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Monday, Feb 10, 2025

Digest

A ROUNDUP OF SAN FERNANDO VALLEY NEWS Valley Firms in Fast 50 Three Valley firms were listed in the top 10 firms in the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 list of the fastest growing technology companies in the Los Angeles area. Calabasas-based Internet banking software maker Digital Insight Corp., which last year led the list, held the second spot overall with 3,387-percent growth in the past five years, followed in sixth place by guitar amplifier manufacturer Line 6 Inc. of Agoura Hills with 1,665 percent. In seventh place was Chatsworth-based electric generator firm Capstone Turbine Corp. with 1,484 percent. The Fast 50 ranks the fastest growing technology firms in the five-county Los Angeles area based on the growth of revenues from 1996 to 2000. Among the Valley winners of Deloitte & Touche’s Rising Star Awards for area firms which have exhibited rapid growth in the three years of their existence were, in first place, Westlake Village-based Internet real estate firm Homestore.com, with 17,838-percent growth and in third place, electronics testing equipment maker Ixia of Calabasas, with 1,447 percent. Power-One Expects Bad News Power-One Inc., a Camarillo-based maker of power conversion equipment for Internet and telecommunications companies, expects a fourth-quarter loss wider than analysts’ estimates. The company expects to lose 5 cents to 8 cents a share in the period ending Dec. 31. Analysts on average had forecast a loss of 2 cents, according to Thomson Financial/First Call. For the current quarter, Power-One said it expects a loss of 13 cents and sales probably will be $50 million to $55 million, less than the $65 million to $70 million the company had forecast. Power-One took a third-quarter charge of about $7 million to $8 million for job cuts and plant consolidations and an asset impairment charge of $5 million to $6 million. Power-One also will write off about $7 million of technology investments and take a charge of about $7 million to $10 million for excess and obsolete inventory. The company, which has cut its work force to 2,500 from 7,500 this year, said demand isn’t expected to recover until 2003. Van Nuys Airport Cancels Expo The Van Nuys Airport Aviation Expo scheduled for June 22-23 has been canceled due to increased security concerns, limited military support and the need to reduce airport expenses. “The aviation industry has been severely impacted by the tragic events of Sept. 11,” said Van Nuys Airport Manager Selena B. Birk. “We deeply regret that heightened security and financial concerns have caused us to cancel this San Fernando Valley tradition.” Northridge Hospital Nurses Unionize Registered nurses at Northridge Hospital Medical Center have voted to join the Service Employees International Union Nurse Alliance. The 381-108 vote to join the union was made public Sept. 24 after three days of balloting supervised by the National Labor Relations Board. Over the next few weeks, the nurses will organize a bargaining team to work with hospital management on negotiating the union’s first labor contract at Northridge. The 75-year-old union, the largest in the health-care industry, includes more than 110,000 nurses nationwide with 35,000 in California. State Fines Health Net for Delays The state Department of Managed Health Care fined Health Net Inc. $100,000 for failing to pay claims in a timely manner. The department said Woodland Hills-based Health Net, the state’s fourth-largest HMO, stretched hospitals and physicians beyond the 45-day statutory limit. Health Net also failed to pay interest on the late payments. The fine is the second largest ever levied against a health maintenance organization. The department fined PacifiCare Health Systems Inc. $250,000 in March for similar violations. Health Net acknowledged the delays, which occurred between 1996 and 2000. The company blamed a faulty “internal tracking system” that failed to flag overdue claims. Health Net also is paying $54,000 in interest on overdue claims to health-care providers. Amgen gets FDA Clearance The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given approval for Aranesp, an anemia treatment Amgen Inc. has had in the works for years and its first significant new drug in a decade. The FDA approved Aranesp as an alternative to EPO for patients with anemia caused by chronic kidney disease, including those on dialysis. Amgen Chairman and Chief Executive Kevin Sharer has predicted that Aranesp will become Amgen’s best-selling drug, a spot now held by EPO, which posted $1.96 billion in sales last year. Before Aranesp, the only alternative to EPO was a blood transfusion. Airport Expansion Tabled Burbank Airport’s governing board has voted to put on hold indefinitely all terminal development plans in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the East Coast. With the airport expected to lose between $750,000 and $1 million in operating revenue in September alone, the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena Airport Authority voted to halt expansion plans as it monitors finances and new federal safety measures. The authority voted 5-0 on Sept. 27, with one member absent and three Burbank commissioners abstaining, to hold off on plans for the terminal. The authority also voted to put on hold selling the Burbank portion of the former Lockheed land, which has been discussed as a possible location for the airline terminal. However, the authority’s Thursday vote will not affect Burbank’s Oct. 9 mail-in election, when voters will weigh in on Measure A, which requires that any terminal plan include a mandatory nighttime curfew. The terminal has been the focus of debate over noise and traffic issues for years. Officials hoped the proposed 250,000-square-foot terminal with 14 aircraft gates would help relieve congestion. In the wake of the attacks, federal restrictions and passenger fears have led to a decline in the numbers of travelers at airports nationwide. At Burbank, officials have recorded about 70 departures a day, compared with 82 a day before the attacks.

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