Microsemi Back in Black After Heavy ’90 Losses : Earnings: The maker of custom semiconductor chips took a hefty charge against revenue last year to cover losses in selling unrelated businesses.

Despite a 7% drop in revenue, Microsemi Corp., a manufacturer of custom semiconductor chips, reported Monday that its fiscal 1991 earnings returned to the black following heavy losses a year earlier.

Microsemi said its earnings for the year ended Sept. 29 were $2.9 million, equal to 38 cents a share, contrasted with a loss of $11.5 million, or $1.54 a share, a year earlier. The company sells its chips to defense, aerospace, computer, communications and medical industry customers.

Revenue for the year was $82.7 million, down 7% from $88.9 million a year earlier, largely because Microsemi did not include revenue from units it has decided to sell. David R. Sonksen, vice president of finance, attributed the improved earnings to cost-cutting and to a smaller write-off this year for non-core businesses scheduled for divestiture.

Last year, the company took an $11-million charge against earnings in the fourth quarter to cover losses and costs associated with selling its businesses unrelated to semiconductor chip manufacturing.

This year, the company took a charge of $651,000, mainly because the companies to be sold are losing less money. In addition, the company sold off a printed-circuit-board-manufacturing subsidiary in San Jose that had been posting significant losses.

Sonksen said the company is proceeding with plans to sell four of its businesses: Bikor Corp., a power-supplies firm in Torrance; Sertech/SSI, a distribution company in Beverly, Mass.; the board assembly unit of Surface Mounted Technology Corp. in San Jose, and Omni Technology Corp., a chip-testing company in San Jose.

Sonksen said the recession has put a damper on acquisitions, so the sale of the four businesses has proceeded more slowly than expected. A potential buyer for the company’s Micro-CeramX Technology subsidiary in San Diego, which makes ceramic-electronic parts, pulled out, and Microsemi took it off the market.

“We hope to complete the disposition in three to six months,” he said. “We are in discussions with potential buyers, but there is nothing concrete.”

For the fourth quarter, the company reported earning $319,000, or 4 cents a share, on revenue of $22.7 million, contrasted with a loss of $11.5 million, or $1.54 a share, on revenue of $23.5 million a year earlier.

Sonksen said Microsemi secured a $10-million line of credit with Coast Business Credit in Los Angeles, replacing a line of credit with Security Pacific Bank, which earlier this year asked Microsemi to find another lender to renew its financing.