['EARNINGS', 'PER', 'SHARE', 'Primary', 'earnings', 'per', 'share', 'are', 'based‘', 'upon', 'the', 'weighted', 'average', 'number', 'of', 'shares', '(1973,,', '14,190,000;', '1972,', '14,567,000)', 'outstanding', 'during', 'each', 'year.', 'Earnings', 'per', 'share,', 'assuming', 'full', 'dilution,', 'give', 'effect', 'to', 'assumed', 'exercise', 'of', 'stock', 'options.and', 'warrants', 'computed,', 'as', 'applicable,', 'through', 'either', '(1)', 'assumediapptication', 'of', 'the', '6%', '%', 'subordinated', 'debentures', 'atipar', 'as', 'payment', 'of', 'the', 'exercise', 'price', 'of', 'the', 'warrants', 'or', '(2)', 'assumed', 'repurchase', 'of', 'common', 'stock', 'of', 'the', 'Company.', 'with', 'proceeds', 'from', 'exercise', 'of', 'stock', 'options', 'and', 'warrants', '(limited', 'to', '20%', 'repurchase', 'of', 'outstanding', 'common', 'stock)', 'andiuse', 'of', 'the', 'remaining', 'proceeds', 'to', 'reduce', 'various', 'issues', 'of', 'debt.', 'The', 'computation', 'takes', 'into', 'consideration', 'the', 'effect', 'of', 'elimi+', 'nating', 'interest', 'expense', 'and', 'debenture', 'discount)', 'net', 'of', 'tax', 'effects,', 'where', 'debtiis', 'assumed', 'to', 'be', 'reduced.', '9', 'RETIREMENT', 'PLANS', 'The.', 'Company', 'and', 'its', 'subsidiaries:', 'have', 'non-con-', 'tributory', 'retirement', 'plans', 'for', 'eligible', 'salaried', 'and', 'pro-', 'duction', 'employees.', 'The', 'provision', 'for', 'pension', 'costs', 'under', 'the', 'plans', 'was', '$1,839,000', 'and', '$1,816,000', 'for', 'the', 'years', 'ended', 'August', '31,,', '1973', 'and', '1972,', 'respectively.', 'It', 'is', 'the', 'companies’', 'policy', 'to', 'fund', 'the', 'accrued', 'pension', 'cost', 'relating', 'to', 'the', 'salaried', 'employee', 'plan', 'and', 'to', 'main-', 'tainireserves', 'for', 'the', 'accrued', 'pension', 'cost', 'relating', 'to', 'the', 'production', 'employee', 'plan.', 'As', 'of', 'the', 'most', 'recent', 'date', 'for', 'which', 'computations', 'are', 'available,', 'the', 'actuarially', 'com-', 'puted', 'value', 'of', 'vested', 'benefits', 'for', 'the', 'unfunded', 'pianiwas', '$6,200,000', 'greater', 'than', 'the', 'reserves', 'for', 'accrued', 'pension:', 'costs', 'and', 'unfunded', 'prior', 'service', 'cost,', 'which', 'approxi-', 'mates', '$9,300,000,', 'is', 'being', 'amortized', 'over', 'a:', 'forty-year', 'period.', '1', '@)', 'LEASE', 'COMMITMENTS', 'Rent', 'expense,', 'lease', 'commitments', 'and', 'other.', 'in-', 'formation', 'relating', 'to', 'non-cancellable', 'teases', '(principally', 'hotels.', 'and', 'theatres),', 'exclusive', 'of', 'taxes', 'and', 'other', 'charges', 'payable', 'by', 'the', 'lessees,', 'were', 'as', 'follows:', 'Rentals', 'From', ' ', ' ', ' ', ' ', '  ', 'Year', 'Ending', 'August', '34', 'Rentals?', 'Subleases_', 'Net', '$', '9.748.000', '$', '281,000', '$', '9,467,000', '9,420,000', '1,870.C00.', '7,550,000', '10/529,000', ':', '1,869.000', '8,660,000.', '10,281,000!', '1,868,000.', '8,413,000:', "10)132.000'", '1,825.000', '8,307.000-', '9.879.009:', '1,755,000', '8,124,000:', '9,600,000:', '1,755,000', '7,845,000!', 'Five', 'Years', 'Ending', 'August', '31', '1983...', '44,005,000!', '8,009,000', '35,996,000:', '19BB', 'ee', 'eee', 'ee', '39,212;000', '7,448,000', '31,764,000:', '1993...', 'eee', 'eee', 'eee', '30,786,000', '6,579,000:', '24,207,000', 'Years', 'Subsequent', 'to', '1993.', '(in', 'total}', 'oe', 'ce', 'eee', '118,640,000', '2,072,000', '116,568,000', '*Includes', 'minimum', 'rental', 'icommilments', 'except', 'tor', '1972', 'and', '1973', 'which', 'also', 'incjude', 'additional', 'rentals', 'of', '$678,000', 'and', '$124,000,', 'respectivety,', 'based', 'upon', 'gross', 'receipts', 'of', 'net', 'earnings', 'ot', 'related', 'iproperties..', '1', '4', 'CONTINGENCIES', 'in', 'March:1973', 'the', 'Company', 'had', 'several', 'transac-', 'tions', 'in', 'the.', 'common', 'stock', 'of', 'Equity', 'Funding', 'Corporation', 'of', 'America:', 'which', 'have', 'given', 'rise', 'to', 'a', 'lawsuit', 'by', 'the', 'Company', 'against', 'the', 'setlers', 'seeking', 'damages', 'and', 'rescis-', 'sion.', 'The', 'outcome', 'of', 'the', 'lawsuit', 'is', 'not', 'presently', 'deter-', 'minable..', 'The', 'Company', 'has', 'provided', 'for', 'potential', 'losses', 'of.', '$5,283,000;', 'less', 'applicable', 'tax', 'effect', 'of', '$2,536,000.', 'Such', 'provisioniis', 'included', 'under', 'the', 'caption', '“security', 'gains”', 'in', 'the', 'accompanying', 'statement', 'of', 'consolidated', 'earnings', 'and', 'earnings', 'retained', 'in', 'the', 'business.', 'Pending', 'litigation', 'also', 'includes', 'antitrust', 'andiother', 'civil', 'suits', 'for', 'damages', 'incident.', 'to', 'the', 'companies’', 'businesses.', 'The', 'outcome', 'of', 'such', 'actions', 'will', 'not,', 'inithe', 'opinion', 'of', 'Man-', 'agement,', 'materially', 'affect', 'the', 'business', 'or', 'assets', 'of', 'the', 'Company', 'andiits', 'subsidiaries.', 'i', 'OPINION', 'OF', 'INDEPENDENT', 'CERTIFIED', 'PUBLIC', 'ACCOUNTANTS', 'Haskins', '&', 'Sells', 'Certitied', 'Public', 'Accountants', 'To', 'the', 'Board', 'of', 'Directors', 'and', 'Shareholders', 'of', 'Laews', 'Corporation:', 'Two', 'Broadway', 'New', 'York,', 'New', 'York', '10004', 'We', 'have.', 'examined', 'the', 'consolidated', 'balance', 'sheet', 'of', 'licews', 'Corporation', 'and', 'Subsidiaries', 'as', 'of', 'August', '31,', '1973', 'and', '1972', 'and', 'the', 'related', 'statements', 'of', 'consoli-', 'dated', 'earnings', 'and', 'earnings', 'retained', 'in', 'the', 'business', 'and', 'of', 'changes', 'in.consolidated', 'financial!', 'position', 'for', 'the', 'years', 'then', 'ended..Our', 'examination', 'was', 'made', 'iniaccord-', 'ance:', 'with', 'generally', 'accepted’', 'auditing', 'standards,', 'and', 'accordingly,', 'included', 'such', 'tests', 'of', 'the', 'accounting', 'rec-', 'ords', 'andisuch', 'other', 'auditing', 'procedures.', 'as', 'we', 'con-', 'sidered', 'necessary', 'in', 'the', 'circumstances.', 'Iniour', 'opinion,', 'such', 'statements', 'present', 'fairly', 'the', 'finan-', 'cial!', 'position', 'of', 'the', 'companies', 'at', 'August', '31,', '1973', 'and', "1972'", 'and', 'the', 'results.', 'of', 'their:', 'operations', 'and', 'changes', 'ini', 'their', 'financial', 'position', 'for.', 'the', 'years', 'then', 'ended,', 'in', 'conformity', 'with', 'generally,', 'accepted', 'accounting', 'prin-', 'ciples', 'applied.on', 'a.consistent', 'basis.,', 'Machine', '¢', 'Stille', 'October', '31,', '1973', 'PE0z%0000', ' ', ' ', '   ', ' ', ' ', '  ', ' ', ' ', '  ', '  ', '  ', '  ', ' ', ' ', '  ', '  ']