21.   ICI said cost-cutting and higher prices in industrial chemicals and materials fueled the profit increase.

22.   If the strike lasts three weeks, Healy said, it will erase this expected profit increase.

23.   Investors are betting that makers of household products will continue to post profit increases in spite of a slowing economy.

24.   It said the profit increase had been achieved despite poor market conditions in the European Union and the floods that affected operations in Guatemala and Honduras.

25.   Kellogg Co. and Nabisco Holdings Corp. will show smaller profit increases, analysts said.

26.   KFC may be the only one of the three major chains to report a profit increase.

27.   Most profit increases will be won through cost-cutting, analysts said.

28.   Most U.S. software publishers are expected to report modest or lackluster profit increases in the second quarter because of a dearth of new products.

29.   National Steel also reported a third-quarter profit increase that slightly beat expectations.

30.   Nike was also punished after warning of lower domestic orders while reporting an eight-fold quarterly profit increase.