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OC’s women-owned businesses had a solid 2000, but have slowed since

Orange County’s largest women-owned businesses posted a solid 2000 even as the current economic slowdown started to bite at some companies.

The 26 largest women-owned businesses by sales saw revenue increase 9% to $1.04 billion last year and local employment expand by 3% to 3,802 workers, according to this week’s Business Journal list. Still, a handful of companies saw a falloff in sales last year and many say they are guarded about this year.

“Through March, we were above projections,” said Linda Sweda, president of No. 10 Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates in Irvine, which reduced its staff by 20% to 20 employees. “On April 1, the bottom fell out. I’m afraid to see what the end of 2001 will bring.”

For the first time in recent years, Newport Beach-based Edwards Theatres Circuit Inc. is absent from the list in the wake of its pending acquisition by Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz. The deal is designed to help the movie-chain operator emerge from bankruptcy protection.

While the revenue figures on the list are for 2000,when Edwards still was woman-owned,the company was dropped in order to better reflect the performance of those companies owned primarily by women today.

The move puts Orange-based auto dealer Villa Ford in the No. 1 spot with $143.2 million in 2000 revenue,well below the estimated $350 million of Edwards, but still comfortably ahead of No. 2 Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger, which had estimated revenue of $111 million last year.

Villa Ford, owned by Karen Baldwin and Peggy and Brian Butler, is in the final stage of building a 35,000-square-foot showroom, parts and service department, set to be complete by August. The auto dealership saw its revenue rise 6% last year.

Brian Butler, Villa Ford president, said the strong economy for most of last year was behind the gains.

But, he said, “Business could be better this year.”

The list ranks companies that are at least 51% owned by women. Compared to the companies on last year’s list, the group saw sales decrease 14%, due to the inclusion of Edwards on last year’s list. Taking Edwards out of the mix, this year’s group is up 12% from last year’s group.

The list includes Business Journal estimates for five companies that declined to provide figures: In-N-Out, No. 13 Newport Beach-based International Bay Clubs Inc.; No. 16 Irvine-based Alpha Systems Lab Inc.; No. 19 Seal Beach-based Pinnacle Petroleum Inc.; and No. 21 Orange-based Systems Integrated. (International Bay Clubs, however, acknowledged they had seen a small drop in revenue due to an expansion that is under construction.

When the estimates are excluded, the remaining 21 businesses posted a 15% sales increase to $841 million.

Of those that provided revenue figures, 12 saw increases, seven reported decreases and two reported no change. A third of the total revenue,or $344.2 million,can be found at the top three companies combined. Those three also account for 31% of the total employment.

Company-wide employment, including estimates, rose 2% to 11,076.

The biggest sales increase by percentage was at newcomer QPS Inc., which debuted at No. 6 with $50 million in 2000 revenue, up 117% from 1999. Other big sales gains came at No. 3 Abbott Resources Group of Irvine, which saw its revenue grow 50% to $90 million last year, and at No. 12 Brea-based Megatrux, which had a 36% increase to $31.2 million.

Anaheim-based QPS, a seller of optical data storage devices, also doubled its OC staff to 30 and tripled its company-wide employment to 90.

Neil Ghadiyaram, who heads international marketing for QPS, said the company’s performance was a function of being in the right place at the right time. Consumer demand for storage picked up last year, Ghadiyaram said.

The company, which previously occupied a 6,000-square-foot building in Yorba Linda, moved to a 33,000-square-foot facility in Anaheim. QPS still does some production in Yorba Linda. The company also has an office in Paris.

At staffing and employment firm Abbott, chief executive of staffing H. Wilson Beach said most of the company’s growth came from its professional employer organization, which provides human resources and other services.

By contrast, “Administrative (staffing) was slow last year,” Beach said.

At Megatrux, vice president Cindy DeLucca said the company expanded its trucking brokerage and developed a transportation division last year. In February, it opened a freight forwarding service, Megatrux Express, which employs five people and operates from a new 15,000-square-foot office in Hawthorne.

Not every company posted gains last year.

No. 25 Lake Forest-based iBASEt, a systems integrator, No. 7 Newport Beach-based office furniture dealer Systems Source Inc. and No. 18 Irvine-based McMahan Business Interiors saw double-digit declines in revenue.

Ibaset dropped 21% to $15 million in 2000 sales, while Systems Source saw a 12% decline to $46 million. McMahan suffered an 11% drop to $20.5 million last year.

One company, No. 11 Eastwood Insurance Services Inc. of Anaheim Hills, reversed its fortunes from a year ago. In 1999, the company was among those with a decline in revenue. But this year Eastwood grew its business by 12% to $31.6 million.

Like minority-owned businesses, women-owned businesses aren’t easily distinguishable on the radar screen, so newcomers on the list can arrive there by virtue of Business Journal research as easily as by growing to break into the top ranks.

Besides QPS, other newcomers include No. 20 Presenting Solutions! in San Clemente with $17 million in 2000 sales and Costa Mesa-based manufacturer Pacific Handy Cutter Inc., which debuted at No. 25 with $15 million in revenue last year.

Presenting Solutions, a distributor of presentation projectors with $17.1 million in 2000 revenue, grew its revenue 20% last year.

Lori Frierman, the company’s chief operating officer, said last year’s growth was a continuation of a five-year trend. The company has purchased a new, larger building nearby and plans to move there by the end of the month.

The biggest jump in rank on the list came at Freida’s Inc., a marketer and distributor of specialty produce in Los Alamitos. The company rose to No. 8 from No. 12 last year on the strength of a 19% increase in revenue to $36.2 million.

Two companies,No. 23 Costa Mesa-based Creative Design Consultants Inc., which provides interior design services, and iBaset,dropped four slots each.

On the employment front, including estimates, 13 companies reported an increase, nine reported a decline and four reported no change.

The biggest employment gains came at No. 5 Team Fuel, a Huntington Beach petroleum procurement firm, which boosted its ranks 108% to 25 from 12 a year ago.

“Business is hot right now,” President Kristin Irvin said.

Irvin said the company, which had $65 million in 2000 revenue, expects to hit $200 million by year’s end. But even if that goal is reached, it won’t boost Team Fuel’s ranking in 2002,Irvin said the company has received an infusion of venture capital, named a board of directors and won’t be 51% woman-owned next year.

Irvin, who plans to remain involved with the company, said she is starting a nonprofit group dubbed Team-Up, to mentor other women interested in starting similar ventures.

Other double-digit employment increases came at QPS and No. 17 Yorba Linda-based Office Solution Business Products & Services, which provides office supplies and furniture.

A few companies saw their ranks shrink last year.

The biggest percentage drop in employment was at travel agency Carlson Wagonlit Travel Associates.

Carlson’s Sweda said the agency had a lot of business in Silicon Valley that started drying up. But she said she also converted some business to “client-managed” accounts, in which agents on Carlson’s payroll were hired by clients.

“It costs the client less in the long run,” she said.

The only other double-digit drop in employment was at No. 4 Irvine-based Pool Water Products. Chief executive Zelma Allred called the drop “seasonal.” The company is a wholesale distributor of pool and spa equipment and supplies.

“We’re up to 280 employees now,” she said.

Had that been the case at the end of 2000, it would have meant a 7% increase in employment rather than a decline.

One company, Fullerton’s Bargain Warehouse, dropped off the list because it was sold and is no longer woman-owned.

Women-owned businesses can be found in every part of OC, but like businesses on other lists, the heaviest concentration can be found in Irvine. Eight companies on this year’s list call Irvine home. Costa Mesa is home to three of the companies, while Newport Beach and Santa Ana account for two each. Nine other cities are represented by one company each.

With Edwards off the list, the bar to make the cut fell to $15 million this year, down from $16 million a year ago.

One thing this year’s list brought: a touch of philanthropy.

Villa Ford’s Brian Butler said he learned the dealership would be No. 1 on the list the same day he received a solicitation to sponsor the Race for the Cure, a fundraiser for breast cancer research held in the fall. So Butler said he signed on as a sponsor.

“I figured if we were going to be the No. 1 women-owned business in Orange County, we ought to do something for women,” he said. n

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