Orange County’s largest public companies were awash in profits and sales in 2005.
The 75 largest publicly traded companies based in OC saw combined 2005 sales of $104 billion, up 19% from a year ago. Net income grew at an even faster clip, up 160% to $5 billion, according to the Business Journal list in the April 10 issue.
The list ranks the largest public companies based here by sales for the most recent four quarters, most through Dec. 31.
It’s a second consecutive year of big gains for the largest public companies. Last year’s list showed a 15% rise in sales and a 148% jump in net income.
The top 10 companies saw profits grow 64% to $3 billion last year. Sales jumped 19% to $72 billion.
All of the top 10 companies recorded higher sales than a year earlier. Just two had a profit decline,No. 1 Ingram Micro Inc. and No. 8 Beckman Coulter Inc.
Ingram and Beckman took restructuring charges associated with job cuts and other changes last year.
Santa Ana-based Ingram continued its dominance of the list with a 13% rise in sales to $28.8 billion. That’s more than twice as much as No. 2 Fluor Corp. and a quarter of the list’s total revenue.
Ingram is the world’s biggest distributor of technology gear. A year ago, the company announced plans to cut 550 jobs in North America, with more than half in OC. Ingram’s companywide employment fell 4% to 13,000, with OC workers down 23% to 917.
Ingram’s net income fell 1% to $217 million.
See the April 10 issue of the Business Journal for the full story.
