BUSINESS MEMO

The Small Business Development Center will conduct counseling sessions in three areas this month.

The counselor, Gil Degenhardt, will be available Feb. 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce office. The counseling sessions (about one hour) are free. Call 335-3312 for an appointment.

He will conduct sessions at the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce Feb. 23 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Appointments are available by calling 471-2498.

Degenhardt will hold sessions at the Southeast Missouri Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission office in Perryville Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Appointments are available by calling 547-8357.

The Small Business Development Center represents a "Partnership for Economic Development" between Southeast Missouri State University, the U.S. Small Business Administration, local financial institutions, area utility companies and Southeast Missouri municipalities. Its goal is to stimulate diversity and growth in small business by assisting businesses to become more productive and profitable.

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Another national company that will have a Cape Girardeau connection in the future has been named in the book, "The 100 Best Companies to Work for in America."

Lowe's Companies Inc., a specialty retail home center serving do-it-yourself consumers and building contractors, was listed in the book by Robert Levering and Milton Moskowitz, which take into consideration pay, benefits, opportunity, job security and other prerequisites for selecting best companies to work for.

Lowe's plans to open 60 new stores this year, 30 in new markets. One of those stores is expected to be at Cape Girardeau.

Lowe's, headquartered in North Carolina, employs more than 23,000 people.

Another firm listed in the book is A.G. Edwards & Sons, an investment firm headquartered at St. Louis. A.G. Edwards also has a branch at Cape Girardeau.

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A Scriptwriting Workshop will be held in the Southeast Missouri State University Center program lounge Tuesday.

Donna Matrazzo of Scripts and Concepts of Portland, Ore., will be featured speaker at the workshop, which is sponsored by the university Chapter of International Television Association.

Topics will include program planning, creative concepts, focusing information of the audience and others.

Fee is $20 per person. Reservations must be made in advance. Additional details are available by calling Jim Dufek in the mass communications department, 651-2484.

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ST. LOUIS - Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. reported a 1.5 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings Monday, but said the year's profits declined 2.4 percent.

The St. Louis-based brewing company attributed the drop to accounting changes linked to retiree health benefits and income taxes.

Earnings for the quarter were $161.6 million, or 58 cents a share, compared with $159.2 million, or 55 cents a share, during the same period a year ago. The earnings included an $8.4 million charge for the accounting changes.

Year-end earnings were $917.5 million, or $3.22 a share, compared with $939.8 million, or $3.26 a share, in 1991.

Without the accounting changes, the company said, earnings were $1.02 billion. Revenue for the year was $11.39 billion, up from revenues of $10.99 billion the previous year.

Beer Institute estimated Anheuser-Busch's market share was up slightly, to 44.3 percent.