Firm With Troubled Past Turns to Outsider : PerfectData: Simi Valley company to focus again on office equipment cleaning supplies after a CEO’s resignation and a fund-draining modem venture.

The reporters’ calls have stopped, as has the whispering in PerfectData’s hallways about Lee Mannheimer, the company’s longtime chief executive officer who resigned last fall amid law enforcement’s investigation into his possible role in an alleged murder-for-hire plot against his estranged wife.

Mannheimer, 51, has denied involvement in the alleged plot. But the Ventura County district attorney’s office says the investigation is continuing.

Meanwhile, PerfectData Corp. has its own problems.

Primarily a marketer of computer-cleaning products, PerfectData expanded into the computer modem business as part of Mannheimer’s diversification strategy.

But Joseph Mazin, PerfectData’s controlling shareholder who took over as CEO last November, admitted that modems have been “a huge cash drain” on the company. Although Mazin declined to say on the record what he would do, the Simi Valley-based company is expected to quit the modem business shortly.

Mazin, 47, is also chairman and CEO of Flamemaster Corp. in Sunland.

For most of its 18-year history, PerfectData has focused on selling cleaning ware for office equipment, mainly small-ticket items such as spray dusters and towelettes for computers, fax machines and copiers. Three years ago, the company invested heavily to develop a line of computer modems that it claimed were easier to plug in and use than other modems in the market. But PerfectData’s modems never took off.

Mazin said PerfectData lacked the resources to keep up with rapidly changing technology and new products. The company’s warehouse is now loaded with about $750,000 worth of modems and components--many of them outdated, Mazin said.

The modems were behind PerfectData’s loss of $297,000 on revenue of $5.2 million for the nine months that ended Dec. 31, its latest reported period. The loss contrasted with a profit of $342,000 on slightly higher revenue in the comparable period a year earlier. One plus is that PerfectData has no long-term debt and a net worth of $4.1 million as of Dec. 31.

Mazin says he intends to concentrate on PerfectData’s cleaning products, which remain profitable. PerfectData also markets computer accessories such as wrist rests and copy holders, as well as a foot rest designed for use in the office. Mazin hopes to expand into the ergonomic office-equipment market, which is growing rapidly and could help solve PerfectData’s perennial problem: its limited market.

Experts say the market for computer-cleaning supplies is tiny because only 1% of the nation’s personal computer owners ever clean their machines. That’s why Mannheimer wanted to get into modems three years ago, and why his predecessor in the mid-1980s took a run at supplying floppy disks. The floppy disk venture also failed, and when Mannheimer came on board in 1986 he abandoned that business.

Mannheimer initially turned the company around by refocusing on cleaning products and sharply cutting costs, but then he got into modems.

And then last October, Mannheimer’s personal problems set in when authorities in Northern California said a tip from an FBI informant helped foil a plot to kill Linda Mannheimer, who at the time was involved in a divorce battle with her husband.

That month, Mannheimer stepped down voluntarily as CEO pending the investigation, but Mazin said Mannheimer will not be coming back as an officer of the company. Mannheimer remains a member of the board of directors at PerfectData, and he owns 4.6% of its common stock.

Like others at the company, Irene Marino, PerfectData’s chief financial officer since 1982, said she was shocked about the alleged murder-for-hire plot. With calls from national television news reporters and photographers at the company’s offices in Simi Valley, Marino says Mannheimer’s personal problems were a big distraction the company didn’t need.

Despite the negative publicity, both Marino and Mazin say Mannheimer’s problems haven’t hurt the company and that employee morale remains good.

But the same can’t be said of the company’s stock, which closed Monday at $0.9375.

Still, Frank McCormick, a broker-trader with J. Alexander Securities in Los Angeles, said: “Joe Mazin is a good manager. I think he’ll do well for the company.”

Mazin’s Flamemaster group is PerfectData’s biggest shareholder, with 33% of the outstanding stock. Flamemaster is a maker of industrial sealants, adhesives and coatings, and Mazin also owns a metal fabrication business. Mazin first bought PerfectData’s stock in the mid-1980s, but he purchased most of it last year in the $1.50 per share price range. He came on as a director of the company last summer.

Early last year, Mazin says he thought PerfectData’s modems could still be profitable, and he figured if nothing else the company could spin off the modem business. But after he came on as CEO in November, Mazin delved into the company’s books and found that it wasn’t worth continuing.

Mazin says he never thought he would be involved in the company. Now he comes to Simi Valley every morning, and in the afternoon he hurries to Flamemaster. Mazin said PerfectData couldn’t afford to hire a full-time CEO, and his plan is to continue indefinitely. Mazin says he is getting less than a $60,000 salary for his work at PerfectData.

Despite his dual CEO duties, Mazin says he’s trying to run PerfectData and Flamemaster as one company. “What’s good for one is good for the other,” he said.

In fact, Flamemaster has started to make cleaning solutions for PerfectData. Mazin added that he’s looking for more acquisitions that could help PerfectData grow.