EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Compiled by Mike Mason
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Procom Technology Inc. shuffled out three of four founders following weak financial results and a 69% fall in its stock price this year; Procom said its April quarter operating loss widened to $5.5 million on a revenue decline of 45% to $4.4 million Three companies,Irvine-based AKM Consulting Engineers Inc., Aliso Viejo-based Indx Software Corp. and Santa Ana-based Integrated Aerospace Struc-tures Corp.,paid about $100,000 to the Business Software Alliance for using unlicensed software Huntington Beach-based MindArrow Systems Inc. said Los Angeles-based East-West Capital Associates Inc. committed up to $4 million in funding for the software maker Irvine-based SSP Sol-utions Inc. received $2 million in funding from Game Base of Nevada Inc. to launch SSP’s online gaming system Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. and Woburn, Mass.-based Alpha Industries Inc. are being sued over the name they chose for their new venture, Skyworks Solutions Inc.; Hackensack, N.J.-based Skyworks Tech-nologies Inc. filed the suit in Santa Ana court Garden Grove-based DPAC Technologies Corp. posted a first-quarter operating profit of $790,000 on a 60% rise in revenue to $11.9 million Century Communications Corp., Adelphia Communications Corp.’s cable unit in North County and other Southern California regions, filed for bankruptcy protection Costa Mesa-based Tickets.com Inc. dropped Arthur Andersen LLP as its accountant in favor of Deloitte & Touche LLP Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. said Chief Executive Paul Folino will assume the added role of chairman.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Allergan Corp. lost its patent suit against Bausch & Lomb Inc. related to its Alphagan glaucoma treatment; a class-action lawsuit subsequently was filed against Allergan, accusing it of improperly seeking patents to block competition Irvine-based Edwards Lifesciences Corp. filed a patent lawsuit against Sulzer Carbomedics Inc., the Austin, Texas-based unit of Centerpulse AG, for its suture guide and assembly, which hold a heart valve in place during surgery San Clemente-based Biolase Technology Inc. said it expects record sales and higher profitability than projected for its June quarter San Juan Capistrano-based ChromaVision Medical Systems Inc. said its largest shareholder, Wayne, Pa.-based Safeguard Scientifics Inc., will provide $10 million in equity and debt financing; the company also said preferred stockholders will convert $12.5 million of their shares to common stock Irvine-based Micro Therapeutics Inc. received $7 million for its 20% stake in Palo Alto-based Enteric Medical Technologies Inc. after Enteric was bought by Boston Scientific Corp. Lake Forest-based Apria Healthcare Group Inc. restructured a $175 million loan to reduce its borrowing costs by 1% and extend the loan’s maturity by a year.
GOVERNMENT
The boards of the Foothill and Eastern toll roads voted to study a merger with the struggling San Joaquin Hills toll road; San Joaquin would receive an additional $14 million a year post-merger The Orange County Transportation Agency approved a 13% budget increase to $647 million to fund railway, bus and freeway projects in 2002-2003 A pro-El Toro airport group agreed to pay $8,000 to settle a lawsuit accusing it of spending too much money on the 2000 OC council election; the city of Orange had sued the Airport Working Group Political Action Committee for $168,000.
FINANCE
Irvine-based New Century Financial Corp. raised its 2002 earnings forecast by 21%, citing reduced debt costs and higher loan processing volume Irvine-based Option One Mortgage Corp., a unit of H & R; Block Inc., plans to open a service center in Jacksonville, Fla., in August; 400 workers are planned for the facility.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Santa Barbara-based CKE Restaurants Inc., which recently moved from Anaheim, took a $176 million write-down for its $426 million buy of Hardee’s in 1998; excluding the write-down, CKE reported first-quarter net income of $13.2 million on a 7.9% revenue drop to $434.5 million Ford Motor Co.’s Irvine-based Premier Automotive Group said marketing for its Jaguar and Land Rover brands would be consolidated under Richard Beattie.
