Diceon Will Close Plant, Dismiss 100 Employees : Jobs: Firm blames slow demand for circuit boards. Thirty workers at affected Chatsworth plant will transfer to Irvine.

Unable to stop consistent losses, Diceon Electronics Inc. said Monday that it will close its Chatsworth manufacturing plant and dismiss 100 employees.

Chief Executive Peter Jonas said the plant--which makes electronic circuit boards that are used in mainframe computers and other high-tech equipment--will close by April 30.

About 100 of Diceon’s 1,100 employees will lose their jobs and an additional 30 are expected to relocate to the company’s Irvine plant, which employs about 400 people. The company will transfer work from the closed plant to its other plants in Nashua, N.H., and Mountain View, Calif.

“We feel this is a positive move in the long run since we will be able to lower our costs and make our products more competitive,” Jonas said.

Jonas blamed the company’s continuing financial struggles on slow demand for Diceon’s circuit boards in the telecommunications, military and computer industries.

Diceon reported a loss of $1.62 million, or 32 cents per share, for the first fiscal quarter ended Jan. 19, compared with a loss of $2.2 million, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenues were $28.8 million, up from $25.9 million a year earlier.

To date, Diceon’s attempts to return to profitability have been unsuccessful. In the past four fiscal years, Diceon has reported losses totaling $36.5 million.

The closure is expected to result in a one-time charge to earnings in the current, second fiscal quarter of about $3 million.

The Chatsworth plant once employed 500 workers. Last week, Jonas, formerly vice chairman, became chief executive after Roland G. Matthews announced he was resigning from the chief executive post to take a “nine-month sabbatical” trip with his wife. Matthews remains as chairman.

Jonas said the decision to close the plant would probably have been made whether or not Matthews resigned.