BUTTERY PLANS TO SPEED FINANCIAL GROWTH

GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- Buttrey Food & Drug Stores Co. here intends to continue to seek ways of improving profitability by increasing sales, reducing costs and improving productivity, Joseph H. Fernandez, chairman, president and chief executive officer, said last week in remarks prepared for delivery to the chain's annual meeting.

uisitions. "We have continued to find ways to make our capital investments more efficient and productive [by] seeking more efficient store designs and looking for ways to reduce construction and equipment investment, and in 1997 we will seek to build and fixture our new and remodeled stores at less cost than before," Fernandez said.

He also said Buttrey added three new stores last year.