EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Toronto-based contract electronics maker Celestica Inc. said it will close its Foothill Ranch plant and lay off 381 workers by year’s end, including 231 full-time and 150 temporary workers; the company said the cuts are part of a move to trim 10% to 15% of its 40,000 workers and shift production to Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe Walt Disney Co. has put its Anaheim Angels and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim teams on the sale block, the Wall Street Journal reported.
TECHNOLOGY
Santa Ana-based Troy Group Inc. warned that it would post a loss in its third quarter rather than break even as previously expected; the company said severance and consolidation costs would hurt earnings, though it stands by its revenue forecast of about $14 million for the quarter Anaheim-based MTI Technology Corp. said its operating loss for the quarter ended July 6 was flat at $10.6 million on a 40% decline in revenue to $18 million; the company said it has cut its workforce by about 64% to 200 in the past year and will give up some of its Anaheim headquarters when its lease is up in January Irvine-based Lantronix Inc. plans to buy Australian Internet service provider Stallion Technologies Pty Ltd. for about $2.6 million in cash, stock and a convertible note Santa Ana-based SimpleTech Inc. was added to the Russell 2000 index of small cap companies San Jose-based Symmetricom Inc. got antitrust approval for its acquisition of Irvine-based Datum Inc.; shareholders are set to vote on the deal, a $112 million stock swap, on Oct. 29, with an expected closing in the fourth quarter Bridge Technology Inc., Garden Grove, got a 180-day reprieve from Nasdaq, which threatened to delist the company if it didn’t get its stock above a buck by late August.
HEALTHCARE
Santa Barbara-based Tenet Healthcare Corp., OC’s largest hospital operator, said it will spend $15 million to renovate the emergency department at Los Alamitos Medical Center and $14 million to build a 156-bed patient wing and emergency room at Fountain Valley Regional Hospital Irvine-based Sicor Inc. received Food and Drug Administration approval to sell its promethanzine hydrochloride injection, a generic version of Wyeth’s Phenergan Costa Mesa-based Ribapharm Inc. filed a federal suit against Switzerland’s Hoffman-La Roche Inc. for violating patents on ribavirin, its hepatitis drug; Ribapharm has sued Hoffman-La Roche in several European countries, with the latest suit being its first in the U.S. relating to the drug, which makes up 100% of Ribapharm’s revenue Santa Ana-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. will offer OC seniors a preferred-provider organization plan next year that includes prescription-drug benefits; the test is part of a three-year Medicare project announced last week Shares of Irvine-based Nexell Therapeutics Inc. will be delisted from Nasdaq on Sept. 3 for failing to meet minimum bid and capitalization requirements; the company said it expects to be listed on the over-the-counter bulletin board.
GOVERNMENT
Irvine opponents of the proposed CenterLine light-rail project are circulating a petition that would require the city to hold a vote to approve a final route.
REAL ESTATE
Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. and Tejon Ranch Co. expanded a plan to build Centennial, a housing development 60 miles north of Los Angeles, from 4,000 to 11,700 acres Orange County Supervisors set aside $4.2 million to buy the 526-acre Barham Ranch east of Anaheim Hills to set aside as parkland; the property, which is owned by the Orange County Unified School District, would connect Irvine Regional Park with Santiago Oaks and Weir Canyon regional parks A 283-home Saddleback Meadows development in Trabuco Canyon was approved by the county Planning Commission; the plan was scaled back from 299 homes and now goes before the Supervisors.
FINANCE
The California Senate approved legislation to block Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s planned buy of Franklin Industrial Bank of Orange for $2.4 million, a deal that faces opposition from consumer groups, unions and commercial bankers; an assembly vote was set for Friday Orange-based Bank of Orange County said it bought Cerritos Valley Bank, which has four branches Five loan officers who were fired from Irvine-based Option One Mortgage Corp. after criticizing their boss won a $713,000 judgment against the company, its parent H & R; Block Inc. and an Option One branch manager The Securities and Exchange Commission say four workers at Costa Mesa-based Shoreline Development Co. have lied to investors about the performance of the company’s oil wells and have taken $1.2 million of the $3.8 million they’ve raised from telemarketing to pay for holidays, motorcycles and other luxury items; regulators have frozen the assets of the telemarketers and moved to shut down the company.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. raised its third-quarter revenue forecast by 4% and its profit forecast by about 10% based on a strong back-to-school season, cost controls and a diversified apparel line Santa Ana-based Corinthian Colleges Inc. raised its profit forecast by about 13% for the September quarter as student enrollment soars at its for-profit schools; Corinthian said its June-quarter operating revenue rose 65% to $19.3 million on a 42% rise in revenue to $94.6 million Shares of Australia’s Billabong International Ltd., which has its U.S. headquarters in Irvine, fell 14% after Chief Executive Matthew Perrin sold more than two-thirds of his stake in the company for about $36 million Fountain Valley-based Classic Limousine Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection; the company said its filing primarily was a move to resolve disputes with Ford Motor Co.’s credit unit and that it expected to emerge from bankruptcy soon Irvine-based accounting firm Corbin & Wertz plans to split up, with Steve Corbin taking the company’s tax and audit business in Irvine and Russ Wertz taking the consulting business based out of Long Beach; none of the estimated 100 workers are expected to lose their jobs in the split Osamah Bakhit, founder and chief executive of Lake Forest-based Aviation Distributors Inc., was sentenced to three years in jail for falsifying the company’s books and lying to auditors ahead of its initial public offering in 1997; Arthur Andersen LLP discovered the fraud after the public offering.
Up: Convention business in OC in the first half, rising 6% from the year-ago period to an economic impact of $876 million.
