Limoneira: from Santa Paula to Nasdaq
After 117 years of essentially operating as a family-run company, Santa Paula-based Limoneira Co. filed papers Feb. 12 to become publicly traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Limoneira said it’s likely the largest lemon and avocado grower in the United States. It has begun moving into real estate development with projects such as East Area Read More →
Experts fear rules gridlock
As new stormwater rules take final form in Ventura County, legal experts are wondering whether the aims of the regulations are on a crash course with the goals of landmark smart-growth and carbon emissions laws passed in Sacramento in recent years. At its heart, the conflict centers on density. AB 32 and SB 375, laws Read More →
Institute heralds $50M gift
In another sign of the changing ways that medical research gets funded, the partner institute in the University of California, Santa Barbara’s Center for Nanomedicine received a $50 million gift from a philanthropist Jan. 26. South Dakota billionaire Denny Sanford gave $50 million to the La Jolla-based Burnham Institute, the partner organization in the UCSB-Burnham Read More →
Rivals, regulators wait for PCBC results
As the end of the third quarter approaches, Wall Street is focused on one number in Pacific Capital Bancorp’s results: tier one capital. After Sept. 30, the region’s largest independent banking company and parent of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust will have to show federal regulators that it’s raised its all-important tier one leverage ratio, Read More →
Scripps regroups
In response to plummeting advertising sales, the Ventura County Star’s parent company has completely overhauled its newspaper division, shuffling top management in an effort to cut costs. The Cincinnati-based E.W. Scripps Co. said the reorganization will affect all of its 13 newspapers, which will now report to an operating committee on sales and content. Read More →
Tuning in profits
The raucous public debate over health care reform has given shares of Camarillo-based Salem Communications a healthy 375 percent boost. Salem owns a nationwide network of Christian and conservative talk radio stations. Opponents of health care reform have spent millions to get their message out to just such an audience, and investors seem to think Salem Read More →
Amgen earnings keep rising
Amid some of the worst market plunges in Wall Street’s history, Thousand Oaks-based Amgen continues to blaze a comeback trail. The company cut hard and deep last year, shedding more than 1,000 jobs after a tempest of regulatory woes. But third quarter profits have surged, and the company’s shares have proved buoyant amid turbulent markets. Read More →
