|
|
|
(Thousands of Dollars Except Per Share Data) | ||||||||||
| 1997 | 1996 | 1995 | |||||||||
| Net sales | $ | 4,881,103 | $ | 4,132,879 | $ | 3,273,819 | |||||
| Net income | 260,614 | 229,157 | 200,654 | ||||||||
| Per share : | |||||||||||
| Net income - basic | 1.51 | 1.34 | 1.18 | ||||||||
| Net income - diluted |
|
1.50
|
|
1.33
|
|
1.17
|
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| Cash dividends | .40 | .35 | .32 | ||||||||
| Book value | 9.21 | 8.15 | 7.09 | ||||||||
| Average shares outstanding (thousands) | 172,107 | 171,117 | 169,942 | ||||||||
| Return on sales | 5.3 | % | 5.5 | % | 6.1 | % | |||||
| Return on shareholders' equity | 18.6 | % | 18.9 | % | 19.0 | % | |||||
| Total debt to capitalization | 38.7 | % | 18.3 | % | 2.1 | % | |||||
| Times interest earned | 6.3 | x | 16.3 | x | 126.8 | x | |||||
| Current ratio | 1.4 | 1.3 | 2.0 | ||||||||
| Total technical expenditures (1) | $ | 62,633 | $ | 53,417 | $ | 50,056 | |||||
| Advertising expenditures | 295,942 | 212,448 | 152,588 | ||||||||
| Number of employees | 24,964 | 20,768 | 18,458 | ||||||||
|
(1) See Note 1 , for a description of technical expenditures. |
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