Alliance Imaging Says It Will Take $17.3-Million 3rd-Quarter Write-Down

Alliance Imaging Inc., a provider of magnetic-resonance imaging machines to hospitals, said Monday that it will write down about $17.3 million in outmoded equipment and bad debts in the third quarter.

The pretax charge amounts to a loss of $1.75 a share for the quarter, which ends Sept. 30.

For the third quarter of 1992, Alliance reported a profit of $386,000, or 5 cents a share.

The Orange company said its older machines face stiff competition from a flood of newer machines in the marketplace; its hospital customers want the newer machines, Alliance said. It will take a charge of $15.1 million to trade in or sell older magnetic-resonance imaging equipment.

Another $2.2-million charge establishes a reserve to cover “doubtful accounts,” many of which, the company said, are attributable to an outside billing service, which Alliance dropped earlier this year.