Download the 2010 OC’s Largest Private Companies list (pdf)
Orange County’s largest public companies got smaller for the second straight year in 2009.
The 75 largest public companies based here had sales of $87.7 billion last year, down 7% from where they were in 2008, according to this week’s Business Journal list.
At this time a year ago, a slightly different group of 75 public companies on our list saw 2008 revenue of $92 billion, down from $97 billion a year earlier.
In 2008, acquisitions, company failures and the onset of the recession took a big toll on public companies here.
This time around, it was largely the recession that hit public companies. Forty-one of the 75 companies reported lower revenue for 2009.
Profits actually got better as restructuring charges in 2008 and early 2009 gave way to a gain for the group. Net income, including any charges, writedowns and other onetime items, came in at $2.8 billion. That reversed a loss of $900 million at the companies in 2008.
It also ended two years of losses for the largest public companies here.
But a lack of sales growth kept profits in check.
In 2006, the last recent profitable year for the group, the largest public companies here posted a $6 billion gain.
The companies employ 31,640 people in the county, down 1.8% from what they employed here a year earlier.
The local job loss wasn’t as steep as the 3% decline the companies on last year’s list posted.
In all, the companies on this year’s list employ 326,253 people, up 3.8% from a year earlier.
A handful of companies on the list stood out as they defied the slowdown.
No. 10 Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc., an operator of vocational schools, broke into the top 10 after moving up from No. 13 last year.
The company has been a star of the downturn as laid off workers seek training for new jobs.
Corinthian’s 2009 revenue rose 29% to $1.5 billion, the biggest gain by dollar amount on the list. Profits grew even faster, rising 280% to $120 million.
In February, Corinthian upped its guidance for the current quarter and 12 months through September.
The company’s challenge now is in finding jobs for graduates amid a still soft employment market.
“The recession helps drive enrollment growth, but it also creates challenges in terms of career placement and student loan repayment,” Chief Executive Peter Waller said.
No. 2 Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. saw a 4% gain to $8.3 billion in sales for the 12 months through December. It was the second largest gain in terms of dollar amount. Profits rose 34% to $962 million.
The maker of disk drives for computers and consumers electronics saw production cuts and others moves in late 2008 and early 2009 pay off with stable prices for its products amid healthy demand.
No. 11 Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. was another big gainer. It saw revenue grow 6.8% to $1.3 billion on sales of its mainstay heart valves and a new type of device generating sales in Europe.
Profits rose 78% to $229 million.
Other gainers: No. 15 Aliso Viejo-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, up 26% to $830 million in 2009 revenue, in part from acquisitions; and No. 23 Mission Viejo-based nursing home operator Ensign Group Inc., which saw revenue rise 15.5% to $542 million, also bolstered by acquisitions.
The biggest gainer percentagewise came near the bottom of the list: No. 74 Anaheim-based BPO Management Services Inc., which saw revenue for the 12 months through September rise 135% to $36.5 million.
The company works with midsize companies to outsource human resources, technology and other back-office functions.
But profits remain elusive for the company, whose shares trade on the low-profile Bulletin Board exchange. It lost $24 million last year, widened from $10.2 million a year earlier.
Santa Ana-based technology products distributor Ingram Micro Inc. easily held the list’s No. 1 spot, as it has for years. The company had $29.5 billion in 2009 revenue, down 14% from a year earlier.
Ingram had some $20 billion more in sales than No. 2 Western Digital and made up 33% of the revenue on the list.
Without Ingram’s numbers, the 74 largest public companies based here saw revenue down 3.6% to $58.2 billion.
There was one big newcomer: Irvine-based Spectrum Group International Inc. It debuted at No. 4 after moving its headquarters here from Connecticut in 2009.
The company has yearly sales of $5 billion, mostly from selling gold coins and bars to banks and others that resell them to investors.
Some companies on last year’s list fell off.
Orange-based United Fuel & Energy Corp., last year’s No. 33, is gone after being absorbed by privately held SC Fuels of Orange. Frank Greinke, who runs SC Fuels, owned a majority of both companies.
Two others from last year moved their headquarters out of the county: Fuel Systems Solutions Inc., last year’s No. 36, now is based in New York; and Ambassadors International Inc., last year’s No. 44, which relocated to Seattle.
Acquisitions took other companies.
Santa Ana-based MSC.Software Corp., last year’s No. 45, went private in a buyout by Palo Alto-based Symphony Technology Group LLC.
Irvine medical device maker I-Flow Corp., last year’s No. 46, was bought by Kimberly-Clark Corp. in late 2009.
The departures made room for several companies from last year’s secondary list of the next 50 public companies to move up.
This year’s second list of the public companies that ranks Nos. 75 to 125 is set to appear in the April 19 issue.
