EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORIES
Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc.’s operating profit rose 60% to $65.8 million on a 23% rise in revenue to $245.7 million; Chief Executive Milan Panic received a $33 million bonus for his role in last month’s spinoff of Ribapharm Inc., as ICN tangles with disgruntled shareholders ahead of its May 29 meeting and a vote on three new directors Santa Barbara-based Fidelity National Information Solutions Inc. offered to buy Santa Ana-based Micro General Corp. for about $270 million in stock; both companies are owned by Irvine’s Fidelity National Financial Inc., run by Chairman William Foley, who also chairs Fidelity National Information, co-chairs Micro General and is set to be chairman of the combined company; shareholder David Osher sued Micro General, claiming the buyout offer was too low; Micro General’s board approved the buyout.
ENERGY
Southern California Edison Co. and PG & E; Corp. told state regulators they must be able to sign long-term contracts and pass on rate spikes if they are to begin making power purchases that the state has been making for them since last year; Public Utilities Commission President Loretta Lynch is believed to favor a more restrictive policy for the utilities.
TECHNOLOGY
Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc. blamed costs of its rapid expansion for a 47% decrease in operating profit to $821,000 in the March quarter, while sales jumped 23% to a record $14.7 million; Ceradyne said it stopped shipments of its new body-armor inserts after testing and quality issues MTI Technology Inc., which cannot access a $15 million line of credit from Silicon Valley Bank because of collateral requirements and other restrictions, said it needs more cash to keep operating; MTI Technology has $7.5 million in cash and equivalents and has cut costs in the past year, including firing 123 workers Sharp Electronics Corp. opened a solar systems division in Huntington Beach to oversee the sales, marketing and engineering of Sharp’s solar energy products in North and South America Irvine-based Amara Group Inc. made an unsolicited offer to buy Minneapolis-based Vicom Inc. for $3.75 a share; Amara’s offer is a 209% premium Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit and senior secured bank loan ratings on Anaheim-based circuit board maker DDi Corp. to “single-B” from “single-B-plus” after the company said it expects weaker profits due to a sharp drop in sales.
HEALTHCARE
Santa Ana-based PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. said first-quarter operating profit grew 71% to $77.1 million on a 5.5% decline in revenue to $2.9 billion; PacifiCare shares fell 7.2% to 29.41 following the release Shares of Irvine-based NeoTherapeutics Inc. fell 64% to 80 cents after the company said its Neotrofin drug caused no statistically significant improvement in Alzheimer’s patients; NeoTherapeutics had spent about $100 million developing the drug that stimulated growth of new brain cells in lab mice Fullerton-based Beckman Coulter Inc. said favorable markets could result in second-quarter sales growth of 6% and net earnings growth of 19%; in the first quarter, Beckman reported flat operating income of $49 million on sales growth of 3% to $446.7 million.
GOVERNMENT
Sen. Dianne Feinstein said money raised from the sale of El Toro land should be used to pay for the base’s environmental cleanup A lawsuit challenging the legality of anti-airport Measure W will be heard by Los Angeles Judge Dzintra Janavs, who ruled two years ago that anti-airport Measure F was unconstitutional The Southern California Association of Governments refused to remove a proposed El Toro airport from regional transportation blueprints until a legal challenge to Measure W is decided Alaska Airlines started nonstop service from John Wayne Airport to Vancouver, British Columbia, the airport’s first international flight Directors of the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency recommended adding a four-mile northbound lane to the 241 Foothill toll road; Irvine-based Ortiz Enterprises Inc. was chosen as the contractor for the $12.8 million project, which is set for a full board vote this week Randy Abalos, San Clemente, was sentenced to six months in jail for a property-flipping scam; Abalos, netted $800,000 in 17 real estate deals from 1995 to 1998, in which he would buy homes in Mission Viejo and Laguna Hills and sell them to people whose identity he had stolen.
REAL ESTATE
John Laing Homes, part of Newport Beach-based WL Homes LLC, sold its Las Vegas and Salt Lake City operations to Denver-based M.D.C. Holdings Inc.’s Richmond American Homes for an undisclosed amount; meanwhile, John Laing opened a Southern California luxury division headed by Tom Redwitz, former division president of Taylor Woodrow PLC’s Irvine-based unit, Taylor Woodrow Homes Inc. Santa Ana-based Gigante USA Inc. broke ground on a $10 million, 50,000-square-foot shopping center in South Central Los Angeles set to open in December.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said first-quarter operating profit more than doubled to $53.6 million on a 31% rise in sales to $2.5 billion; Fluor said global oil and gas projects would drive second-quarter sales, while power projects that added to sales growth in the March quarter would slow Foothill Ranch-based Oakley Inc. settled patent infringement lawsuits with Nike Inc. for an undisclosed sum; under the agreement, Oakley will use the XYZ Optics name and Nike will sell sunglasses with its Max Lens Technology, which the companies agreed do not use technology covered by Oakley’s patents Irvine-based Taco Bell Corp. showed signs of gains as same-store sales rose 8% during the past 12 months CKE Restaurants Inc., which recently moved from Anaheim to Santa Barbara, expects a $4.3 million income-tax refund in the quarter ended April 28, part of the company’s net operating loss carry-forward of $44 million that expires in 2022 Orange-based trade exchange Bartercard USA Inc. is buying Van Nuys-based Millennium Exchange Inc. for $5 million.
