Compiled by Mike Mason
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. plans to pay about $109 million to buy Sunnyvale-based PathScale Inc., which makes software and devices that connect storage systems. QLogic said the cash deal is expected to close in April Santa Ana-based technology bellwether Ingram Micro Inc. topped estimates in a record-setting fourth quarter as the company saw sales growth across the globe. The world’s biggest distributor of technology gear said adjusted net earnings rose 38% to $90 million, versus a year earlier. The results beat the company’s guidance of $78 million to $84 million. Ingram Micro’s sales of $7.96 billion in the quarter were at the high end of projections. Sales were up 7% from a year earlier Fountain Valley-based Kingston Technology Corp. said its revenue from memory module sales rose 22% to $3 billion last year. The privately held company said it’s the highest sales for the company since its founding in 1987.
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services found that UCI Medical Center provided lax care for patients in its kidney transplant program. Meanwhile, a five-person panel set up by the hospital to investigate its shuttered liver transplant program found inadequate staffing and resources at the facility Huntington Beach-based Curlin Medical LLC is being bought by East Aurora, N.Y.-based Moog Inc. for $75 million. The deal for Curlin, which makes medical pumps, is expected to close by the end of March Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. said sales and profit fell in the fourth quarter as the company’s shift to leasing of its medical devices took hold. Beckman said its profit fell 70% to $17.8 million on a 5% dip in sales to $656 million. Without one-time charges, Beckman’s profit was $45.4 million, slightly higher than Wall Street expectations. Sales were about 2% lower than expected Cooper Cos., a Lake Forest maker of contact lenses, was hit with a class-action lawsuit by Milberg Weiss Bershad & Schulman LLP after saying it plans to restate results last month because of its acquisition of Ocular Sciences Inc. a year ago.
Santa Ana-based title insurer First American Corp. beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter profits but spooked some investors with cautious words about this year. First American reported $117.5 million in profit for the quarter, about 8% higher than expectations. The company’s profits were up 67% from a year earlier. Revenue jumped 22% to $2.2 billion in the quarter. The company didn’t offer specific guidance but said business could be slightly down in the first quarter.
Irvine-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide Inc. won a pact to develop a hydrogen-fueled Ford Escape Hybrid vehicle for the Army National Automotive Center. The work will be done at Quantum’s research facility in Lake Forest.
Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia Corp.’s $4 billion acquisition of Irvine-based Westcorp Inc. and affiliate WFS Financial Inc. moved a step closer after the nation’s bank regulatory agency approved the deal. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency approved the conversion of Western Financial Bank from a chartered thrift to a commercial bank. Regulators also OK’d the banks’ acquisition by Wachovia, which is a commercial bank. The companies now are waiting for the Department of Justice’s two-week waiting period to end before the deal closes. They also said they are finalizing some closing details Shareholders of Sacramento-based Calnet Business Bank NA approved its acquisition by Irvine-based Commercial Capital Bancorp Inc. The $40 million deal must still be approved by regulators.
Newport Beach City Council voted to annex West Santa Ana Heights. Costa Mesa is opposing annexation of the 64-acre parcel. Newport Beach’s bid must be approved by the Local Agency Formation Commission.
Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said it lost out in bidding for New York-based G+G Retail Inc., a bankrupt clothing chain it had sought to buy for $15.2 million. BCBG Max Azria Group Inc. won the bankruptcy bidding for G+G, a girls’ teen and pre-teen clothing retailer that had about 566 stores prior to its bankruptcy filing. Los Angeles-based BCBG also offered $15.2 million in cash for G+G as well as $22 million for the company’s unsecured creditors Shares of Costa Mesa-based apparel designer Volcom Inc. were battered after the company reported strong fourth-quarter results but warned that spending on stores and a European expansion stands to impact profits for the current quarter. For the fourth quarter, Volcom said sales grew 36% to $41.2 million. Operating income for the quarter rose 46% to $9.3 million. Volcom said it’s spending money on a European and retail expansion, which could lower first-quarter profits below what Wall Street had expected … Miami-based Perry Ellis International Inc. closed its $12 million buy of Newport Beach surf apparel company Gotcha International LP.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Mixed: Orange County’s housing picture in January, with the median price of a home sold at $582,000, up 9% from a year earlier but 6% below December, according to La Jolla-based market tracker DataQuick Information Systems. The number of homes sold in the county fell 32% to 2,594 from December. Sales were down 11% from a year ago.
