Pay-Fone Loss Is Blamed on Proxy-Fight Expense

Pay-Fone Systems said it lost $48,709, or 3 cents a share, in the first quarter ended Dec. 31 because it paid $85,000 for proxy-fight expenses incurred in 1987. In the year-earlier quarter, the company made a profit of $327,602, or 22 cents a share.

The Van Nuys company, which provides computerized payroll accounting, said its operating revenue dipped 25%, from $2 million to $1.5 million. The company attributed the drop largely to an accounting change in which Pay-Fone transferred $220,000 in revenue from the Dec. 31 quarter to the current quarter, when the work generating that revenue was done.

Last year, company founder Lewis Greenwood fought off a challenge by a group that included Santa Monica contractor Richard Kelton and Guy Lundberg of Los Angeles. Kelton and Lundberg eventually bought Greenwood’s stock for $2.8 million, and Lundberg was named chief executive.