ALR Posts $10.6-Million Loss, Cuts 50 Foreign Jobs : Finances: Official attributes setback to stiff price competition from PC makers. Layoffs were at Singapore, Canadian subsidiaries.

Under pressure from price cuts by other personal-computer makers, Advanced Logic Research Inc. reported a $10.6-million yearly loss and said it terminated 50 overseas employees.

The cutbacks in the company’s Singapore and Canadian subsidiaries represent 10% of its 550-employee work force. Other cuts last year have knocked ALR from 652 employees to 500 now, said Ron Sipkovich, chief financial officer.

“There is serious (price) competition in the industry,” he said. “We’ve taken actions to adjust to a level we think we can sustain.”

The Irvine-based PC maker reported a loss of $10.6 million, or 94 cents a share, for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, in contrast to profit of $500,000, or 5 cents a share, a year ago. Revenues fell to $169.3 million from $206.8 million.

In its fourth quarter, ALR reported a loss of $4.2 million, or 42 cents a share, compared to a loss of $2.5 million, or 22 cents a share a year ago. Revenues were $46.8 million, down from $48.4 million.

ALR took a $3.4-million charge against fourth-quarter earnings to pay for costs associated with shutting a sales subsidiary in Canada and laying off workers in its Singapore manufacturing subsidiary. The company’s Irvine headquarters will ship products to those markets, and ALR’s majority owner, Singapore-based Wearnes Technology, will make PCs for the Asian market.

Despite the bleak news, the company said sales improved 30% from a disastrous third fiscal quarter, when it reported $36.1 million in sales and a loss of $2.7 million, or 24 cents a share.

Revenue held up in the fourth quarter because of strong sales of ALR’s high-end machines based on Intel’s Pentium microprocessor, which serves as a computer’s brain and is powerful enough to run engineering workstations.

Still, ALR’s focus on Pentium machines signals a slight retreat from its broader product offerings, which in the past have included portable computers. The company slashed its engineering budget in the fourth quarter from $1.1 million a year ago to $850,000.

Sipkovich said the company will still maintain a broad line of PCs, but will focus its resources carefully. The company also said it has $34.1 million in cash--its war chest to survive further industry price cuts.