DUCOMMUN CHRONOLOGY
Jan. 30, 1980: Ducommun posts record sales and earnings for 1979.
Feb. 10, 1981: Ducommun acquires Aerochem of Orange. The value of the proposed transaction is put at $10 million.
Feb. 11, 1981: Ducommun buys Airdrome Parts, a Long Beach manufacturer and distributor of precision hydraulic fittings, for an undisclosed sum.
Sept. 8, 1981: Ducommun announces that it has agreed to sell its metals operations to Centaur Metal Service for $86 million.
Dec. 29, 1983: Ducommun buys Jay-El Products of Gardena for $7 million in cash and securities.
Dec. 2, 1983: Ducommun acquires Aircraft Hydro-Forming of Gardena for $10 million.
Dec. 31, 1983: Ducommun records a net loss of $1.7 million for the year. The company returns to profitability in 1984, then posts losses for 1985-88.
July 7, 1984: Kierulff Electronics announces it will move its headquarters to a newly built facility in Cypress, shifting 300 jobs from Los Angeles to Orange County.
Feb. 25, 1985: David G. Schmidt is named president, succeeding Wallace W. Booth, who remains chairman and chief executive.
Jan. 23, 1986: Schmidt announces that he will resign as president and a director, citing differences with Booth over business philosophies.
Feb. 15, 1986: W. Donald Bell is named president and chief operating officer, succeeding Schmidt.
June 31, 1986: Ducommun announces that it will relocate its corporate headquarters from downtown Los Angeles to Cypress.
Oct. 24, 1986: Motorola decides not to renew a franchise agreement with Kierulff Electronics that was to expire in the spring of 1987. As a result, Ducommun says it will lose about $25 million in sales.
Jan 12, 1987: Ducommun announces the sale of its Airdrome Parts division to a group of investors headed by the unit’s management for approximately $12 million in cash.
March 31, 1987: W. Donald Bell, president and chief operating officer is fired. Booth becomes acting president.
Jan. 12, 1988: Ducommun completes the sale of its electronics distribution business, including Kierulff Electronics, to Arrow Electronics of Melville, N.Y., for $117 million in cash and securities.
March 1988: Ducommun moves its headquarters staff from Cypress to offices in the City of Commerce.
June 3, 1988: Standard & Poor’s lowers Ducommun’s debt rating from single B-minus to triple C, affecting $39 million of debt.
July 1, 1988: Norman A. Barkeley becomes president and chief executive of Ducommun, replacing Booth, who remains chairman.
Jan. 5, 1989: Booth retires and is succeeded as chairman by Barkeley.
Feb. 2, 1989: Ducommun announces that a lawsuit has been filed against them by Arrow Electronics, seeking recovery of about $4.5 million. Arrow claims it overpaid Ducommun for its electronics distribution business in January, 1988.
