EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TOP STORY
Two Orange County retailers posted very different results last week. Struggling Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. took a hit on several fronts. The teen retailer said it planned to close or sell its struggling Zutopia unit. The 31 Zutopia stores target girls ages 5 to 12. Wet Seal will take a $5.5 million charge in the fourth quarter to reflect a writedown of the unit’s assets. Meanwhile, Wet Seal said its December same-store sales fell 7.3% from a year earlier and that it expected to post a fourth-quarter loss more than double its previous forecast. Wet Seal also said Greg Scott, who headed the company’s most profitable unit, Arden B., has left the company. Zutopia president Jennifer Pritchard was named president of Arden B. … Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. said its same-store sales in December rose 12%, versus a year earlier. PacSun also said it plans to open 110 stores this year, up from an earlier forecast of 100 openings. The teen retailer has 876 stores in all.
TECHNOLOGY
Shares of Santa Ana-based Powerwave Technologies Inc. rose 17% to 9.8 after a competitor, Andrew Corp., raised its profit forecast and said demand for its telecommunications gear was picking up.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Cardiac Science Inc. signed a deal to sell more than 400 automated defibrillators to Arizona, Michigan, Texas and Wyoming for use in the states’ fire and emergency services vehicles, community facilities and regional health care centers, in rural areas. Acquisition of the devices, which are used to treat emergency heart disorders, were funded by federal grants … Irvine-based Sicor Inc. got fast-track approval from the Food and Drug Administration to make a generic form of Pfizer Inc.’s Diflucan, an anitfungal treatment. Sicor shareholders are set to vote Friday on a $3.4 billion buyout offer from Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
REAL ESTATE
Irvine-based Standard Pacific Corp. said it completed its buy of Vista-based Lucas & Mercier Development Inc.’s homebuilding operations in Sacramento. Lucas controls about 500 lots in the Sacramento area. Terms of the buy weren’t disclosed. Meanwhile, Standard Pacific said it expects fourth-quarter earnings at the high end of its forecast … Chicago-based Equity Office Properties Trust said it sold $177 million worth of office buildings in California and Texas, including three in Laguna Hills plus Centerpointe I, II and III in Irvine.
ENERGY
Irvine-based Edison Mission Energy sold oil and gas interests to Medicine Bow Energy Corp. for $100 million. Edison Mission is a unit of Rosemead-based Edison International.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based Pacific Investment Management Co. said its parent, Germany’s Allianz AG, has been subpoenaed by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer in a probe of California mutual fund companies. The state is investigating whether Pimco struck promotion deals with brokerages without disclosing them to investors. Pimco said it was cooperating with the investigation, which also has targeted San Mateo-based Franklin Resources Inc. and Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos. … The Securities and Exchange Commission said James P. Lewis, who heads Lake Forest-based Financial Advisory Consultants, has liquid assets worth less than 1% of the $813 million he reportedly has invested for his 5,200 clients. The FBI and SEC are investigating whether Lewis, who lives in Laguna Niguel, operated a Ponzi scheme, in which he used funds from new investors to make payments to older ones … Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. said it made $27.4 billion in mortgage loans last year, up 93% from a year earlier … Newport, Minn.-based American Bancshares Inc. closed its $10.9 million buy of Santa Ana-based PriVest Bank.
GOVERNMENT
John Wayne Airport officials said a new terminal building with three gates should be installed by the end of the month, with another three-gate building to be built later. John Wayne has 14 gates.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Tustin-based Cherokee International Inc. said it plans to sell 7.7 million shares at $12 to $14 in an initial public offering. Proceeds from the offering will be used to repay debt and for other corporate uses. An offering date hasn’t been set … Aliso Viejo-based Fluor Corp. said it won a couple of engineering contracts. It won a $10 million design and engineering deal from Abu Dhabi Gas Industries Ltd. to expand the Habshan Gas Complex in the United Arab Emirates. Fluor also won a contract from Southern Peru Copper Corp. to modernize a smelter (see story on Fluor’s Iraq reconstruction bid, page 3) … The Federal Communications Commission fined Aliso Viejo-based Fax.com Inc. $5.4 million for violating rules on sending unwanted junk faxes and unsolicited prerecorded messages. The company faces a $15 million suit filed by state Attorney General Bill Lockyer for similar violations … Irvine-based Gotcha International LP said it refinanced a loan with Livingston, N.J.-based CIT Group Inc. The restructuring allows the surfwear maker to repay all of the initial trade creditors when Gotcha filed for bankruptcy protection in 2002 … Irvine-based Asics America Corp., part of Japanese sporting apparel maker Asics Corp., filed a suit against Payless ShoeSource Inc. for selling striped shoes that Asics says are “confusingly similar” to its own shoes … Costa Mesa-based Experian Information Systems Inc. sold its North American printing and packaging operations to Lincoln, Neb.-based Metro Group Corp. in a management buyout. Experian also sold its Cole Services unit, which sells cross-reference directories. Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed. Experian took a stake in Metro Group … The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers cancelled a vote that could have organized mechanics at Power Ford Tustin. The vote was nixed just hours before it was to be held at the dealership, which is owned by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based AutoNation Inc. … Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc. said it sold 400,221 vehicles in North America last year, up 6.7% from a year earlier.
