Community Psychiatric Centers Company

In a bid to become the nation's largest provider of psychiatric services, Laguna Hills-based Community Psychiatric Centers has made an unsolicited, $1.1-billion buyout offer for troubled Charter Medical Corp. of Macon, Ga. A combination of the two companies would created a psychiatric hospital giant with 139 hospitals nationwide and combined annual revenues of $1.56 billion. CPC's operations are concentrated in the West, and Charter's are primarily in the East and Southeast.

Speculation that Charter Medical Corp. might launch a bid to acquire Community Psychiatric Centers pushed up the price of the former Laguna Hills company's stock in New York Stock Exchange trading Wednesday. Hospital operator Community Psychiatric, which moved its headquarters to Las Vegas in August, saw its stock price gain 37.5 cents to close at $10.25 a share in heavy trading.

Community Psychiatric Centers, the Laguna Hills provider of psychiatric services, reported a first-quarter profit of $625,000, or 1 cent a share. That compares with a net loss of $37.9 million, or 88 cents a share, for the corresponding period last year, which included a charge of nearly $55 million related to the restructuring of several of the company's U.S. psychiatric facilities. Revenue for the quarter ended Feb. 28 rose 9%, to $92.5 million from $84.7 million.

The clamor of pile drivers working on the San Joaquin Hills toll road is undermining the mental health of patients at a nearby psychiatric hospital, according to a lawsuit filed Friday. "The patients . . . are undergoing treatment for substance abuse, chemical dependency, depression, schizophrenia and other illnesses," according to the lawsuit filed by Community Psychiatric Centers against the San Joaquin Hills Transportation Corridor Agency.

Reeling from the recession, bad publicity and a slump in the psychiatric care industry, Community Psychiatric Centers on Monday reported a $3-million fourth-quarter loss and said annual earnings had tumbled by nearly half. The quarterly loss, which amounted to 6 cents a share, included a $14-million charge for uncollectible bills and contrasted with earnings of $20.7 million, or 45 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

Community Psychiatric Centers, depressed by a slump in the mental health care industry, on Wednesday reported a 52% decline in quarterly profit compared to the same period a year earlier. The Laguna Hills company, which operates one of the nation's largest chains of psychiatric hospitals, said it had net income of $12.9 million, or 29 cents a share, for its second fiscal quarter, which ended May 31. That compared to a profit of $26.

Pressure from health management organizations to cut costs and reduced patient stays resulted in a 67% drop in first-quarter profit for Community Psychiatric Centers Inc., the company announced on Monday. It is the Laguna Hills-based company's third consecutive quarter of severe earnings reductions. The company, which owns and operates 50 psychiatric hospitals providing short-term care in the United States and United Kingdom, had net income of $6.9 million for the three months ending Feb.

Community Psychiatric Centers on Wednesday reported higher third-quarter earnings but lower revenue as industrywide concern about managing health care continued to hurt the company. The psychiatric hospital network, which operates 50 facilities in the United States, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom, also attributed lower revenue to a restructuring of the business in response to shorter stays by patients.

Community Psychiatric Centers said Monday that it hopes to save more than $2 million a year by relocating its headquarters to Las Vegas and consolidating some operations. Besides moving its corporate offices from Laguna Hills, Community Psychiatric is consolidating three divisions now based in different parts of the nation, said Richard Conte, chief executive officer. Doing so in Las Vegas, rather than in Orange County, will be less expensive, Conte said.

A New York bank, concerned about the value of its stake in Community Psychiatric Centers, wants the company to dump a "poison pill" strategy that directors adopted five years ago to discourage unwanted takeover attempts. Amalgamated Bank of New York, which owns 2,700 shares of the Laguna Hills-based operator of psychiatric hospitals, suggests that the amendment to the company's corporate charter was adopted without shareholder approval.

Community Psychiatric Centers said Monday that a subsidiary has signed an agreement to manage a Seattle hospital that it eventually plans to acquire. Community Psychiatric, a Laguna Hills-based operator of psychiatric hospitals, said that its Atlanta-based subsidiary, Transitional Hospitals Corp., will manage Fifth Avenue Hospital until it can obtain permission from Washington regulators to buy the 80-bed facility.

Community Psychiatric Centers, the Laguna Hills provider of psychiatric services, reported a first-quarter profit of $625,000, or 1 cent a share. That compares with a net loss of $37.9 million, or 88 cents a share, for the corresponding period last year, which included a charge of nearly $55 million related to the restructuring of several of the company's U.S. psychiatric facilities. Revenue for the quarter ended Feb. 28 rose 9%, to $92.5 million from $84.7 million.

Kay E. Seim has been promoted to president in charge of U.S. psychiatric facilities for Community Psychiatric Centers. She previously served as executive vice president of the same division. Seim, 47, has spent the past six months managing the division's newly consolidated structure and management team. She will now focus on making the system more responsive to the standards of managed care, which often seek patient care within a shorter period of time.

Community Psychiatric Centers on Thursday said it would suspend dividend payments, a move that will generate about $15 million annually that will be used to fund the planned expansion of Transitional Hospitals Corp., a long-term acute care subsidiary. Community Psychiatric said the dividend suspension would produce long-term benefits for shareholders by reducing costs of the planned expansion. Community Psychiatric also said that its U.S.

Community Psychiatric Centers has declared a one-time, one-cent dividend, payable March 15, to shareholders of record on March 1. The dividend is designed to make Community Psychiatric more appealing to institutional shareholders who invest in companies that pay dividends, said Richard L. Conte, Community Psychiatric chairman and chief executive. The Laguna Hills company suspended its regular quarterly dividend in 1993 to help fund a new, long-term critical care subsidiary.

Community Psychiatric Centers, cleared after an insurance fraud probe in Texas last year, on Tuesday reported a loss for 1993 but declared that a "turnaround is underway." The company, whose stock has dropped from a high of $40 a share in 1991 to a low of $9.13 early in 1993--posted progressively better results during the year, however, including earnings of more than $5 million for the latest quarter. For its fiscal year ended Nov. 30, Community Psychiatric reported a loss of $24.