Manor Care

After snapping up hotels at bargain prices the past three years, Manor Care Inc. figures the time is about right to unload them.Leigh C. Comas, vice president for finance, confirmed yesterday that, "We might do an outright sale" of the 74 hotels sometime in the next one to three years, or put the hotels in a real estate investment trust.The Silver Spring company also is considering spinning off its entire lodging business, including hotel management and franchising, although there's no timetable.

Manor Care Inc. reported yesterday that it made $24 million in its core health business during its second quarter ended Nov. 30, 16.3 percent more than the $20.7 million it posted in the corresponding quarter last year.Revenues were $351.6 million, 17 percent more than the $299.7 million in the year-ago quarter. On a per-share basis, earnings were 38 cents compared with 33 cents a year ago.The earnings report was the first posted by the Gaithersburg company since it spun off its Choice hotel business Nov. 1. Including two months of income from hotel operations, Manor Care earned $32.4 million, or 51 cents a share, for the quarter.

It has been more than half a century since Nathan Garrett and Kernie Thompson marched across Europe together in World War II, but they recognized each other immediately this week in the physical therapy room of a Baltimore County rehabilitation facility. They both moved to Baltimore after the war to work for Bethlehem Steel, but they hadn't seen each other in decades. Now the two war buddies are sharing a room at Manor Care, retelling old tales across their hospital beds. "We went through a whole lot in Europe," said Thompson, at 84 the younger of the two. "Garrett was a good soldier and a good friend."

As it gears up to develop 200 assisted living complexes in the next five years, Manor Care Inc. of Gaithersburg announced yesterday that it will split itself into two companies -- one to build facilities and another to operate them.The move allows Manor Care to expand rapidly in the growing assisted living market -- it opened only half a dozen such facilities in the past fiscal year and expects 15 to 20 this year -- without damaging its track record for profitability.The problem with rapid development of new facilities is that there are "significant start-up losses, and that hits the bottom line," said Stewart Bainum Jr., chairman of Manor Care, who will be chairman of both new companies.

Manor Care Inc.'s profit before one-time special charges jumped 15 percent to $23.6 million in its fiscal first quarter, the company said yesterday.The Gaithersburg-based health care concern reported earning 37 cents a share from continuing health care real estate operations and discontinued health care services operations, compared with earnings of $20.3 million, or 32 cents a share, in the corresponding period a year earlier.Manor Care's stock slipped 56 cents a share to $32.69 yesterday.

Manor Care Inc., whose shares have slid along with other nursing home stocks in the past few months, was the target of competing takeover bids yesterday, causing the shares to jump 28.5 percent. Manor Care closed the day at $12.6875, up $2.8125. Trading volume was 3.2 million shares, about six times the daily average the past six months. Stewart Bainum Jr., the Maryland businessman who is chairman of Ohio-based Manor Care, said yesterday that he would buy the company at a price "significantly in excess" of the current stock valuation.

Manor Care Inc. reported a profit yesterday of $27.8 million before one-time charges in its fiscal second quarter -- up 16 percent from the same quarter the previous year.The Gaithersburg-based provider of nursing and assisted-care facilities said earnings equaled 44 cents a share, up from 38 cents a year earlier and in line with analyst estimates.Revenue for the quarter, which ended Nov. 30, was $280.3 million, up 8 percent from the previous year.Net income for the quarter, after the special charges, was $19.3 million.

Manor Care Inc. said yesterday that it will spin off its lodging division in a separate company, allowing it to concentrate on its growing health care business."

An electrical fire Saturday night in the basement of a nursing facility in Rossville forced the evacuation or relocation of more than 100 patients, a county Fire Department spokesman said. There were no injuries. Shortly before 11 p.m., a fire was reported in an electrical room controlling the elevators at Manor Care in the 6600 block of Ridge Road, bringing firefighters from several stations, said Lt. James Artis, the spokesman. The fire is being investigated. Artis said 83 patients were taken from their rooms to the first floor by firefighters and staff members.