NEWS ROUNDUP 1994-11-07 (4)

IGA to Sponsor Special Olympics

eed to be the official supermarket and exclusive grocery retail sponsor of the 1995 Special Olympics World Games.

It has been a Special Olympics sponsor since 1983, donating approximately $500,000 a year in money and in-kind gifts.

In 1995, however, IGA will double its sponsorship to $1 million, an IGA spokesman said. The donation will be in the form of an in-kind gift of food to feed all 6,000 participating athletes -- equivalent to 162,000 meals.

The games, designed exclusively for disabled individuals, are scheduled to run July 1 through 9 in New Haven, Conn.

Organizers claim the games will be the largest sporting event in the world in 1995, with 6,000 athletes, 45,000 volunteers and 500,000 spectators from 139 countries in attendance.

Stop & Shop Sets Note Buy-Back

BOSTON -- Stop & Shop here said it intends to repurchase portions of its 9.75% senior subordinated notes from "time to time over the next two years" as conditions warrant.

In late August, the company entered into a new $600 million revolving credit facility, which the retailer said allowed it to repurchase all of its subordinated debt.

The company also said that with the execution of this new revolving credit facility an extraordinary after-tax charge of about $8 million would be recorded in the third quarter of the current fiscal year. The charge represents the write-off of deferred financing costs.

Stop & Shop operates about 125 supermarkets in the Northeast, including about 90 superstores.

Four Firms Listed on SmallCap

NEW YORK -- Three food distributors and a natural foods supermarket are listed on the new Standard & Poor's SmallCap, which debuted Oct. 31.

The companies are Nash Finch Co., Minneapolis; Richfood Holdings, Richmond, Va.; Super Food Services, Dayton, Ohio, and Whole Foods Market, San Antonio.

The SmallCap 600 is a new index designed to track the stock performance of small-capitalization companies. The combined capitalization of the 600 companies listed on the index is approximately $181 billion.

Publix to Add Store in Georgia

LAKELAND, Fla. -- Publix Super Markets here has begun construction on its first store in Henry County, Georgia, an unincorporated area outside Atlanta.

The 47,000-square-foot combination store is scheduled to open in late 1995. It will be built in the Village Center at Eagle's Landing.

Publix operates 458 stores, including 419 in Florida, 34 in Georgia and five in South Carolina. The chain, one of the nation's 10 largest, has opened about 30 new supermarkets in Georgia during the past two years.

Ralphs, Vons Aid Local Schools

LOS ANGELES -- Two southern California supermarket chains are running register receipt programs to help local schools earn free educational and recreational equipment.

Ralphs Grocery Co., Compton, said it will donate more than $1 million in free books, computers and sports equipment to area schools in its fifth "Be Cool to Your School" promotion, which runs through Jan. 8.

Vons Cos., Arcadia, said it will donate approximately $1 million in Apple computer equipment and other learning tools to schools in California and Nevada as part of its "Apples for the Students" program, running through Jan. 11.

To participate in either program, consumers can turn register receipts over to local schools, which can then redeem them for prizes based on the value of the receipts accumulated.

Ralphs officials said the "Be Cool" program is a component of the chain's ongoing "Ralphs for Kids effort," which is an attempt to help children in the communities Ralphs serves.

Vons is offering the "Apples for the Students" program at its Vons, Pavilions and Expo outlets.