BUSINESS MEMO

Zeke Robertson, assistant vice president of external affairs for Southwestern Bell Telephone Co., will be guest speaker at the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce's First Friday Coffee.

The event will be held at the Drury Lodge Friday at 7:30 a.m. Advanced Business Systems is sponsor.

Business After Hours will be held at the Cape Girardeau Country Club Jan. 19 from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. The monthly event is an unstructured program of the chamber for people to meet and mingle with business contacts. Kwik-Kopy Printing will sponsor the event.

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ST. LOUIS Spartech Corp., which has two operations in Cape Girardeau Atlas-Alchem, One Atlas Drive; and The Resin Exchange, Nash Road has announced improvement of its audited results for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31.

Bradley B. Buechler, Spartech president and chief executive officer, reported that 1992 operating earnings, after reflecting corporate expenses, were $9.2 million, a sizable increase over the $.8 million reported for fiscal 1991.

The increase resulted in net earnings of $4.2 million, or 42 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $5.7 million, or $1.85 a share last year.

Revenues were $168.8 million for 1992, an 8 percent increase from the $155.7 million of 1991.

"Our rigid sheet group, Spartech Plastics, had a very good year in fiscal 1992," said Buechler. "It increased its share of the $800 million market by nearly 2 percent.

"All six of our sheet facilities contributed to the gain, with the largest increase coming from the home improvement, transportation, recreation, food and medical package markets," said Buechler.

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The Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce will hold its annual meeting, dinner and dance Feb. 5 at the Show Me Center.

Retiring chamber directors and chairmen will be recognized. Awards to be present will include the 1992 Go-Getter award, the Rush H. Limbaugh award and the Small Business of the Year award.

A social hour will be from 6-7 p.m., with a buffet dinner at 7 p.m. Dancing will start at 9 p.m.

Cost is $20 per person. Additional information is available by calling Linda Minner at the chamber office, 335-3312.

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CHICAGO - College graduates will face a mixed job market next spring with slightly more openings for undergraduates and salaries that won't keep pace with inflation, according to a Northwestern University report.

The university's annual Lindquist-Endicott survey of 258 mid-sized to large companies found that corporate America is "relatively optimistic" but the outlook for college graduates is only marginally better than 1992. It called the job market the worst for new grads in 20 years.

Job opportunities will be 5 percent higher for graduates with bachelor's degrees, mainly because of an 11 percent rise in demand for engineers, the survey found. Others will find 4 percent fewer job opportunities, according to the report.

Salaries will remain flat for engineers and increase an average of 2.8 percent for others, the survey found.

Job opportunities for graduates with master's degrees will drop 17 percent, with non-engineers facing a 20 percent drop, said the report.

Victor R. Lindquist, Northwestern's placement director, said 78 percent of the corporations surveyed expect their business to improve or stay the same under the Clinton administration.