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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Iris Takes Time Out to Put Poison Pill Measure in Place

If you didn’t know better, you’d think the imaging and medical device maker Iris International Inc. is preparing for a full-out assault on its Chatsworth headquarters. The company’s board recently voted to amend its stockholders rights agreement to strengthen the company’s anti-takeover measures in case of a “hostile takeover,” according to filings with the Security and Exchange Commission. In a statement, President and CEO C & #233;sar M. Garc & #237;a said the move should help prevent any outside influences or distractions as the company builds its revenue. “The board of directors unanimously approved this amendment after determining it was in the best interests of the company’s shareholders to maintain strong, up to date, effective defenses against a potential unwanted takeover,” he said. Salomon Kamalodine, an equity researcher with L.A.-based B. Riley & Co. who follows the company, said the amendment is par for the course for a company undergoing change. “They used to be a fast grower and they weren’t investing a whole lot of their earnings back into (research and development) and product development,” he said. But two quarters ago, Iris elected to spend 13 percent of revenue on research and development, he said. “That cut their earnings growth rate,” Kamalodine said. “And that’s what sent their stock down.” Kamalodine said the so-called “poison pill” amendment is likely purely precautionary. “I haven’t heard of any takeover attempts,” he said. “It’s pretty standard procedure to have a poison pill in place. He said the company appears healthy. “It’s doing well,” he said. “It’s got a solid balance sheet.” Fill ‘er Up While the cost of gas has gone from sky-high levels to just plain high, the effect of month after month of $3-plus a gallon is still being felt in the Valley. To wit: the price of gasoline is one of the reasons Sherman Oaks’ own Earl Scheib Inc. said it reported lower sales for the first quarter of the fiscal year ended July 31. “The impact of soaring gasoline prices, rising interest costs and other general economic and market factors beyond our control continued to negatively affect our retail shop intake,” said President and CEO Chris Bement in a report. The company, which operates 102 paint shops nationwide, credited a reduction to a 0.2 percent same-day downturn in car volume in the retail paint and body shops for the quarter and the operation of five fewer outlets. Net sales for the first quarter dropped 2.8 percent to $12.7 million from the same period in 2006. The company reported net income of $57,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, compared to net income of $136,000 $0.03 per diluted share in the first quarter last year. At the same time, operating income increased from $236,000 in 2006 to $241,000 for the latest quarter. While disconcerting, Bement is hoping that people will get used to paying so much to fill up. “We continue to believe that the decrease in car volume will abate as time passes (as) consumers become more oriented to higher gasoline prices and the economic climate settles down,” he said. Image, Lions Gate Saga It’s been a tumultuous month for Image Entertainment Inc., the Chatsworth DVD distributor. The company has been in a quarrel with one of its largest shareholders, the Santa Monica movie maker Lions Gate Entertainment Corp., which last month urged other shareholders to replace Image’s board of directors with a slate of six board nominees it supports. An independent shareholder advisory group called Institutional Shareholder Services, however, rejected five of the candidates and last week Image struck back, asking shareholders to re-elect the entire board sans the Lions Gate nominees. The move follows a bid by Lions Gate last year to buy out Image, which the company rejected. In a letter to stockholders, Image CEO and Chairman Martin Greenwald said the hostile takeover is hurting the company, which in fiscal 2005 tallied net earnings of more than $5 million. “This year, with the distraction, cost and expense of Lions Gate’s repeated attacks, we have become unprofitable,” he said. “Our ongoing analysis of strategic alternatives will seek to maximize value for all of our stockholders, Not to placate a single dissident.” Briefly The Woodland Hills managed care group Health Net has rolled out a new consumer-driven coverage called EZAccess HSA. It’s a low-cost, high deductible PPO health insurance plan paired with an individually-owned health savings account from Wells Fargo, said spokesman Brad Kieffer. The Van Nuys semiconductor company Trio-Tech International has had an impressive year, with net income increasing to $705,000 for the quarter ending June 30 an increase from $72,000 the previous quarter. <!– Panavision –> Panavision The Thousand Oaks biotech juggernaut Amgen Inc. has paid $290 million for Avidia, a Mountain View, Calif., drug maker developing an inhibitor for the treatment of inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Woodland Hills-based Panavision Inc. has acquired the digital camera rental company Plus 8 Digital for an undisclosed sum. The company has an office in Burbank. Staff Reporter Chris Coates can be reached at (818) 316-3124 or at [email protected] .

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