BUSINESS MEMO: SPARTECH STOCK SALE

Spartech Corp., headquartered in St. Louis, has announced that Vita International Limited, a 33 percent shareholder of Spartech, has agreed to purchase an additional 3 million shares of the company's common stock from the TCW group at a price of $21.25 a share.

This will increase Vita's shares in Spartech to about 11.8 million shares, or 43.5 percent of the issued common stock. The TCW Group's ownership will be reduced to 6.5 percent.

Spartech, a producer of engineered thermoplastic materials, polymeric compounds and molded and profile products, has 36 facilities, including two operations in Cape Girardeau -- Spartech Plastics at 2500 Spartech Drive and Spartech Compounding on Nash Road.

Spartech recently released record 1998 six-month results of $298.8 million in sales and $15.9 million in net earnings.