MANUFACTURING

Manufacturers’ Profits Steady in First Quarter: Profits of U.S. manufacturing companies averaged 6.1 cents out of every sales dollar in the first quarter of this year, unchanged from last year’s fourth quarter, the Commerce Department said. Total profits after taxes for about 9,200 companies surveyed by the government were $53.48 billion on sales of $874.57 billion in the first three months of 1995. That compared to $51.76 billion in profits on $847.04 billion of sales in the final quarter last year. Figures are adjusted for seasonal variation. Profits in this year’s first quarter were up significantly from the corresponding period a year earlier, with a climb in durable-goods profits offsetting a slip in non-durables.