Black & Decker Corp.

	'96 (in $ 000s)	% Change From '95
Revenue	4,914,400	3.1
Net Income	223,400	17.6
Rank Last Year: 1

Description:
Black & Decker manufactures a broad line of consumer power tools, locks and household appliances, including the Dustbuster portable vacuum and the SnakeLight flexible flashlight. It also produces fastener systems, golf club shafts, plumbing products and glass-making equipment for industry. Its major production facilities are in Maryland, North Carolina, California, Britain, Mexico, Italy, Singapore and Brazil.

Business Resume: Contact Info -- 701 E. Joppa Rd. Towson, Md. 21286 410-716-3900 Main Business -- Manufacturing-- tools and appliances Founded -- 1910 Chairperson -- Nolan D. Archibald (CEO) President -- Nolan D. Archibald Employees -- 29,200

Developments: Price competition on power tools, its core products, a sluggish economy in Europe and higher-than-expected start-up costs for a new factory in Latin America combined to lower Black & Decker's profits in the fourth quarter of 1996. The results ended a three-year period in which quarterly earnings increased 20 percent or more. For the year, net profits barely budged on a meager 3 percent increase in sales. Results for the first quarter of 1997 showed a continuing decline, with earnings down 31 percent.

The company's biggest success last year was in the courts, where it won settlements from several companies that had been selling knockoffs of its popular no-hands flashlight, the SnakeLight. In the largest of those cases, Coleman Corp., the camping equipment company, agreed to pay $2.5 million.