Sunbeam’s Brighter Profit Picture

Sunbeam Corp. expects record profit for 1997, having rebounded from a loss in 1996 by selling a trimmed-down line of improved products. The company’s product line has shrunk more than 80% since Albert “Chainsaw” Dunlap took over in 1996. Although Dunlap’s turnaround plan involved cutting products--as well as firing half the company’s employees--he has also concentrated on improving Sunbeam’s items. New designs and improvements in its blenders, grills and mixers, as well as new items such as water filter systems, will boost sales in 1998 and keep Sunbeam on track to generate sales of $2 billion by the end of 1999, the company said.