SOUTHLAND FOCUS
First Banks Inc., a St. Louis-based commercial banker with offices in California and three other states, agreed to acquire Century Bank, the Beverly Hills-based subsidiary of Philippine National Bank, for undisclosed terms. Century Bank, with assets of $162 million, operates five commercial banking locations in Southern California and one in San Francisco.
Also: Woodland Hills-based Wellpoint Health Networks Inc., one of the state’s biggest health insurers, will replace Harnischfeger Industries Inc. in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index after the close of trading today. Wisconsin-based mining-equipment maker Harnischfeger filed for bankruptcy court protection Monday. Wellpoint shares fell 88 cents to close at $83.44 on the NYSE.
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Citing a continuation of problems identified in the first quarter, Unova Corp., a Woodland Hills-based industrial technologies company, said it expects its second-quarter results to be flat and that its full-year results won’t meet estimates. First-quarter results were 6 cents per share, below the year-ago period’s 14 cents. The company said the problems include higher operating costs at its Intermec Technologies unit, where it is implementing a plan for streamlining manufacturing and customer deliveries. Unova makes systems and machine tools for the automotive, aerospace and general metalworking markets.
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Fleetwood Enterprises Inc., a Riverside-based maker of recreational vehicles and manufactured housing, said it has acquired manufactured housing retailer D&D; Homes Inc. of Vacaville for undisclosed terms. D&D; Homes had revenue of about $24 million and sells an average of about 500 homes per year at six sales locations. Fleetwood shares rose 6 cents to close at $25.88 on the NYSE. Fleetwood’s revenue totaled $1.72 billion in fiscal 1999.
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Pasadena-based Tetra Tech Inc. said it has acquired D.E.A. Construction Co. of Denver and BAHA Communications Inc., based in Las Vegas, in transactions valued at $14 million and $4 million, respectively. Tetra Tech is a leading provider of specialized management consulting and technical services in the areas of resource management, infrastructure and communications. Tetra Tech shares were unchanged at $20.50 on Nasdaq.
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Van Nuys-based Cherokee Inc. reported first-quarter net income of $2.6 million, or 30 cents per share, compared with $2.02 million, or 23 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose 31% to $6.9 million from $5.3 million. Cherokee markets and licenses its primary brands, Cherokee and Sideout.
