Tandon Posts Profit for 2nd Quarter in Row

Tandon Corp., posting its second profitable quarter in a row, on Thursday reported earnings of $1.9 million for the quarter ended March 28. Tandon had posted a loss of $19.9 million for the same period last year.

The Chatsworth-based maker of disk drives and personal computers said its revenue was off 5% to $58.2 million for the quarter.

Company officials said Tandon’s earnings were bolstered by a $440,000 credit from tax-loss carryforwards, which allow a company to deduct prior losses from taxable income.

In addition, Tandon received an unspecified amount of revenue in the form of settlement payments from seven Japanese companies, including industry giants Sony and Teac. The payments were made to resolve complaints that Tandon filed with the International Trade Commission accusing the Japanese firms of pirating its disk-drive technology. Tandon has not disclosed how much it is receiving from the companies, but the payments are believed to total about $10 million since last summer, when the first case was settled.

Tandon said some of its revenue also came from its agreement to develop computers for an unidentified manufacturing firm. Tandon recently negotiated deals to develop computers for three large manufacturers, which securities analysts have identified as Xerox, Tandem and Prime Computer.

The company’s stock closed at $6 a share in over-the-counter trading Thursday, up 37 1/2 cents.