February 5th, 2010
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Author: Apple Inc. is reportedly providing a 15 percent cash refund for customers who have to return a broken 27-inch iMac. According to Gizmodo, several customers have reported the refunds when they have repeated problems with cracked, flickering, or yellow-tinted screens. That would mean a $300 payment for computers valued at $2,000. Cupertino-based Apple hasn’t commented publicly about the situation.
RETAIL
Pleasanton-based Ross Stores Inc. said its same-store sales in January jumped 8 percent and the off-price retailer said its same-store sales should rise 1 percent to 2 percent during the 2010 fiscal year.
Earnings
Walnut Creek-based Central Garden & Pet Co. lost $2.9 million, or 4 cents a share, on revenues of $269 million, for its first quarter of 2010 ended Dec. 26. In the year-ago quarter, Central Garden lost $6.2 million, or 9 cents a share. Revenues fell 8 percent. “We continued to make progress on our core initiatives of reducing working capital, improving gross margins and controlling costs,” CEO William Brown said.
Tech
Pleasanton-based Adept Technology Inc. lost $1.8 million, or 21 cents a share, on revenue of $9.2 million, for its fourth quarter of 2009 ended Dec. 26. In the year-ago quarter, Adept lost $82,000, or 1 cent a share. Revenues fell 16.4
percent. “Although the first half of our fiscal 2010 was challenging, we are now seeing signs that economic recovery may be coming to our markets,” CEO John Dulchinos said. “Most dramatic was the increase in order flow we experienced at the end of the quarter.”
Energy
Fremont-based Solyndra Inc., a maker of solar energy systems, said that its authorized reseller and solar integrator, Germany-based Umwelt-Sonne-Energie GmbH, had completed the largest collective Solyndra project to date. The project consists of 1,928 kilowatts installed on 10 rooftops in Belgium. The sites are owned by a large international food retailer. The power generated by the systems will be sold to local utilities under an agreement with the building owners. Solyndra signed a long-term deal with USE last July.
Venture deals
Campbell-based Columb Technologies Inc., a developer of recharge solutions for electric cars, has raised $14 million in second-round funding. Columb previously raised a $3.75 million in first-round funding.
Compiled from staff and wire reports. Got Bay Area business news? Reach Drew Voros at 925-943-8099 or dvoros@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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