THE LIST: Third-Tier Public Cos. Post Sales Gain, Big Losses
By RAJIV VYAS
Acacia Research Corp. barely had its name up on its new Newport Beach office before winding up atop the county’s third group of public companies.
Acacia, which moved from Pasadena to Newport Center in March, ranks No. 101 on this week’s Business Journal list of public companies by revenue for 2001 or the nearest 12-month period. Acacia invests in and licenses technology, including the V-Chip for TV sets.
The list is the last in a three-part series on public companies. Public companies ranked No. 1 through No. 50 and those ranked No. 51 to No. 100 ran in April.
With $24.6 million in 2001 sales, Acacia beat out No. 102 Aliso Viejo-based Medstone International Inc. for the top spot among the third tier of public companies.
But this week’s list comes with a couple of corrections to the earlier two. Medstone and No. 103 Irvine-based SSP Solutions Inc. actually appeared on list of the second 50 companies on April 22. They reappear this week because we missed two companies that should have been on the first and second lists.
Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp. should have been listed as No. 43 on the first list. And Orange-based Capco Energy Inc. should have ranked No. 64 on the second list.
As a result, Medstone and SSP get pushed down two spots. The glitch didn’t help SSP, either. On the April 22 list, the struggling maker of electronic commerce security products actually ranked one spot above Medstone based on sales for the 12 months ended Sept. 30.
But on April 16, SSP released its fourth-quarter results, in which sales dropped 36% from a year earlier to $6.4 million. Last month SSP raised $5 million, including a $1 million loan from its co-chief executives, though auditors earlier expressed doubts about its ability to continue.
This week’s group of companies is a diverse lot of small companies.
It includes several technology companies such as No. 116 Santa Ana-based SRS Labs Inc. and No. 124 Aliso Viejo based Smith Micro Software Inc.
There also are medical device makers such as No. 125 Irvine-based Cardiac Science Inc. and drug hopefuls including No. 134 Cortex Pharmaceuticals Inc., also of Irvine.
Several financial services companies also are in tow, including No. 114 Tustin-based Sunwest Bank.
Others with names you may not have heard of include a golf course manager, a vitamin maker and phone service resellers.
Half of the companies trade on Nasdaq, while three companies trade on the American Stock Exchange. Twenty-two companies are listed on the low-profile over-the-counter exchange.
The companies are small: sales range from $2 million to $24 million for the past four quarters, most ended Dec. 31.
In all, the 50 companies counted 2001 sales of $554 million, which were up 14% from a year earlier. Compared with the bottom 50 companies on last year’s list, the 2002 group was off by 31% in sales as several companies dropped off or moved up and were replaced by slower growing, smaller counterparts. Last year, the bottom 50 companies reported revenue of $807 million.
Eighteen companies on the list had a drop in sales last year. One of the companies that saw a drop was SRS Labs, a licensor of audio technology that saw a 45% plunge to $15.4 million in sales. The company’s ranking dropped from No. 108 on last year’s list to No. 116 this year.
Santa Ana-based Pro-Dex Inc., a holding company of two manufacturing and distribution businesses, had a 62% decline in sales to $6.71 million.
Irvine-based GA eXpress, a maker of electronic commerce software, saw its ranking sink 28 spots to No. 141 this year as sales plunged 81% to $4.3 million.
The group collectively lost $335.4 million last year, though that narrowed slightly from $361.8 million in losses at the same companies in 2000. Only eight companies on the list made money while 42 posted losses.
This year’s lot did even worse in the loss column vs. last year’s group, which lost $255 million
The companies count 2,634 OC workers, which was down 7% from a year earlier. The biggest single local employer: No. 117 Cypress-based RevCare Inc., a manager of accounts receivable for healthcare, banking and retail companies, with 300 people.
In all, the 50 companies employ 4,349 people, which was up 5% from a year earlier.
Nearly 50% of the bottom-rung companies are in older industries, including medical devices and pharmaceuticals. Eleven companies are in Internet-linked businesses or software.
Interestingly, the companies added assets last year, showing a 72% gain to $1.7 billion. But compared to the same companies on last year’s list, assets were down 9%.
Six companies had lower rankings this year. Sixteen of them were newcomers.
Irvine continues to be the magnet that attracts companies large, medium and small. Seventeen companies on this week’s list are based in Irvine, four in Newport Beach, and four in Costa Mesa.
