Another Losing Quarter Expected by Archive Corp.

Archive Corp., a manufacturer of computer-storage devices, said Thursday that it expects to report a loss of $1 million to $1.5 million for its fourth quarter ending Sept. 30.

The company said that sales for the quarter are expected to be about $80 million, down about 5% from the year-earlier period, citing a continuing slump in the computer industry. Earlier, the company said it had hoped for “close to break-even” results.

Archive Chairman D. Howard Lewis said the outlook for fiscal 1992 isn’t much better. “Revenues for the coming year could be flat compared with the current year,” he said in a statement. “We will continue to keep a tight rein on spending and look for signs of a long-term improvement from the current down-market trend.”

Earlier this month, Archive announced that it had laid off 150 employees in a consolidation of its sales force.

The company lost $5.3 million for the third quarter.

Archive also said that it has scheduled a joint press conference with Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing Inc. on Wednesday to introduce a new technology that enables tape drives to store more information.

Archive’s products are used to store backup copies of data in computers to prevent accidental loss.

Ray Freeman, a industry consultant in Santa Barbara, said Archive will likely announce that it is developing a quarter-inch cartridge that can store six to 10 gigabytes of data--roughly five times more than its current products.

A 10-gigabyte cartridge could store data from more than 100 typical personal computers equipped with hard-disk drives.