McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Lost $9 Million in First Quarter

Irvine-based McDonnell Douglas Information Systems Co., which has posted losses for each of the last 5 years, on Friday reported an operating loss of $9 million for the first quarter.

But company officials said they were encouraged because the loss was a sharp improvement over the whopping $28-million deficit recorded during the same period in 1988.

Information Systems is a unit of McDonnell Douglas Corp., a St. Louis-based aerospace and defense giant, and is an amalgam of companies in various high-technology businesses.

Information Systems has been undergoing a reorganization and cost-cutting drive in an effort to reduce its losses, said Nissen Davis, a company spokesman.

As part of that restructuring, the company recently sold its Irvine-based hospital computer business to a unit of American Express Co. The company has also reduced its worldwide employment from 12,000 in early 1988 to just 9,000 currently.

“We’ve really tightened our belts and eliminated a lot of costs,” Davis said. “We’ve concentrated on those areas of the business that are profitable. We believe the company is well on its way to recovery.”

Davis said that excluding costs associated with debt payments on some businesses acquired several years ago, Information Systems would have reported a profit for the quarter.