QAD profits skyrocket
Two years after making deep staff cuts to combat the global manufacturing collapse, Santa Barbara-based QAD profits rebounded 300 percent to $10.7 million in fiscal 2012, the company said March 8. QAD makes software that manufacturing firms use to track materials, labor and other costs. The company counts Hewlett-Packard and other Fortune 500 firms as Read More →
Marian offers sneak peek of new hospital
Santa Maria’s Marian Regional Medical Center opened the doors of its brand-new facility for a public viewing and dedication on March 7, a month before the building is set to start taking patients. The grand opening comes 15 years after hospital officials began planning to rebuild Marian, a nonprofit hospital founded in 1940 by the Read More →
Semtech breaks profit record, buys French wireless firm
Chipmaker Semtech beat analysts expectations by two cents a share and set a profit record while continuing its streak of acquisitions on March 7. Semtech broke its year-end records with profits up 23 percent to $89 million on net sales of $480 million, a 5 percent increase that was also a new high for the Read More →
Calavo Q1 earnings up 16%
Avocado marketer Calavo Growers reported March 5 that first-quarter profits were up 16 percent to $2.7 million as revenues climbed almost a third to $117.4 million. The Santa Paula-based company said the first-quarter results set the stage for a potentially record-breaking year for the firm, which last year made a major acquisition of Renaissance Food Read More →
Dole buys natural snack company
Dole Food Co. has bought Mrs. May’s Naturals, a family-run company that makes natural snacks such as fruit-and-nut bars and freeze-dried fruit. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Westlake Village-based Dole said Mrs. May’s had 2011 revenues of about $16 million. Mrs. Mays was founded in 2002 by brothers Augustine and Michael Kim, Read More →
Gates: ‘Compromise has become a dirty word’
[EDITOR’s NOTE: This story was updated at 1:50 p.m. on March 2, 2012] Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates delivered a ringing endorsement to California’s citizen-led redistricting effort, saying in a March 2 speech in Santa Barbara that extreme forces on the political left and right must learn to compromise if America is going to get Read More →
FCAL to buy Riverside bank, close four branches
While announcing plans to buy an Inland Empire bank, First California Bank said Feb. 28 that it will close four branches, including one in Thousand Oaks. First California plans to pay $2 million in an all-stock deal to buy Riverside-based Premier Service Bank. The deal is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approval and is Read More →
