The Lane Report -- Blue Chip 50

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	June 1999 Cover Story
	1998 was a year of change in the form of mergers and acquisitions and relocation among Kentucky’s Blue Chip 50. A few examples: Ashland, Inc.’s relocation to Covington, Thomas Industries Inc.’s agreement with the Genlyte Group to form Genlyte Thomas Group LLC and the merger of Kentucky Utilities Energy Corp. and Louisville Gas and Electric. Corp.

Conversely, the ageless adage "the more things change, the more they stay the same", also applies to this year’s Blue Chip 50 ranking. Nearly half of the entities in 1998’s ranking were located in Louisville, and that fact holds true for 1999 as well. Banks and financial holding companies encompass a majority of the companies present in this year’s listing though healthcare, quick-service restaurant, manufacturing, energy and technology companies also have a notable presence. The same results were reflected in 1998.

Lexmark International Group, a Lexington-based printing solutions concern, was the top publicly traded company in the state based on composite score; Humana, Inc. was the leader in the total revenue department with $9.8 billion; Tricon Global Restaurants Inc. was the leader in net income; General Cable Corporation was the leading company in terms of return on average equity (47.53 percent in 1998) and Lexmark was tops in two-year total return to shareholders (an amazing 263.80 percent) and the leader based on return on average assets (18.06 percent).

Footnotes worth mentioning include the deletion of Ventas, the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) of Vencor Inc. from consideration in this year’s ranking, as the company did not go public until May of 1998; Churchill Downs’ acquisitions of Calder Race Course and Hollywood Park were not included in this analysis; Atria Communities merged with Kapson Senior Quarters and is now a privately held company; CBT Corp. was acquired by Mercantile Bancorp, which is based in St. Louis; People’s First Corp. was acquired by Memphis-based Union Planters Corp. and Trans Financial merged with Ohio-based Star Banc. Star Banc then merged into Firstar, which is based in Milwaukee.

Kentucky's Top 50
Publicly-Held Companies

Company Profiles
This year's leaders:

Additional Information
How they all compare:

THIS SPECIAL REPORT HAS BEEN UNDERWRITTEN BY HILLIARD LYONS

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