TOP STORY
Orange County unemployment broke the 10% mark in January as yearly layoffs hit their highest level at 72,100 jobs since the peak of the downturn in spring 2009. The county saw unemployment rise to 10.1% from 9.1% in December, according to the state Employment Development Department. From December to January, the county lost 14,600 jobs for a total of 1.3 million workers employed in nonfarm jobs. The unemployment figure brings OC closer to national averages, which saw 10.6% unemployment in January. It is still better than the state’s 13.2% jobless rate.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. made an investment in a San Jose startup maker of processor chips for servers as part of a $25 million round of funding. Broadcom invested in Tilera Corp. and named Nariman Yousefi, Broadcom’s senior vice president of infrastructure technologies, a director of Tilera. Broadcom joined returning investors Quanta Computer Inc. of Taiwan and Japan’s NTT Corp. in the funding. How much each company invested wasn’t disclosed.
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp., a maker of electronics for data storage networks, again was cited as a possible takeover target. According to a blog on financial news Web site Barrons.com, the company may have “hired advisers following takeover interest.” QLogic declined to comment.
HEALTHCARE
The Food and Drug Administration said it has approved Botox by Irvine-based Allergan Inc. for treating upper-limb muscle spasms. Allergan will be able to market Botox to treat adults with spasms of the elbow, wrist and fingers. In a release, the drug maker said the spasm treatment approval is the sixth in the U.S. for Botox, best known as a wrinkle remover.
A court-appointed receiver who is selling loans made to Santa Ana-based hospital operator Integrated Healthcare Holdings Inc. said he has entered agreements with about 11 potential additional bidders. Names of potential bidders weren’t disclosed. Thomas Seaman of the Thomas Seaman Co. in Irvine is the court-appointed receiver for Integrated’s defunct lender, Medical Capital Holdings Inc. of Tustin.
APPAREL
Huntington Beach-based clothing maker Quiksilver Inc. reported a smaller-than-expected loss and beat sales expectations for its recently ended quarter. The company posted an adjusted loss of $2.5 million for the three months through Jan. 31, versus a loss of $9 million a year earlier. Wall Street analysts were expecting a much larger loss of $16.5 million. Revenue was down 2% to $433 million but ahead of the $413 million analysts were looking for. For the three months through April, Quiksilver offered an outlook in line with expectations.
Anaheim-based mall clothing retailer Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. beat Wall Street expectations with results for its recently ended quarter but sent investors selling with its outlook for the current quarter. Pacific Sunwear projected a loss of $20.8 million to $24.7 million for the three months through April. At the high end, that’s nearly triple the $9.1 million loss analysts had been expecting on average. For the three months through January, Pacific Sunwear reported an adjusted loss of $17 million, narrowed from a loss of $27 million a year earlier and better than the $19 million loss expected by analysts. Sales came in at $293 million, down 17% from a year earlier and ahead of the $277.4 million expected by analysts.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based Pacific Life Insurance Co. ended 2009 with $109.9 billion in assets, up from $96.9 billion a year earlier. The insurer listed its policyholder and other liabilities at $103.5 billion, up from $92.6 billion a year ago. The insurer’s holding company parent, Pacific Mutual Holding Co., reported 2009 revenue minus net investment gains and losses of nearly $5.4 billion. Pacific Life’s total premium income was about $9.4 billion, up from $8.4 billion in 2008.
OTHER NEWS
Vermont-based Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. extended its offer to buy Irvine-based coffee seller Diedrich Coffee Inc. after running into regulatory issues. Diedrich is in the process of being acquired for $290 million in cash by Green Mountain, which in December prevailed over Emeryville-based Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. in a bidding war. Green Mountain’s offer now expires April 5.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court approved a revised reorganization plan for the parent company of the Orange County Register. The plan is a result of a compromise by the major lenders of Irvine-based Freedom Communications Inc. and its smaller unsecured creditors, who had been seeking to submit a rival reorganization plan. The new plan now calls for turning over 100% of the company to secured lenders, leaving the founding Hoiles family and two private equity firms with no stakes, instead of a proposed 2% combined stake. Freedom’s debt still will be cut from nearly $1 billion to $325 million. The company is looking to emerge from Chapter 11 by the end of March.
Seal Beach-based Clean Energy Fuels Corp., which runs natural gas fueling stations, reported a quarterly loss of $1.9 million, narrowed from $23.7 million a year earlier and better than the $2.4 million anticipated by Wall Street analysts. Revenue rose 49% from a year earlier to $42.2 million. That topped the $40.3 million analysts were looking for. Higher natural gas sales and lower costs boosted Clean Energy’s results.
