Micropolis Shows Vigor for Quarter

Micropolis, a disk-drive maker whose profits and sales have surged over the last year, continued its rapid growth in the first quarter ended March 28, earning $3.8 million on sales that more than tripled to $50.7 million.

The Chatsworth-based company’s earnings, which amount to 40 cents a share, were a turnaround from a loss of $411,000, or 4 cents a share, on sales of $16.1 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Micropolis also disclosed that it filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer 1.5 million more shares of its stock to the public. Many companies have sold stock recently to take advantage of the strong securities market. Micropolis’ stock, trading recently at more than $15 a share, has more than tripled in value over the last year.

The company said proceeds from the offering will be used as working capital. The main underwriters are Kidder, Peabody in New York and San Francisco-based Robertson, Colman & Stephens.

Micropolis makes high-speed, high-capacity drives for storing and retrieving information in personal computers. Those drives have been selling well over the past year despite the general industry slump. Some of the company’s major customers are computer makers Burroughs, Convergent Technologies, Data General and Digital Equipment.

At the end of March, Micropolis employed nearly 1,400, contrasted with 750 eight months ago. The company is beginning to make disk drives in Singapore in an 80,000-square-foot plant acquired in January from Computer Memories, another disk-drive maker based in Chatsworth.