THE OCTOBER SALE OF 14 gas stations in the Atlanta area effectively eliminates Crown Central Petroleum's ownership of retail outlets in that market, but company executives insist that the approximately $10 million sale was a routine move unrelated to any changes in the company's long-term strategy.

The sold properties were described as "nonstrategic retail units" in a news release last week that dealt with Crown's third quarter financial statements. In the quarter, Baltimore-based Crown reported a net loss of $6 million, compared to a profit of $3.1 million for the same period in 1998.

In February Crown brought on Credit Suisse First Boston to help executives plot a strategy that would get the company out of a significant performance slump. Crown's stock price slipped below $8 per share for the first time since last year, and yesterday lost 50 cents per share, or 9.5 percent, to $4.75, a record low.

However, Crown Chief Financial Officer John E. Wheeler Jr. said yesterday that the sale of the retail stations had nothing to do with the CSFB business review.

"We sell assets all the time," Wheeler said. Crown currently owns 331 gas stations in the mid-Atlantic and Southeast regions, about one-third of them in Maryland. But that number often changes as the company buys and sells retail stations, said Wheeler.

He added that the sale was unrelated to ongoing union disputes.

Instead, said Wheeler, Crown decided to proceed with the sale because the company does not have a significant share of that local market. Without a critical mass of stations to justify management and marketing costs in a particular market, he said, "It's just not going to pay you from a management standpoint" to continue operating there.

J. Steven Wise, manager of Crown's corporate and government affairs, said stations must meet sales volume and profit margin targets. "If stores don't meet that, we look to get rid of them. That was the case here," he said.

Crown executives declined to name the buyer of the stations, citing a confidentiality agreement, except to say that it is, according to Wheeler, "a player in that particular market." Wise said the stores would continue, at least in the near term, to be operated under the Crown name.

Crown also owns two refineries in Texas and 13 product terminals along three pipelines.

The (Baltimore) Daily Record, November 2, 1999