $226,000, compared with $161,000 for the same period in the prior year, net earnings for the 26 week period ended Aug. 3, were $267,000 compared to $271,000 in the prior...

Valero Natural Gas Partners. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Valero Natural Gas Partners reported a second quarter 1991 net income of $5.8 million, or 29 cents per limited partner unit, compared to the 1990 second quarter net income of $5.3 million, or 27 cents per limited partner unit.

Thor Energy Resources Inc. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Thor Energy Resources Inc. reported an $81,000 or 1 cent per share loss on revenues of $1 million for the second fiscal quarter ended July 31, 1991. This compares to a $38,000 or 1 cent per share loss on revenues of $1 million for the same...

Marriott Corp. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... Marriott Corp. reported earnings per share of 18 cents for the third quarter of 1991 ended Sept. 6, compared to 27 cents for the prior year.

Dell Computer Corp. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... For the first six months of fiscal 1992 ended Aug. 3, Dell Computer Corp. reported a net income increase of 91 percent to $22.5 million, compared with $11.7 million in the first six months of the prior year. Earnings per share were 96 cents for...

EDS. (Earnings)
October 28, 1991... EDS registered a 13 percent increase in revenues and a 13 percent rise in net income for the third quarter. For the quarter ended Sept. 30, revenue rose $195.9 million to a record $1.73 billion, compared to $1.53 billion for the corresponding...

Success Marketing-Austin. (Openings)
October 28, 1991... Success Marketing-Austin has opened offices at 8834 N. Capital of Texas Highway #110, 78759, (512) 795-0801.

Rollins Truck Rental/Leasing. (Openings)
October 28, 1991... Rollins Truck Rental/Leasing has a new facility at 5316 Ed Bluestein Blvd, (512) 929-8411.

Cox & Smith Inc. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- Cox & Smith Inc., San Antonio's second-largest law firm, is discussing a possible merger with the city's 17th largest law firm, Kaufman, Becker Pullen & Reibach Inc. "We're having some preliminary discussions at this time,"...

Park Central Hotel. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... FORT WORTH -- Downtown Fort Worth's 122-room Park Central Hotel is set to undergo a $300,000 renovation -- and a possible name change -- following the purchase of the 25-year-old property by a Louisiana-based hotel company. John Patel,...

Hunt Properties Inc. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... DALLAS -- Hunt Properties Inc. and a South Carolina-based developer are working to assemble a powerful cadre of tenants -- including K mart Corp., Pace Membership Warehouses, Fleming Cos. Inc. and Phar-Mor Inc. -- to anchor a new...

Texas Bank-Odessa. (opens third Austin area branch)
October 28, 1991... AUSTIN -- Looking for diversity and good growth potential, Texas Bank-Odessa has opened its third Austin-area branch. The new branch, Texas Bank-Medical Center, opened in August at Balcones Woods and Research Boulevard, near the new Seton...

Diamond Petroleum Inc. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- A local oil and gas firm that sold more than $8 million in securities during the last two years is under investigation by the State Securities Board. Diamond Petroleum Inc., which drilled and operated six horizontal oil wells in...

S.S.B.B. Development Inc. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... HOUSTON -- A series of three significant industrial buildings in Houston's old warehouse district recently changed hands, and it's doubtful that any of the three will ever be operated as a factory or warehouse again. The former Texas Meat...

National Association of Insurance Commissioners. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- Nearly one-quarter of Texas' domestic life insurance companies had financial activity last year that was outside the range of industry norms -- indicating possible financial problems for the companies, according to the National...

Foster Mortgage Corp. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... FORT WORTH -- Foster Mortgage Corp. has purchased Northwest Village Center office complex to serve as headquarters for the 68-year-old Fort Worth-based mortgage banking operation. Foster will occupy about 70,000 square feet of the complex when...

Winstead, Sechrest & Minick. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... HOUSTON -- A Houston banking attorney has teamed up with a London law firm to open an office in the United Arab Emirates. Winstead, Sechrest & Minick sent William Johnson, a shareholder from the firm's local office, to open the Middle East...

Carbon Development Corp. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... DALLAS -- Members of the oil-rich Murchison clan have formed a company to develop some of the North Dallas property belonging to the family. Carbon Development Corp., owned by John Coffman and Barbara Jeanne Murchison Coffman, started...

DeWied International Inc. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- DeWied International Inc., a local manufacturer of sausage casings, is looking to build a $1 million plant on the industrial East Side off Interstate 10 East. Jack DeWied, president of the 56-year-old, family-owned company, says...

The Chisholm Hotel. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... FORT WORTH -- The Chisholm Hotel in downtown Fort Worth is being returned to its previous owner under a reorganization plan recently approved in U.S. bankruptcy court. Fred Rice, a secured creditor and previous owner/operator of the hotel,...

Andersen Consulting. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... DALLAS -- The local division of Andersen Consulting plans to add another 65 employees to its 391-person consulting staff over the next year as a result of gigantic growth in the company's business. The local Andersen office collected $52...

Dallas. (Texas Business News Digest)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... DALLAS -- A move to consolidate the nationwide operations of Occidental Chemical Co. has officials at the company's LBJ Freeway headquarters (pictured above) studying a major expansion that may spur it to construct a new, custom-built office...

Telemarketing firm eyes San Antonio for facility. (QVC Network Inc.)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- The second-largest home-shopping network in the country is scouting San Antonio for a site to build a telemarketing facility that would employ about 2,000 workers, the San Antonio Business Journal recently learned. According to...

Insider trading affair at BFI triggers high-level resignations. (Browning-Ferris Industries Inc.)(Texas Trends) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1991... HOUSTON -- An insider trading controversy that triggered the resignations of two executives at Browning-Ferris Industries Inc. has landed in federal court, with a shareholder lawsuit alleging that top BFI officials artificially inflated the...

San Antonio execs bearish about inside trading. (insider trading in San Antonio's largest public companies)(Texas Trends)
October 28, 1991... SAN ANTONIO -- Inside trading in San Antonio's largest public companies is bearish this year. Insiders sold almost 3.9 million shares in the city's nine largest companies, and bought fewer than 150,000 since Sept. 1 of last year. Among San...

Federal regulators say Bank One Texas stretched too thin. (Texas Trends) (Company Profile)
October 28, 1991... DALLAS -- Federal regulators have found that Bank One Texas overextended itself geographically during its march into the Lone Star State, and bank officials as a result are now planning to scale back in several communities where they operate....