Net Gain

Flamemaster Corp. of Sun Valley reported net income of $202,000 for the fourth quarter that ended Oct. 30, compared with net income of $184,000 for the same period last year. Revenue held steady at $1.06 million, compared with $1.07 million. For the year ended Oct. 30, the company reported net income of $1.2 million, compared with $876,000 for the previous year. Revenue rose to $5.2 million, compared with $4.7 million.

It doesn't matter who comes out ahead in this year's drawn-out presidential election, as the winner was relegated to second-class status before he ever took office, according to one Web site. The title on the page says it all: "James K. Polk: The Greatest President, Period." "When you think of great presidents, you automatically think Lincoln, Jackson and FDR," said Tom DeRosa, 19, a Rutgers University sophomore who created the site when he was in high school in New Jersey.

The Bank of Granada Hills reported net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 of $879,000 compared with $572,000 for the same period last year. Total assets rose to $91.8 million from $81.5 million. The Granada Hills-based bank is an independent community bank specializing in services to local businesses.

Election officials in Palm Beach County early today ordered a manual recount of about 460,000 ballots after a limited hand recount showed Al Gore picking up 19 votes. The hand count was conducted despite a lawsuit filed Saturday by George W. Bush, who sought to preserve his slim margin in the all-or-nothing state. The order for a manual recount of all the county's ballots, hailed as a major victory by Democrats, came after a judge refused to grant an immediate hearing of Bush's suit.

In just a few short years, the economic impact of Internet companies has grown to rival that of entertainment firms in some pockets of Southern California such as Santa Monica, according to a new study. But the growth also presents new challenges for the cities where Net firms reside. The research, being released today by economist Lisa Grobar of Cal State Long Beach, shows that 125 Internet start-ups now employ about 5,000 people in Santa Monica, or nearly 7% of the city's total work force.

Companies are renting Orange County office space this year at a faster pace than they have in a decade, as a wave of new leases has created a thriving market, according to a recent report. In the first nine months, leases of office space in the county saw a net gain of nearly 2.8 million square feet, at least 12% greater than the net gain for any full year since 1990, according to a quarterly report released this week by Voit Commercial Brokerage of Woodland Hills.

They are ghastly, if not ghostly images that will remain in the divers' minds for some time. Those of the large hammerhead shark that ruled the reefs a day earlier, dangling lifeless from an invisible net, its slender body twisting in the current. . . Of the large sea turtle that a day earlier was using its little legs to push through the blueness, using those same little legs in a vain attempt to free itself from the net wrapped tightly around its neck, squeezing its life away. . .

Last week's technology stock dive, marked by a plunge in the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index of 9.7% Friday and 25% for the week, has spread anguish far and wide. Many investors this weekend are assessing the damage to their portfolios, pondering what to do next.

PS Business Parks Inc. in Glendale reported net income for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 of $9.6 million, compared with $8.3 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 1998. Revenues rose to $34.8 million from $27.3 million. For the year ended Dec. 31, net income rose to $37.8 million from $29.4 million. Revenues climbed to $128.6 million from $90.3 million. PS Business Parks is a real estate trust that acquires and develops commercial properties.