Few Big Latino Firms in State

California leads the nation in the number of Latino-owned businesses, but some of the largest firms are based in other states, according to a survey by Hispanic Business magazine.

Of the 500 largest Latino-owned companies in the United States, 121 are in California, a listing in the June issue of the Santa Barbara-based magazine showed. Florida was home to the second-largest group with 108, while Texas ranked third with 75 firms.

But only one of the top 10 firms ranked by sales was based in California, the magazine said. That firm is Vanir Group, a construction company based in San Bernardino, which ranked eighth with sales of $150 million in 1985.

Big Companies in East

The biggest companies on the list were Bacardi Imports of Miami, Banco Popular de Puerto Rico in San Juan, Puerto Rico, International Medical Centers of Miami, V. Suarez & Co. of San Juan and Goya Foods of Secaucus, N.J.

The top 500 companies had sales of $8.7 billion last year, up from $7.46 billion in 1984. The companies employed 65,389 people in 1985, compared to 63,538 in 1984.

Service companies and manufacturers made up 44% of the list. Wholesalers and food companies made up another 25%.

Other Large Firms

Besides Vanir, some of the largest California firms listed were Coast Citrus Distributors of San Diego, a wholesale fruit and vegetable company, in the 20th spot with nearly $83 million in sales; Lloyd A. Wise Inc. of San Leandro, an automobile dealership, ranked 21st with $82.78 million in revenue.

Others were Gruma Corp. of City of Commerce, a Mexican food manufacturer, in 22nd place with sales of $74.26 million; Galindo Financial Corp. of Bell, a real estate broker, ranked 31st with $60 million in sales, and Komfort Industries of Riverside, a manufacturer of motor homes, in 36th place with $50 million in revenue.