Other items of interest Orange County Business Journal
APPAREL
Wet Seal Inc. posted a 0.2% gain on holiday-season sales, totaling $79.6 million for the five-week period through December. The Foothill Ranch-based retailer saw a 3.7% decline on a same-store basis. Its teen-oriented Wet Seal chain had $67.7 million in sales for a 2.2% increase overall, with a 2.5% dip at stores open at least a year. Its Arden B. chain, which offers fashions for young women, had $11.9 million in sales for the five-week period. That represented a 9.7% decline overall and a drop of 10.2% for stores open at least a year.
Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. reaffirmed guidance for its January quarter after reporting flat same-store sales for December. The Anaheim-based action-sports retailer expects same-store sales for the current quarter to fall somewhere between a 3% decrease and a 2% increase.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver Inc. will search for a new chief financial officer following the resignation of Joe Scirocco. The outgoing CFO will remain on board during the search for a successor and assist with the transition. Quiksilver makes clothes, shoes and accessories inspired by surfing, skateboarding and snowboarding under multiple brands, including Quiksilver, Roxy and DC.
AUTOMOTIVE
Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. notched a 43% year-over-year increase in vehicle sales in December, the biggest gain last month by any OC-based automaker. Kia’s sister company—Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America Inc., the largest automaker with local operations—saw December sales climb 13%. Kia’s total 2011 U.S. sales surged 36%, while Hyundai posted a 20% increase (see related story, page 1).
EDUCATION
15-year administrator Willie Hagan was named interim president at California State University, Fullerton, effective Jan. 9. Hagan came to CSUF in 1996 as administrative vice president and served as interim vice president of university advancement from 2000 through 2003. He has been chief financial officer since 2005.The school is searching for a permanent new president after Milton Gordon’s retirement.
HEALTHCARE
Mission Viejo-based nursing home operator Ensign Group Inc. acquired the 108-bed Orem Rehabilitation & Nursing Center in Orem, Utah, for an undisclosed price. The cash transaction became effective Dec. 22 and included the facility’s real estate. An Ensign subsidiary has been operating the facility since May 2008.
Irvine-based nursing home operator Sun Healthcare Group Inc. said it projects a full-year profit of $12 million to $16 million for 2011. It forecast earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and restructuring of between $222 million and $228 million. The projection exceeded analysts’ consensus expectations. Sun Chief Executive William Mathies said recent Medicare payment cuts are having less of an impact than feared.
MEDIA
Irvine-based online media company Local.com Corp. appointed Chief Operating Officer Michael Sawtell to the additional post of president. Sawtell is founder of Irvine-based digital media company DigitalPost Interactive Inc., onetime owner of Boston-based Rovion Inc., which Local acquired in May for $2.3 million.
REAL ESTATE
The stock of struggling Santa Ana-based commercial brokerage Grubb & Ellis Co. was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last week and moved to an over-the-counter exchange. Grubb’s market value was under $6 million as of Friday, well below the NYSE’s continued listing standard of $50 million. The company is in the midst of evaluating its strategic options going forward, including a potential sale.
TECHNOLOGY
DDi Corp. is consolidating its Anaheim headquarters and manufacturing operation under one roof. The circuit-board maker is buying a 96,000-square-foot building for $7.5 million near its Anaheim in a deal set to close this month.
OTHER NEWS
Maplewood, Minn.-based 3M Co. will pay $500 million in cash—subject to post-closing adjustments—to acquire Brea-based Avery Dennison Office and Consumer Products from Pasadena-based Avery Dennison Corp., which said it plans to use proceeds for debt reduction and a stock buyback. The Avery Dennison unit being sold markets Avery Hi-Liters and Marks-a-Lot writing instruments, and other office products such as file binders and folders.
ECONOMIC INDICATOR
MIXED: The upper end of the residential real estate market in Orange County, where properties in the top 25% saw an average asking price of $616,750 in December, according to research firm HousingTrack er.net. That’s down 1.9% from the prior month, and 4.9% lower than a year earlier. The year-to-year decline is the lowest in eight months.
