It’s Lights Out for Pacific Scientific’s Solium

Pacific Scientific Co., which once saw dimmable fluorescent bulbs as the light of its future, said Wednesday that it will shed the business to concentrate on its core electrical and safety products.

The decision to unplug the Solium products comes 2 1/2 years after the Newport Beach company first touted its fluorescent systems to Wall Street as an energy-saving alternative to incandescent lighting and a potential $50 million to $100 million annual business.

Instead, the bulbs have produced little but losses, along with investor lawsuits accusing Pacific Scientific of over-hyping the systems. The company said it will continue to vigorously battle the lawsuits.

Pacific Scientific recorded nearly $12 million in losses after taxes on Solium in 1995 and 1996. The company said it will take a charge of about $13 million for the first quarter to cover the costs of getting out of the fluorescent lighting business.

In February, Pacific Scientific Chairman Edgar S. Brower retired early and was replaced by Lester “Buck” Hill, an electronics executive. Hill quickly decided to try to sell Solium to a lighting fixture company, where it would fit more naturally than with Pacific Scientific’s main products, which include electric motors, aircraft seat and shoulder belts, and fire and contaminant alert systems.

The company didn’t identify potential buyers. Pacific Scientific also said it might enter a long-term licensing agreement if it can’t put together an outright sale.

Company executives had envisioned a time when shoppers would pick up packs of bulbs and dimmers at Home Depot, and efficiency experts would install remote-controlled office systems that could, say, dim the lights when the sun emerged from behind a cloud.

They now admit that until recently, the systems failed to meet specifications. For example, the lights wouldn’t come on quickly enough.

Of Pacific Scientific’s $295 million in 1996 sales, just $2.4 million came from Solium.

The Solium factory in Randolph, Mass., has 75 workers. Most are doing work for other divisions or will be retained as key employees for the buyer, the company said.

Pacific Scientific shares rose 75 cents Wednesday to close at $13.125 on the New York Stock Exchange.