P.M. BRIEFING : RJR Nabisco Income Tumbles 62%

ATLANTA — RJR Nabisco Inc. today reported its first-quarter income tumbled 62% because of costs associated with its takeover by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Inc. and the failure of its smokeless cigarette.

The Atlanta-based consumer products company said its after-tax earnings amounted to $103 million, down from $273 million a year earlier. Earnings per share were 44 cents vs. $1.09 in the first quarter of 1988. Sales in this year’s first quarter totaled $4 billion, up 5% from $3.8 billion in 1988.

Also today, company officials refused comment on a Wall Street Journal article saying RJR Nabisco may soon announce plans to move its corporate headquarters to New York from Atlanta. RJR Nabisco moved its headquarters to Atlanta two years ago from Winston-Salem, N.C., its home for more than a century.