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Private Cos. Set Pace on Job Gains

Call it a Triple Crown: The largest Orange County-based private companies combined to post impressive increases in revenue, as well as local and company employment, Business Journal research shows.

Our annual list of local firms with at least $100 million in revenue includes 118 companies this year.

We rank them by 2015 revenue. Employment totals reflect a 12-month period ended in April.

The gains include:

• A jump of 9.1% in total revenue to $89.8 billion.

• A 5.2% gain in local workers to 56,000.

• A 3.9% increase in companywide employment to 396,000.

The figures on job growth among the largest privately held companies compare with a 3.1% increase in Orange County overall through April, according to the state Employment Development Department. The statewide increase for the same period was 2.8%, with a national hike of just under 2%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

The largest publicly traded companies based in OC—a list that included 100 entries in our April 18 edition—combined to post a 2.4% gain in revenue to $98 billion. The publicly traded enterprises combined for a 4% increase in local jobs to 25,000, and a 2% increase in overall employment to 283,000 workers throughout their operations.

Averages

The 118 private companies averaged $761.4 million in revenue, 473 local employees, and 3,360 companywide workers.

A sampling of the results:

• Eighteen of the companies had at least $1 billion in revenue.

• Those 18 totaled about $57 billion in revenue—two thirds of the list’s revenue.

• Fifty-four companies—about half the list—reported stable or higher revenue.

• Only 10 companies reported a decline.

The remaining companies have revenue based on estimates.

The list includes the largest companies in a universe of 73,000 local private companies employing more than 754,000 workers, according to San Diego-based Inside Prospects Inc. (see related Data Drills, pages 15, 19, 21, 23).

Diverse

The top three companies on this year’s list held their positions from 2015:

• No. 1, Pacific Life Insurance Co. in Newport Beach, had $8.4 billion in revenue, up 9.3%.

• No. 2, Golden State Foods Corp. in Irvine, had $7.3 billion in revenue, up 4.7%.

• No. 3, Kingston Technology Co. in Fountain Valley, had an estimated $6.5 billion in revenue, up about 10%.

The top trio illustrates the broad range of the list.

PacLife is a financial services firm; Golden State produces condiments, sauces and other items for fast food chains; and Kingston makes memory devices.

Companies on the list are involved in the retail, manufacturing, services, real estate and automotive industries, among others.

The 10 highest-ranked companies also include a real estate giant—No. 8, Irvine Company in Newport Beach, with $3 billion in estimated revenue—and the 116-year-old Automobile Club of Southern California in Costa Mesa, a $5 billion operation ranked No. 5.

The 10 companies ranked “lowest”—still with more than $100 million in revenue—include a pool products supplier, a baker, and a travel agency.

Movement

A baker’s dozen of big guys largely held onto those first 13 slots in the ranking in 2015—with some jockeying for position but no company rising or falling more than one spot.

One new entrant—The C.A.R. Group in Newport Beach—came in at No. 14, edging out Alorica Inc. in Irvine, which rose 11 spots to No. 15.

C.A.R. stands for Conant Auto Retail and functions as a pun on what the company does: It runs 15 auto dealerships—two-thirds of them branded as Norm Reeves Superstore locations—in Southern California and Florida.

Alorica’s big leap—its revenue nearly doubled from about $616 million to $1.1 billion—came largely via acquisition.

In January 2015 the call center operator bought a chunk of Omaha, Neb.-based West Corp. for $275 million. The buy added $580 million in revenue and some 23,000 employees.

The company should gain in position on the list next year with another acquisition. A deal to buy Plano, Texas-based call center company Expert Global Solutions is set to close in the third quarter.

The firms are of similar size, and after the purchase Alorica will have 90,000 employees and $2.3 billion in revenue.

Ten companies joined the list this year.

Three dropped off—last year’s No. 22, Lake Forest-based Del Taco Holdings Inc., was bought and taken public in June 2015. Last year’s No. 27, CashCall Inc. in Orange, was bought by Irvine-based Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., also publicly traded, in January.

No. 53, Anna’s Linens Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection last June.

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