O.C. BUSINESS PLUS : New Horizons to Move From N.J. to O.C.

New Jersey-based New Horizons Worldwide Inc., a major provider of computer training, said Monday that it will move its corporate headquarters to Santa Ana, where its operational unit has been based for several years.

New Horizons, which has more than 200 training centers in 36 countries, offers computer labs, instructor-led classes, Web-based training and certification-exam preparation tools. It is used by more than 2.4 million students each year, the company said.

The corporate move “should have little impact operationally,” spokesman Robert Meloche said. “What we’re excited about is that we will be a Southern California corporation.”

New Horizons Thomas J. Bresnan, who had been chief executive of the company’s Santa Ana subsidiary, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, has been named the chief executive of the parent corporation. He succeeds Curtis Lee Smith Jr., who will continue as chairman of the board, the company said.

New Horizons Computer Learning Centers was founded in Santa Ana in 1982. It was sold in 1994, becoming a subsidiary of what was then known as Handex Environmental Recovery Inc. in Morganville, N.J. Two years later, Handex sold its environmental business to focus exclusively on computer training and renamed the company New Horizons Worldwide Inc.

The corporate move will have no effect on the company’s approximately 350 employees in Southern California, Meloche said.

New Horizons earned $5.9 million in 1998 on revenue of $72.6 million.

The company’s stock fell 88 cents Monday to close at $17.38 a share in Nasdaq trading.