Alex

Ritchey originally had planned to ship the Preakness winner to Long Island today for the June 11 Belmont Stakes. The departure date will be delayed until New York Racing Association officials have control of the situation. One week after his victory, Afleet Alex jogged one mile and galloped two miles on the Pimlico oval this morning. Meanwhile, the betting numbers for Preakness day continue to soar, as the Maryland Jockey Club released the final numbers. Adding figures from simulcasting and the Preakness-Pimlico Special Double, the final handle figure is $91,028,704, including $63,230,573 on the Preakness.

Hit by a slump that ran through the whole securities industry, Alex. Brown Inc. reported sharply lower earnings for the fourth quarter of last year compared with the same period a year earlier.Alex. Brown, a Baltimore-based investment banking company that operates primarily through Alex. Brown & Sons Inc., said its earnings fell more than 40 percent, to $3.8 million, or 26 cents a share, for the three months ended Dec. 31. That compared with earnings of nearly $6.4 million, or 39 cents a share, in the comparable 1989 period.

A story Wednesday about Alex. Brown Inc.'s planned relocation to Commerce Place incorrectly described one of the building's tenants. Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall is an architectural/engineering firm.The Sun regrets the error.Alex. Brown Inc., the venerable investment banking firm whose threat to leave Baltimore raised questions about the city's economic viability, has tentatively committed to keep its headquarters downtown well into the next century.The company's decision to lease at least five floors of the Commerce Place skyscraper, which it plans to announce this morning, will keep 920 well-paid professionals downtown.

Alex. Brown Inc. said yesterday that its second-quarter earnings rose 56 percent as the Baltimore-based investment banker announced a 20 percent increase in its quarterly dividend.The company earned $15 million on $130 million in revenues in the three months that ended June 25. The revenue figure was up 32 percent. Per-share net income was 95 cents.The holding company for Alex. Brown & Sons Inc., the nation's oldest investment banking firm, increased its quarterly dividend 20 percent to 15 cents a share from 12.5 cents, payable Aug. 17 to shareholders of record Aug. 6.Alex.

CBS has a long and rich history of comedic leading ladies. Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett and Mary Tyler Moore are TV Hall of Famers on the strength of shows bearing their names. Bea Arthur (Maude) and Candice Bergen (Murphy Brown) had long-running CBS hits driven by their title characters. Lately, though, women have been in the passenger seats on CBS' few remaining sitcoms. King of Queens and Still Standing are built around tubby Dads, How I Met Your Mother is male-centric and the title of Two and a Half Men speaks for itself.

An exasperated Schmoke administration has offered Alex. Brown Inc. the exclusive right to negotiate a redevelopment of the long-vacant Power Plant complex, breaking off talks with a group that wants to convert the Inner Harbor landmark into an interactive sports entertainment center.The city's move comes after nearly two years of talks with Sports Center USA Inc., a venture led by Lynda O'Dea and other local business leaders, along with Capital Cities/ABC Inc.Yesterday, Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke indicated that the city's patience with the group's inability to secure financing had run out."

Alex. Brown Inc.'s stock closed at an all-time high yesterday, despite an analyst's downgrade and a flurry of selling this month by company executives.Some traders said speculation that the 195-year-old investment banking firm could be the target of a takeover attempt was driving the stock, which gained 87.5 cents, or 2.6 percent, to close at a record $34.375. New York Stock Exchange composite trading reached 234,800 shares, four times the average daily volume during the past three months.

Alex. Brown Inc. continued to record its best year ever as third-quarter earnings topped $8 million and revenues climbed nearly 50 percent, compared with a year ago.The Baltimore-based investment banking firm, enjoying a rejuvenated interest in stocks that has the industry's profits soaring, also raised its quarterly dividend to 10 cents a share from 7 cents.Results for the quarter that ended Sept. 27 were the third-best in the company's history -- behind only the first two quarters of this year.

The stock market was one of the easiest places to make money during last year's recession. Even so, Alex. Brown Inc. said yesterday that its 1991 stock picks jumped more than 70 percent, thanks to its ability to guess how the market would respond to economic woe.Brown's Selected Investment Opportunities List, which covers about 20 stocks the firm sees as the market's best of the best, jumped 70.4 percent during 1991.Alex. Brown executives acknowledge that they rode the wave of a market that was hot at the beginning and end of the year.