EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TOP STORIES
Supervisors cut about $106 million from Orange County’s $4 billion 2003-04 budget. Meanwhile, Gary Burton, OC’s chief financial officer, said he would retire March 20, citing a desire to spend more time on personal activities. Burton’s retirement ann-ouncement, which came shortly after winning supervisors’ approval for the budget, surprised observers. The departure marks the latest county executive to leave office, a list that includes OC’s chief executive, the directors of the Planning and Development Services Department, Social Services Agency and Community Services Agency, and the registrar of voters … Supervisors voted 3 to 2 to let Irvine annex the former El Toro Marine base for development. Annexation gives Irvine 82% of the property taxes collected from the commercial development of the base.
TECHNOLOGY
Irvine-based Broadcom Corp. filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission that alleges tuners, power amplifiers and wireless technology gear imported by Plano, Texas-based competitor Microtune Inc. infringe on two of Broadcom’s patents. The complaint is the latest volley between the companies, which have launched several patent lawsuits against each other in the past few years … Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp. was hit with its own patent lawsuit by Bothell, Wash.-based Vixel Corp., which claims QLogic is using its technology in the company’s storage network switching devices … Lake Forest-based Western Digital Corp. said it’s in line to meet its net income target of $42 million to $46 million on sales of $675 million to $700 million in the quarter ended March 31… Anaheim-based contract electronics assembler DDi Corp. promoted controller John Stumpf to chief financial officer. Stumpf replaces Joe Gisch, who takes over as senior vice president of strategic planning and business development. Gisch will look at ways to restructure DDi’s debt situation … Costa Mesa-based Irvine Sensors Corp. granted 100,000 stock options to its chief executive, Robert Richards, according to a regulatory filing. The options vest immediately with a 1.35 exercise price. Shares of Irvine Sensors were trading at 1.28 late last week.
REAL ESTATE
Irvine homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. took advantage of low interest rates by borrowing $125 million for 10 years at 7.75%. Standard Pacific plans to pay off other debt with the funds. Meanwhile, the company said its net new home orders in the first two months of the year rose 53% to 1,446 vs. a year earlier.
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Sicor Inc. won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for norepinephrine bitartrate, a drug that controls blood pressure. The drug is a generic version of Abbott Laboratories’ Levophed … San Diego’s privately held Artes Medical Inc. got preliminary approval from regulators for its Artefill drug, which permanently smoothes facial wrinkles. The drug could compete with Irvine-based Allergan Inc.’s Botox injection. Meanwhile Allergan said it finished two phase three trials of an oral version of its tazarotene drug, which treats psoriasis … Irvine-based Micro Therapeutics Inc. said its fourth-quarter operating loss doubled to $13.4 million on a doubling of sales to $3.8 million. The medical device maker said its research and development costs rose 73% to $5.1 million in the quarter vs. a year earlier … Costa Mesa-based ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. said its fourth-quarter operating profit fell 79.1% to $16.8 million on a 2.8% increase in sales to $199.6 million. During the fourth quarter, ICN closed its operations in Russia, its manufacturing units in Hungary and the Czech Republic and its North American photonics business … Shares of Anaheim-based medical imaging device maker Alliance Imaging Inc. fell 14.4% to 3.85 after the company cut the high end of its forecast for first-quarter earnings by 8.7% and sales by 3.7% … The University of California, Irvine, nabbed a $2.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health for a program that will evaluate studies done on spinal cord injuries at other research centers.
FINANCE
Irvine-based mortgage lender New Century Financial Corp. said its loan originations in February jumped 72% to $1.43 billion vs. a year earlier. The company reaffirmed its 2003 target of $18 billion in mortgage originations.
WHAT ELSE IS NEWS
Menomonee Falls, Wis.-based Kohl’s Corp. opened eight department stores in OC … Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. said its operating profit for the quarter ended Jan. 31 rose 72.2% to $13.1 million on a 30.7% rise in sales to $192.1 million. The surfwear maker said summer sales bookings were strong, despite a tough retail environment … Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. said its fourth-quarter operating profit jumped 64.8% to $37.7 million on a 27.9% increase in sales to $265.6 million. Meanwhile, PacSun said its same-store sales in February were up 14.8%, with total sales at $53.4 million vs. a year earlier … Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said its February same-store sales fell 31.5%, about twice as much as analysts expected. Wet Seal’s total sales for the month were $34.4 million, down 27.2% from a year ago … Walt Disney Co. blamed war jitters for weaker attendance at its Disney World in Orlando and Disneyland in Paris theme parks. Disney said its Anaheim theme park still is seeing strong attendance because its reliance on drive-in visitors, rather than travelers by airline … A judge said he’ll likely dismiss an antitrust suit against Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America and its affiliate Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. The companies said the lawsuit, brought by a former Kia executive who alleges the South Korean automakers violated U.S. antitrust laws by dividing up the market, is baseless because both companies are owned by Hyundai Motor Co. … Mazda Motor Corp.’s U.S. chief Charles Hughes resigned for undisclosed reasons. Mazda, whose U.S. operations are based in Irvine, saw domestic sales fall 4.2% to 258,213 last year … Torrance-based Celestron International Inc. said a judge ruled it didn’t “literally” violate Irvine-based Meade Instruments Corp.’s telescope technology.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Up: Orange County’s jobs picture in January, with total nonfarm payroll up 0.8% to 1.39 million and the unemployment rate flat at 4%.
