Furon Expects $32-Million Loss in Sale of 6 Firms : * Finances: It will be the industrial plastics maker’s first deficit as a public company.

Furon Co., a maker of industrial plastics, said Tuesday that it expects to lose up to $32 million before taxes on the sale of six of its less-profitable businesses.

That means Furon will take a net loss for its current fiscal year of up to $25 million--the company’s first loss as a public company.

Furon makes rubber and plastic parts for a broad range of manufacturers, many of whom have been hit hard by the recession. The company earned only $3 million for the nine months ended Nov. 2, down 60% from $7.8 million a year earlier.

The six businesses to be sold--including a small one in Santa Ana that employs 65 people--accounted for $42 million in sales, or about 14% of Furon’s $327 million in sales last year. The six businesses as a group will report a pretax loss this year, Furon said.

The company expects to take a one-time charge against earnings on the sale of between $27 million and $32 million, or $2.49 to $2.96 a share, for the year.

Furon stock closed unchanged Tuesday at $13.50 a share.

At least three of the six businesses--including Reynolds & Taylor in Santa Ana, which was acquired less than four years ago--should sell quickly, Furon said. Reynolds & Taylor uses sophisticated plastics to make parts for manufacturers of missiles and aircraft. Like two of the other businesses, the Reynolds & Taylor unit has been losing money.

Furon Chairman J. Michael Hagan said Tuesday that unloading these less profitable operations “will show our shareholders predictably better results quarter after quarter over the long term. That’s why we’re doing this now.

“We think this is positive because we’re positioning the company in the long term to do just the things it does really well.”

Furon assembled 23 different business units over the years. The idea was that if some businesses turned sour, the others would cushion the impact. That worked well for a while. Now, however, some of those businesses are hurting profits and don’t fit with the company’s goal of focusing on more profitable, high-technology products.