EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Orange County Business Journal, Feb 19-Feb 25, 2007 by Mueller, Mark

This past week's news from www.ocbj.com and other sources

TECHNOLOGY

Santa Ana-based technology distributor Ingram Micro Inc. posted record fourth-quarter results, gaining ground in sales in nearly every country in which the company operates. Earnings for the quarter rose more than 8% from a year earlier to $91.7 million on revenue of nearly $8.9 billion, up 11%. The results were in line with expectations.

Santa Ana's SimpleTech Inc. sold its consumer flash memory business to San Mateo-based Fabrik Inc. for $43 million and changed its name to STEC Inc. The flash memory maker's president, cofounder and director, Mike Moshayedi, who had been in charge of the consumer unit, has left the company after 16 years. He also stepped down from the board and was replaced by Vahid Manian, a senior vice president at Irvine-based Broadcom. All other employees of the consumer unit are set to join Fabrik, according to STEC.

HEALTHCARE

Advanced Medical Optics Inc. last week said it swung to a loss in the fourth quarter on lower sales after recalling a contact lens solution late last year. The Santa Ana-based eye device and contact lens care maker posted a loss of $7.6 million in the quarter, compared to a profit of $2.3 million a year earlier. Analysts expected Advanced Medical to lose $2.3 million. Advanced Medical's revenue was down 4% to $243.6 million on lower eye care product and laser vision correction sales, though better than what Wall Street expected. The company recalled nearly 3 million bottles of its Complete MoisturePlus contact lens care solution in November because of a contamination issue at its Chinese plant.

REAL ESTATE

Bear Stearns Cos. last week said it completed its buy of the main operation of Irvine's ECC Capital Corp., which makes loans to homebuyers with imperfect credit. The investment bank was set to pay $26 million for ECC's loan origination business. But ECC actually ended up paying $7 million to Bear Stearns to close the deal. The company owed $33 million to Bear Stearns as part of money it was lent to make loans. ECC wasn't able to sell the loans to investors for as much as it expected, resulting in the debt to Bear Stearns.

OTHER NEWS

Irvine-based HireRight Inc.. which does employee background checks and drug screening for employers, filed plans for an $86 million initial public offering. The company didn't disclose how many shares it plans to offer up or the price range. The company plans to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol "HIRE."