Los Angeles Economic, Social, and Demographic Data

[Westsidelife]

Northrop gets $91M Army deal

Northrop Grumman Corp. has received a $91 million contract from the U.S. Army for more than 300 of the company's Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder systems, the company said Monday.

The order is part of a previously announced $336 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract for lightweight laser designator rangefinder components.

The systems are designed to target enemy positions during the day, at night and in nearly all battlefield conditions and can recognize targets, calculate grid coordinates and provide the information to other battlefield systems, among other things, according to Northrop.

Work will be done in Apopka, Fla., and is expected to be complete by 2009.

Los Angeles-based Northrop (NYSE: NOC) is a global defense and technology company.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Ducommun earnings, revenue up in 2Q

Ducommun Inc. reported an increase in both revenue and earnings in its second quarter, due primarily to an increase in commercial sales.

Sales in the quarter were $91.1 million, up from $77.5 million in the year-ago period. Net income was $4.6 million, or 44 cents a share, up from $3.2 million, or 31 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The company's mix of business was about 60 percent military, 37 percent commercial and 2 percent space.

For the first six months of the fiscal year, the company reported $179.2 million in sales, up from $149.6 million in the year-ago period. Net income was $8.4 million, or 80 cents a share, in the first six months of 2007, compared to $5.9 million, or 58 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Los Angeles-based Ducommun Inc. (NYSE: DCO) provides engineering and manufacturing services to the aerospace and defense industry.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

OSI Systems gets new credit facility

OSI Systems Inc. has entered a new credit facility with Wachovia for about $90 million to replace its previous $67 million domestic credit facility, the company said Monday.

The new credit facility includes a term loan of about $45 million and about $45 million in a revolving line of credit. OSI also has the ability to increase the overall credit facility to $100 million, the company said. Several of OSI's foreign subsidiaries maintain independent bank lines of credit in addition to the new facility, OSI said.

Hawthorne-based OSI Systems (NASDAQ: OSIS) provides electronic systems and components for applications in industries like homeland security, healthcare, defense and aerospace.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Gkkworks buys Sacramento firm

Gkkworks, an architecture and construction management firm with five California offices, has acquired CCS Group, a Sacramento company that provides capital improvement master planning for community college districts in California.

Financial tems were not disclosed.

The acquisition will allow Irvine-based Gkkworks direct access to community college projects from initial planning of capital improvement through design and completion, according to a news release. A major client base for Gkkworks is the education sector.

CCS Group will retain its name.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Powerwave sales down in 2Q

Powerwave Technologies Inc. reported a decrease in sales and a net loss in its second quarter, due partially to restructuring charges.

The company reported $185.6 million in net sales, down from $219.6 million in the year-ago period. Powerwave reported a net loss of $44.5 million, or 34 cents a share, in the quarter, compared to net income of $12.1 million, or 9 cents a share, in the year-ago period. The current period included $11.2 million in restructuring and impairment charges and $7.7 million of intangible asset amortization.

For the first six months of the fiscal year, Powerwave reported sales of $349.3 million, down from $401.4 million in the year-ago period. Total net loss for the six month period was $91.7 million, or 70 cents a share, compared to net income of $9 million, or 8 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Santa Ana-based Powerwave Technologies (NASDAQ: PWAV) is a global supplier of end-to-end wireless solutions for wireless communications networks.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

ValueClick Stock Battered After Earnings

By ALLEN P. ROBERTS Jr.

Shares of ValueClick lost nearly one quarter of their value Monday after the company lowered its 2007 guidance and announced second-quarter results that fell short of Wall Street expectations.

ValueClick reported net income of $18 million (17 cents per share), a 22 percent increase from the same period a year earlier. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial were expecting 18 cents a share.

Revenue for the Westlake Village-based online advertising firm rose 14 percent to $149 million. But that was well short of Wall Street’s forecast of $159 million. The shortfall was due to declines in the promotion-based business, the company said.

“The promotion-based sector suffered a downturn that began in late May and became more pronounced in June, which negatively impacted our quarter,” said Chief Executive Tom Vadnais.

The company also lowered its full-year earnings guidance to between 74 cents to 76 cents per share on revenue of $645 million to $660 million. ValueClick previously said it expected earnings of between 79 cents and 81 cents a share on revenue of $655 million to $665 million.

All of this comes less than two weeks after the company said it is buying comparison shopping Web site company MeziMedia for up to $352 million. It also comes as shares of ValueClick were boosted earlier this year after Google, Microsoft and Yahoo all bought online advertising firms – which led investors to bid up shares of ValueClick thinking it would be the next to be acquired. No deal happened.

Shares in ValueClick plunged 24 percent to $19.76 in afternoon trading Monday on the Nasdaq. Shares are down more than 48 percent since hitting a 52-week high of $36.70 in May.

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Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/art...98&aID2=115931

[Westsidelife]

Broader Defaults Rock Countrywide

REAL ESTATE: Growth can’t offset meltdown’s spread to prime.

By DANIEL MILLER
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

It looks like Angelo Mozilo’s trusty crystal ball was a bit cloudy.

Two months ago, the longtime chief of Countrywide Financial Corp. made a bold move for market share amid the downturn in the housing market. The company dove into the pool of laid-off mortgage workers, hired 2,000 employees and announced plans for 100 retail outlets across the country – just six months after it had cut more than 3,000 jobs, mostly in its subprime operation.

Mozilo’s move paid off – to a point.

The Calabasas lending giant’s business is growing. Its overall market share is expected to grow to 17 percent in the fourth quarter from its current 16.3 percent, according to analysts.

The growth in market share helped prop up the company’s revenue, but it still fell 15 percent to $2.55 billion.

The problem? Mozilo didn’t foresee this: higher delinquency rates even among borrowers with good credit.

Countrywide helped trigger a plunge in the Dow and talk of a recession last week when it missed its quarterly numbers. The company reported a 33 percent drop in net income to $485 million largely driven by the higher than expected loan losses.

Wall Street was shocked to hear that the percentage of Countrywide customers with good credit who were delinquent on their loans rose to 4.6 percent for the quarter, up from less than 2 percent a year ago.

The delinquencies were blamed on looser underwriting standards, adjustable rate mortgages resetting at higher rates and falling home prices, which make it harder for struggling borrowers to refinance or sell their homes at a profit.

“The mortgage market continues to deteriorate beyond Countrywide’s expectations,” wrote Goldman Sachs analyst James Fotheringham in a research note last week.

Mozilo, 68, who co-founded Countrywide in 1969 and has helped steer it through booms and busts to become the nation’s No. 1 mortgage lender, wasn’t entirely blind to the issue of underwriting standards.

He moved months ago to shore up Countrywide’s own finances by tightening lending standards amid a rapid rise in delinquencies and defaults among subprime borrowers who have the poorest credit histories. Still he was blindsided, like many experts, by the depth of the housing downturn.

“We are experiencing home price depreciation almost like never before, with the exception of the Great Depression,” said Mozilo during a call with analysts, whose average second quarter revenue forecasts the company missed by a dime.

Earnings forecast

The rising delinquencies prompted Countrywide to lower its 2007 guidance to a range of $2.70 to $3.20 per share, from $3.50 to $4.30 per share.

However, with the housing market entering uncharted waters it’s unclear whether even those new numbers can be trusted.

The last time California and the nation experienced such a downturn in the housing market it accompanied a recession, driven by the reduction in defense spending after the sudden end of the Cold War. But this time the underlying economy is relatively healthy, though now worries are starting to build that the soft housing market could drag down the entire economy.

The National Association of Realtors expects that the median U.S. home price will fall 1.4 percent to $218,800 this year. That would be the first national decline since the Great Depression, according to Bloomberg News.

At this point, given the proliferation of exotic mortgages with adjustable rates even among prime borrowers, no one is sure when that decline will end. Rising delinquencies and default rates would drag down home prices even further by adding even more product to an already saturated home market.

“This has always been the wild card out there that we have been unsure of because we never had so many of these exotic mortgages. There is a lot of uncertainty out there,” said Delores Conway, director of the Casden Forecast at the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate. “As interest rates have moved up, (homeowners) are having difficulty making payments and they are having difficulty refinancing because the qualification criteria have tightened since last year.”

Moreover, Countrywide is in an especially difficult situation because about 45 percent of its portfolio is in California, which was home to some of the hottest housing markets. Those markets have long since turned south, led by the Inland Empire where foreclosure rates are through the roof.

Last week, DataQuick Information Services, a La Jolla housing data firm, released figures that showed foreclosures in the state had reached a record high, with 17,408 homes in foreclosure, an increase of almost 800 percent from a year ago. The rate also topped the previous record set in 1996 when the state’s previous housing slump reached its nadir.

The uncertainty over the housing market and the rising delinquencies has squelched rumors that had been circulating around Wall Street that Countrywide may be on the block. And for now at least, analysts who cover Countrywide are about evenly split on its stock. Seven analysts rate it a buy, five rate it a sell and six rate it a hold, according to Bloomberg News.

Analyst Paul Miller of Friedman Billings Ramsey & Co. Inc. downgraded the company last week to “under perform” from “market perform” until the current state of the mortgage market becomes clearer.

But with Countrywide having a nearly 20 percent share of the nation’s mortgage market, he noted in his research that “We still view (the company) as the ‘best of breed’ in the space.”

Countrywide did not return calls for comment.

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Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/art...284.146&page=2

[Westsidelife]

Local Lenders Have Rollercoaster Day

By ALLEN P. ROBERTS Jr.

Shares in two area lenders hit three-year lows Monday after Wall Street reacted to American Home Mortgage Investment Corp.’s decision to suspend its dividend. The company said some of its lenders want their money back.

Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. dipped 58 cents, or 1.9 percent Monday to $29.27. This comes less than a week after reporting a 33 percent drop in profit due to growing defaults and waning demand due to a sluggish housing market. Shares in the nation’s largest mortgage lender hit a three-year-low of $28.25 during the trading day. In after-hours trading, the stock sunk to $28.97. Shares in Countrywide are down more than 33 percent since February.

Shares in IndyMac Bancorp also hit a three-year low of $20.36 during the trading day, but rebounded to close at $21.69. Still, that was down $1.40 or 6 percent for the day. However, shares of IndyMac gained it all back in after-hours trading, gaining $1.40 to $23.09. Shares in the Pasadena-based lender are down 53 percent since the beginning of the year.

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Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/art...62&aID2=115934

[MattMKL]

Saw this posted on SSP, and I didn't see it here. As China's economic influence grows with each year, I think it will be interesting to see it's going to affect LA, being the main gateway to the Pacific Rim for the US.

L.A.-China Paper Trail
By RICHARD CLOUGH - 6/18/2007
Los Angeles Business Journal Staff

Los Angeles County is no paper tiger when it comes to international trade.


Led by such paper exporters as America Chung Nam Inc. and Allan Co., the county accounts for almost 40 percent of American exports to China, which have swelled in recent months in the face of China’s torrid economy.


As China threatens to supplant Japan as the third-largest U.S. export market, local companies are finding that China’s appetite for everything from old paper to chemicals to semiconductors is on the rise.


“The Chinese standard of living is improving,” said Stephen Young, president of Baldwin Park-based Allan Co. “When the standard of living improves, the use of paper increases two- or three-fold.”


The Journal of Commerce this month released its rankings of the top exporters in the country, with 19 Los Angeles area companies making the list. Young’s company was the second-largest local exporter by bulk in 2006, sending almost 100,000 shipping containers – each about the size of a school bus and each packed with paper – out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.


The company came in just behind City of Industry-based America Chung Nam, which has for several years been the largest exporter by bulk in the nation. The paper the companies send to China is used to make cardboard and similar packaging, for the most part.


And while paper companies are the face of local exports to China, their product is by no means the only one going to China. Plastics, chemicals, metals and textiles have all been hot commodities, and some of the fastest growing sectors are technology, environmental products and medical equipment.


“China is by far our hottest export market,” said Dan Griswold, director of the Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank. While imports from China still dwarf exports, U.S. exports to China have been increasing an average of 24 percent each year for the past five years, according to Cato’s figures.


“The obsession is with what the Chinese are selling us, but what a lot of (people) don’t appreciate is the tremendous opportunities for California and U.S. companies to sell into the Chinese market,” Griswold said.


China’s booming economy has been marked by a shift from an export orientation to a more consumerist approach. Last year, the United States exported $55 billion of goods to China – $21 billion of which came from L.A. County. And while Los Angeles’ imports saw a modest increase in 2006 over the previous year, the county’s exports to China grew by a staggering 32 percent.


“It just blows our exports to Canada and Europe out of the water as far as the growth trend,” Griswold said.


And the growth is having spillover effects for some local companies.


Chatsworth Products Inc., a Westlake Village company that designs and manufactures storage and security equipment for the information technology industry, is one of the companies benefiting from growth in a related sector.


Joe Weber, director of international sales for the manufacturer, said as large IT companies like Intel Corp. and Microsoft Corp. grow their business in China and build data centers, companies like Chatsworth Products see their exports to the country rise dramatically.


“As the Chinese market opens up we have more and more U.S.-based multinationals landing there, and we’re following them,” Weber said. “We follow them to be able to service their needs.”


He said the company’s revenue in the Asia Pacific region has increased almost 300 percent in the past couple of years.


China’s economic prosperity has also allowed more local companies to export fully assembled products, which breaks from the traditional model of companies sending raw materials to the country. Torrance-based Pelican Products Inc., which makes durable cases and flashlights, assembles its products in its local facility and ships them from there. The company has been greatly expanding its business in China, opening an office there in March.


Lyndon Faulkner, Pelican chief executive, is eager to point out that his company’s business model of finishing products in America to ship to China “is the opposite of how it usually works.”


Thirty percent of the company’s revenue now comes from international sales.


The Los Angeles and Long Beach ports handle the majority of the exports to Asia – a point which, while a boon to the American economy, is making some forecasters nervous. A report released last month by the Boston Consulting Group predicts that the “explosive” growth of U.S.-China trade will overwhelm West Coast ports within the next few years.


“North American ports and rail systems are beginning to choke, and delays and uncertainties are increasing,” the report said. “The longer Western management teams wait to sort out their China strategies, the greater the risks their companies face.”


As U.S.-China trade expands, more companies are looking to break into the Chinese market – or expand their existing China presence – in nontraditional regions, said Vance Baugham, president of the World Trade Center Association, Los Angeles-Long Beach, a group that assists local companies as they pursue international markets. More companies, he said, are looking to export to second-tier cities like Nanjing and Shenyang, rather than immediately going for Beijing or Hong Kong, and those alternative markets are very willing to accept American products.


“That second tier of cities in China – they seem to be more aggressive in importing U.S. products,” Baugham said. “They represent almost half of all Chinese imports. This is something we’ve noticed in the last year or so.”

[Westsidelife]

Canyon Capital, Angelides Start With $250M

LOS ANGELES-Locally based Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and former California treasurer Phil Angelides have formed a new venture to acquire land throughout the US for mixed-use projects, with an emphasis on smart growth developments. Angelides tells GlobeSt.com that the new venture, called River Canyon, has committed $250 million to get started and is "ready to go" when it finds the right sites.
"The initial commitment is $250 million, but we all feel confident that we will have the capacity and the capital to be as far-reaching as we choose," Angelides tells GlobeSt.com. He says that the new venture will have "a fairly broad mandate," both geographically and in terms of the types of investments it will make.

The venture will be looking at land in regions like the Pacific Northwest, California, the Southwest and the Southeast, focusing on "markets across the US where we see projected job growth and population growth." It will acquire land directly, invest with existing land owners and "possibly make investments in companies that own land," Angelides says.

The former state treasurer, who ran unsuccessfully for California governor last year, says that the new JV will be looking at sites that can accommodate residential and a mix of other uses "in urban regions that are in the path of growth." The residential component will most likely include single-family and multifamily uses, and the mixed-use will likely include retail and office components.
The River Canyon venture will include two Canyon Capital entities, Canyon Capital Realty Advisors and Canyon Capital Advisors, which together have more than $16.5 billion in assets under management. The other partners in the venture are both firms associated with Angelides.

One of the other two is Riverview Capital Investments, owned and headed by Angelides, who formed the firm this year after returning to private life. The other is River West Investments, owned and headed by Brian Vail, who was a partner with Angelides in the company before Angelides exited River West to take state office.

Angelides comments that the emphasis on smart growth will be part of the new venture's intent to "do projects that make sense from an environmental standpoint." The JV will consider both entitled and unentitled property, but will consider an unentitled site "only if it makes sense from a planning perspective," he says.

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Source: http://www.globest.com/news/959_959/.../162691-1.html

[Westsidelife]

Hilton Reports a Solid Second Quarter

By ALLEN P. ROBERTS Jr.

Hilton Hotels Corp. reported solid second quarter numbers boosted by higher demand in most major markets as well as a 16 percent boost in management and franchise fees.

Hilton’s second quarter net income was $165 million (40 cents per share), a 15 percent hike from $144 million (35 cents) in the same period a year earlier. The earnings beat analysts’ expectations of 33 cents per share, according to a poll conducted by Thomson Financial.

Revenue for the Beverly Hills-based hotel owner and operator also climbed 4 percent to $2.1 billion, a little ahead of Wall Street’s forecast of $2.07 billion.

Hilton also withdrew its previous full-year outlook and said it is not issuing new guidance due to its pending $26 billion acquisition, announced in early July, by private equity firm the Blackstone Group.

Shares in Hilton rose 17 cents to $44.70 in afternoon trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/art...38&aID2=115943

[Westsidelife]

Shares Soar as CBRE Doubles Profit

By ALLEN P. ROBERTS Jr.

Shares in CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. gained more than 5 percent Tuesday after the company reported it had more than doubled profit and increased revenues more than 60 percent during the second quarter.

CBRE reported second quarter net income $141 million (59 cents per share), a 120 percent jump from $64 million (27 cents) for the same period a year earlier. According to a poll by Thomson Financial, analysts were expecting 42 cents per share.

Revenue for the El Segundo-based real estate firm increased 65 percent to $1.5 billion. The company credited the strong earnings to a 56 percent boost in revenue from operations in the Western Hemisphere, which was in large part due to the $1.9-billion acquisition of Dallas-based Trammell Crow late last year.

Revenue from operations in Europe and Asia were also up 72 percent and 40 percent, respectively.

Shares in CBRE were up $1.84, or 5.2 percent, to $37.24 in afternoon trading Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/art...92&aID2=115947

[Westsidelife]

IndyMac Up on Surprising Earnings

By ALLEN P. ROBERTS Jr.

Despite reporting that its profit had been cut in half, shares in IndyMac Bancorp Inc. surged more than 15 percent Tuesday after the lender reported better-than-expected second quarter earnings.

IndyMac reported second-quarter net income of $45 million (60 cents per share), a 57 percent drop from $105 million ($1.49) from the same period a year earlier. But the results beat Wall Street’s expectations of 54 cents per share, according to Thomson Financial.

IndyMac also reported that total mortgage production fell 12 percent to $23 billion for the second quarter, reflecting the slumping demand for home loans.

Declining performance also led to a large jump in repurchase demand from Wall Street. Investors who buy mortgages originated by IndyMac can demand they be repurchased if the loans default shortly after they are made. IndyMac, which sells the bulk of its loans to investors, faced repurchase requests of $221 million during the second quarter, up from $71 million from the same period last year but down from $527 million in the first quarter of 2007.

IndyMac said earlier this year that it plans to scale back its subprime lending, but expects to capture some business lost by subprime lenders that have closed their doors. The lender also announced earlier this month that it had cut 400 jobs in an effort to cut costs.

While shares in IndyMac had a rollercoaster day yesterday, they bounced back Tuesday, gaining $3.31, or 15 percent, to $25 and continued to rise in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

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Source: http://www.labusinessjournal.com/art...77&aID2=115949

[Westsidelife]

Northrop to buy back 6.5M shares, open National Work Force Center in W. Va.

Northrop Grumman Corp. entered an accelerated share repurchase agreement with JPMorgan Chase Bank, NA, London branch, the company said Tuesday.

Northrop separately announced that it planned to establish a National Work Force Center in West Virginia as part of an initiative to provide technology centers within the United States as an alternative to off-shoring.

Under the $500 million share repurchase agreement, Northrop repurchased 6,483,402 shares of its stock from JPMorgan Chase for $77.12 per share. JPMorgan Chase will buy the same number of shares in the open market and the companies will work out a price adjustment based on the volume weighted average price of the shares JPMorgan buys, according to a release.

After the share repurchase deal, Northrop expects to have less than $100 million remaining in its existing $1 billion share repurchase authorization that was announced in December 2006. Including the share repurchase announced today, Northrop has repurchased 14.5 million shares of its common stock for $1.1 billion in 2007, and has bought back about 67.6 million shares for $4.1 billion since it began repurchasing programs in August 2003.

Northrop's National Work Force Center plan is subject to final assessments and negotiations, the company said, and the assessments are currently being conducted within the I-79 high technology corridor through Wheeling, West Virginia. Northrop said it plans to hire about 50 new full-time employees for information technology jobs in West Virginia to support the company's projects across the country. Northrop said it will expand into other functional areas and disciplines in the future.

Los Angeles-based Northrop (NYSE: NOC) is a global defense and technology company.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Jacobs awarded three contracts

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. announced three contracts Tuesday, one from the Indian Oil Corp. Limited, one from Slavneft-Yanos for a refinery upgrade in Russia, and one from British Energy Generation.

Indian Oil Corp. Limited
Jacobs received a contract from Indian Oil Corporation Limited for project management and engineering, procurement and construction management services for a 2.2 million tons per annum diesel hydro treatment project that will be located at the company's refinery in the state of Gujarat, India.

The project has a total investment cost of about $200 million and is scheduled to be complete in three years. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Jacobs will provide project management and provide residual process design, detailed engineering, procurement, construction management, and startup and commissioning support. The work will be managed and executed by Jacob's office in Mumbai, India.

Russian refinery upgrade project
Jacob's subsidiary Jacobs Consultancy UK Ltd. has recieved a contract from Slavneft-Yanos to provide consulting support for a development program at a refinery in Yaroslavl, Russia.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company plans to upgrade the 300,000 barrels per stream day refinery by converting the residue into "high-value products that meet European specifications", Jacobs said.

British Energy Generation
Jacobs has recieved a 5-year contract from British Energy Generation to help it deliver its asset improvement program. The contract is also extendable by two years.

BE owns and operates eight nuclear and one coal-fired power station in the U.K., it generates about oen-fifth of the nation's power needs.

Jacobs will act as a strategic partner to British Energy Projects Division as part of the deal, and will take responsiblity for asset improvement at five sites. The company will take on major projects and plant replacemetn work through BE's asset improvement program. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Pasadena-based Jacobs (NYSE: JEC) provides technical, professional and construction services globally.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Lionsgate signs deal with Kathy Smith

Lionsgate has signed a multi-year partnership deal for the North American distribution rights to Kathy Smith's line of fitness DVDs, the company said Tuesday.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The studio is scheduled to release two new Kathy Smith titles later this year. Smith has sold more than 16 million fitness DVDs and each of her more than 35 titles has reached platinum or gold status, according to a Lionsgate release.

Santa Monica-based Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF) is an independent filmed entertainment studio.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

National Technical Systems wins Army testing contract

National Technical Systems Inc. has received a contract from the U.S. Army to test insensitive munitions, the company said Tuesday.

Insensitive munitions are "munitions that will not detonate under any conditions other than their intended mission to destroy a target," National Technical Systems said in a release. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Calabasas-based National Technical Systems (NASDAQ: NTSC) offers integrated testing, certification, quality registration, systems evaluation and IT staffing services to the aerospace, defense, information technology and high technology markets.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Gateway goes east

Computer maker Gateway is looking for a foothold in Eastern Europe. The company says it is partnering with Tesco to sell Gateway computers in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gateway will also provide service and support to its customers in Eastern Europe through its existing European call center, the company said in a release.

Irvine-based Gateway (NYSE: GTW) is the third largest PC company in the United States.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

'Shrek' boosts DreamWorks earnings

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. reported an increase in both revenue and earnings in its second quarter, due mostly to the performance of "Shrek the Third", the company said Tuesday.

The company reported revenue of $222.5 million, up from $74.9 million in the year-ago period. Net income was $61.8 million, or 60 cents a share, up from $13.7 million, or 13 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

"Shrek the Third" contributed about $109.1 million in revenue in the quarter, primarily from box-office receipts in the quarter. The movie had the biggest domestic opening for an animated film in the history of the movie industry, according to a DreamWorks release. "Over the Hedge" contributed about $26.9 million in revenue, driven by its release in the home video market and on pay television, while "Flushed Away" contributed $12.4 million.

Glendale-based DreamWorks (NYSE: DWA) develops and produces computer generated animated feature films.

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Source: http://losangeles.bizjournals.com/lo...l?surround=lfn

[Westsidelife]

Cornerstone Buys 174,000-SF Complex for $58M

By Bob Howard

WEST COVINA, CA-Cornerstone Real Estate Advisors of Hartford has acquired a 174,065-sf office complex called the Lakes from Los Angeles-based Ten West Associates LLC for $58 million, according to Madison Partners. Bob Safai, principal at L.A.-based Madison, reports that Cornerstone bought the property on behalf of a Los Angeles pension fund client.
The Lakes complex consists of twin L-shaped, multi-tenant, class A buildings at 1000 and 1050 Lakes Dr. Safai says that Cornerstone was one of nine bidders on the property, which closed at a 5.5% cap rate.

The complex was 98% occupied at closing. The tenant roster includes Wells Fargo Bank, one of the largest tenants at the complex, which recently renewed its lease.

The Lakes complex sits on a site of nearly 6.2 acres of extensively landscaped land, which includes two man-made lakes surrounded by a lawn and fountains. The twin four-story buildings were built in 1990.
According to Safai, the San Gabriel Valley has been gaining momentum as a hot market for investment properties and the Lakes complex is the top office asset in that market. With its location close to major transportation routes, West Covina gives residents access to regional, national and international markets. Safai notes that vacancy rate in the San Gabriel Valley office submarket stands at approximately 7%.

Safai says that part of the popularity of the San Gabriel Valley submarket is that it offers "the amenities of a big-city location without the traffic congestion and high cost." The Lakes occupies a landmark location along the Interstate-10 Freeway, 20 minutes from Ontario International Airport and 30 minutes from the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport.

The Lakes office complex is also located close to the Lakes Entertainment Center, which is home to a host of restaurants. The office property is also adjacent to the 1.26-million-sf Westfield Mall and Edwards Theatre.

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Source: http://www.globest.com/news/960_960/.../162726-1.html