OTHER NEWS - Feb. 14, 1996

Kimball to End Piano Production: Kimball International, based in Jasper, Ind., will stop making the Kimball brand of upright and grand pianos in June and transfer the remaining 30 employees to its growing cabinet and furniture businesses. The changes will reduce earnings by $2 million in the current quarter, said Chief Financial Officer Jim Theyn. Kimball earned $10.8 million in the quarter ended March 31, 1995. The production of pianos, primarily for home and school use, reached its peak in the late 1970s and early ‘80s, Theyn said. Since then, Kimball’s business has contracted by about 75%, a victim of changes in school budgets, technology and demographics, including the ways people use their leisure time, he said. Total sales for the company in fiscal year 1995 were $900 million.