Santa Ana-based Identive Group Inc. plans to sell off its noncore business assets as part of a plan to trim global operations and focus on high-growth products and markets.
The company makes scanners, readers, cards and other security devices for buildings, networks and other uses. It plans to divest its U.S. Multicard electronic payment business based in Los Angeles and its Tagtrail near-field communication mobile service that allows mobile phone users to receive personalized content through NFC tags and quick-response codes.
New Chief Executive Jason Hart pushed the structural changes after an eight-week review.
“I believe that the business has been structured in a set of silos that have caused us to have a fairly significant operating expense base that quite frankly has been really tough for management to change,” Hart said on a recent conference call with analysts.
Potential buyers haven’t been identified, and the company hasn’t disclosed disposal costs related to the exits.
Identive projects revenue for its U.S. Multicard and Tagtrail business to be between $5 million and $6 million in the current quarter. It projects total sales of between $25 million and $27 million, below Wall Street expectations due to ongoing uncertainty stemming from the recent government shutdown.
Analysts on average forecast sales of $31.4 million.
Identive projects a loss of between $500,000 and $1 million, below Wall Street estimates of a net profit of about $637,000.
Clean Energy Signs Deal
Newport Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp. said it signed a multiyear deal with UPS Inc. to supply the package delivery service with liquefied natural gas for two of its private fueling stations, in Houston and Mesquite, Texas.
The fueling agreements will support UPS’ heavy-duty trucks, one of the largest liquid natural gas fleets in the country, according to the company.
Clean Energy, in a related move, said it will open one fueling station each in Amarillo, Mesquite and San Antonio as it develops “America’s Natural Gas Highway,” which calls for the construction of some 150 liquid natural-gas fueling stations across the U.S.
The country’s largest developer and operator of natural-gas stations posted sales of $86.3 million in the recently ended quarter, down 5.6% from a year ago.
Clean Energy said it delivered 56.4 million gallons of compressed, liquefied and renewable natural gas in the third quarter, up 10.8% from a year ago.
Acacia Starts Program
Newport Beach-based Acacia Research Corp. has launched a buyback program to acquire up to $70 million in common stock through May.
The mechanism is typically used by companies to prop up shareholder value.
Acacia shares, which are some of the most volatile on Wall Street, are down 46% in the past year to a market value of about $768.3 million.
The company, which licenses patents from its own portfolio and for other companies, has seen sales and profits plummet this year as it struggled to close lucrative licensing deals, particularly in the medical industry, a segment it bet heavily on in the past year.
The shift to buying medical technology portfolios was part a larger acquisition strategy that included the company pouring $328.3 million into patent buys last year, up 2,133% from 2011.
