On Assignment Inc. to Sell Common Stock

On Assignment Inc., a Canoga Park-based temporary help service for laboratories, has registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of 1.7 million shares of common stock.

If the company sells the stock at its target price of $6 to $7 a share, proceeds from the offering would total as much as $12 million. But only $2.1 million would go to the company, which hopes to sell 300,000 of the total shares in the offering.

The remaining 1.4 million shares are being offered by existing stockholders, including Wood River Capital Corp., a small-business investment company that is liquidating its assets.

On Assignment said that any proceeds from the stock sale would be used for working capital, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes.

On Assignment services more than 400 clients through its 26 branch offices. It has 1,000 scientific temporary workers on assignment. Its net income in the six months ended June 30 was $632,000, up 23% from a $514,000 profit a year earlier. Its revenue rose 23%, to $15 million from $12.2 million.