– Northrop Grumman Corp.
has sold certain assets of its Litton Interconnect Technologies assembly business in the U.S. to Simclar Interconnect Technologies Inc., a newly formed subsidiary of Simclar Inc., for $16 million. Hialeah, Fla.-based Simclar financed the purchase through a credit facility with the Bank of Scotland.
Litton’s assembly business is a supplier of technology, which forms the core of high-end electronic systems and provides power distribution and data communications between electronic subsystems.
– NBC Universal Television Group
signed a two-year deal with Galan Entertainment to produce English versions of Spanish-language “telenovelas” across the Universal City-based company’s networks. NBC Universal’s Spanish-language network Telemundo will license its program formats to Galan to develop the short-run soap operas in English. Galan Entertainment will adapt Spanish-language formats from Telemundo and other suppliers first for NBC, USA and Bravo, and then for other NBC Universal networks. The first project to be developed for production will be Telemundo’s “Body of Desire.”
– Fox Mobile Entertainment
announced the launch of Mobizzo, a mobile content service that features games, music and general entertainment from across News Corp.’s worldwide divisions. Mobizzo will offer collections of Fox-branded entertainment including “Family Guy, “American Dad” and “Napoleon Dynamite”; and games, music and images from music labels including Warner Music and game producers including I-Play and Airborne.
The service will debut on Cingular and T-Mobile cell phones before becoming available on most U.S. carriers. Pricing will range from $1.99 to $2.49 per product and monthly subscription plans will average $5.99 per month.
– Ducommun Inc.
reported fourth-quarter net income of $3.5 million (34 cents per share), compared with $1.9 million (18 cents) for the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the Carson-based maker of components and assemblies for the aerospace industry rose 6 percent to $60.9 million from $57.4 million in the year-prior period.
– ValueClick Inc.
reported fourth-quarter net income of $13.6 million (13 cents per share). Year-ago levels were not disclosed. Revenue for the Westlake Village-based online advertising services provider rose 114 percent to $116.6 million from $54.4 million in the year-prior period.
The company raised its full-year revenue guidance to between $490 million and $500 million from a previous range of $480 million to $500 million. First-quarter revenue is expected to be $110 million to $112 million.
ValueClick will also restate various financial results due to an error it discovered relating to its 2004 income tax benefit and its deferred income tax assets. To correct the error, the company will restate results for the year ended 2004 and the first three quarters of that year; and the first three quarters of 2005. These restatements will have no impact on its previously reported operating results for revenue and income from operations for any period. But full-year 2004 earnings are expected to plunge to $32.9 million (39 cents per share) from the previously reported $87.9 million ($1.05).
