Daily Business Report: Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2022
Illumina lays off 500 employees
in response to economic climate
By Andrew P. Han
Illumina said on Monday after the close of the market that it has begun the process of laying off approximately 5 percent of its global workforce, or about 500 people.
In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the San Diego-based sequencing firm said it is “proactively realigning core Illumina operating expenses to reflect the current macroeconomic environment.”
“Over the past several months, the macroeconomic environment has continued to get more challenging, impacting our customers and our business, and we expect these conditions to continue into 2023,” Illumina Global Head of Public Relations David McAlpine said in an email. “While we are confident in Illumina’s long-term growth trajectory, we need to reduce the growth rate of our spend as we navigate these challenges,” he said, adding that employees in the Americas whose jobs were eliminated were notified that their last day with the company will be Jan. 13, 2023.
The firm has not yet filed any layoff notices with the state of California and declined to specify which geographies or company segments would be most impacted. McAlpine said the firm had approximately 10,000 employees prior to the layoffs.
The move comes amid a rash of layoffs in the US technology sector, with employees at life sciences tools and diagnostics companies unspared. In recent months, Invitae, NanoString Technologies, 10x Genomics, Sema4, Quanterix, PerkinElmer, Siemens Healthineers, and others have all laid off workers.
Earlier this month, Illumina reported $1.11 billion in core Illumina revenues for Q3, $435 million in core Illumina operating profits, and adjusted EPS of $.34. However, the firm took a $3.91 billion write-off related to Grail, resulting in a net loss of $3.82 billion and lowered its full-year 2022 consolidated revenue and EPS guidance.
The company told the SEC that it expects to take a restructuring charge, which will also include expenses associated with optimization of its facilities, in the fourth quarter of 2022.
(Photo courtesy of Illumina)
To fight wage theft, California
gets strong assist from worker centers
CalMatters
California is notoriously short on agents to enforce the state’s tougher-than-most labor laws, but it has the help of influential allies: worker centers. Ten of these nonprofit community hubs that advocate for low-wage workers — and seven other labor-friendly organizations — have partnered with the state to help identify and crack down on wage theft, or employers’ failure to pay workers what they’re owed.
Widespread strikes descend on California
CalMatters
It’s strike season in California, again. Fast food workers outside of Starbucks, Chipotle, Jack in the Box and other restaurants across the state were prepared Tuesday to protest the companies’ efforts to qualify a 2024 referendum to overturn a new state law. The first-in-the-nation law, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Labor Day, would create a state council to regulate fast food industry working conditions and push the minimum wage to as much as $22 per hour next year.
More than 190 affordable apartments
developed in San Diego’s Mid-City area
Families and seniors with low income have more affordable housing opportunities in the Mid-City area with the completion of two developments in collaboration with the San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) that provide more than 190 affordable rental housing units. Developed by Chelsea Investment Corporation in collaboration with Price Philanthropies Foundation, SDHC, Serving Seniors and additional organizations, Mid-City Family Apartments and Harris Family Senior Residence were constructed as adjoining buildings near the intersection of Fairmount Avenue and El Cajon Boulevard.
The developments consist of 115 one-bedroom apartments for seniors and 77 two- and three-bedroom apartments for families that will remain affordable for 55 years for households earning up to 60 percent of the San Diego Area Median Income (AMI), currently $62,460 per year for a two-person household and $78,060 per year for a family of four. There are also three managers’ units.
Monthly rents for the two- and three- bedroom family apartments range from approximately $1,200 to $1,600, while rents for the one-bedroom senior apartments range from approximately $750 to $1,200 per month.
Brian Riley takes over the rail division
of the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System
The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) has named Brian Riley the agency’s new chief operating officer of rail. Riley, who started his career at MTS as a train operator in 1999, and most recently served as superintendent of transportation, will now oversee 555 operations and maintenance employees. Riley will be responsible for MTS rail operations, light rail vehicle maintenance, facilities maintenance, maintenance of wayside, safety, and state and federal regulatory compliance. Riley takes over for Wayne Terry who recently retired after working at the agency for 42 years.
Riley recently served as the chairman of the Mid-Coast Extension Rail Activation Committee, overseeing the expansion of the UC San Diego Blue Line 11-mile extension, which opened one year ago this month. He currently serves as the chairman for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) Operating Practices Working Group, and the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway Co.
San Diego’s life sciences real estate market
maintains its ‘red-hot’ momentum in Q3
San Diego’s life sciences real estate market showed signs of normalizing in this year’s third quarter after setting records in recent years, according to new national and local reports from CBRE. The metro’s normalization is consistent with the 12 largest U.S. life science hubs.
San Diego’s market-wide vacancy rate for life science space remained steady from the previous quarter at 3.4 percent in the third quarter. Total demand for laboratory space was 900,000 square feet at the end of the past quarter, still within the quarterly average before the pandemic. The submarket of Sorrento Mesa led in leasing activity with 192,292 square feet of lab space leased in the quarter, resulting in positive net absorption of 79,034 square feet. Construction activity has maintained a steady pace, with an additional 3.97 million square feet under construction in San Diego County. Nationally, developers completed 2.1 million square feet of space last quarter in the 12 markets, outpacing new absorption of 363,047 square feet.
After a record year for venture capital in 2021, funding activity in San Diego has slowed, with $435 million in total funding in the third quarter. The region is still on pace to finish the year with 2.4 times the 20-year average in annual funding. Biotechnology and pharmaceutical account for all the venture capital funding this quarter.
To read the full Q3 San Diego Life Sciences report, click here.
Library cards become golden ticket
to help ex-offenders re-enter society
A new program designed to help people who have spent time in county detention facilities successfully return to their communities and build brighter futures has issued more than 120 library cards in its first year.
The library card program started in October 2021 as a pilot program for women at the Las Colinas Detention and Reentry Facility. It proved so successful that it has already been expanded to all county detention and reentry facilities.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department and County Library teamed up to add library cards to reentry services. The library card program hopes to help people coming home improve their lives by giving them acc\ess—not just to books, but to all County Library programs, and to create “lifelong learners.”
Construction bid prices jump in October
A measure of construction contractors’ bid prices moved sharply higher in October as firms coped with ongoing supply-chain challenges and a tight labor market, according to an analysis by the Associated General Contractors of America of government data released Tuesday. Association officials said rising construction costs threatens to undermine demand for projects and urged administration officials to remove remaining tariffs on construction materials and to boost investments in construction-focused education and training.
“Although some materials costs have moderated, other costs are still climbing steeply, while contractors are incurring added expenses from delays caused by supply-chain disruptions, shortages of skilled labor, and rising interest rates,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist. “Some owners may delay or cancel projects as the price to complete them continues to increase, threatening to undermine overall demand.”
Cubic enters full-rate production
of Troposcatter contract for USMC
Cubic Mission and Performance Solutions (CMPS) has successfully entered full-rate production for its Next Generation Troposcatter (NGT) system contract with the U.S. Marine Corps. The leading-edge system will provide Marines with low latency communications by bouncing radio waves off the troposphere. “Cubic’s NGT system is the highest-performing troposcatter system in the world and its advanced communications solutions provide the USMC beyond-line-of-sight communications to ensure readiness during critical missions,” said CMPS Chief Growth Officer Anthony Verna.
Cubic wins ‘Mobile App Innovation of the Year’ award
Cubic Transportation Systems, a division of Cubic Corporation, has been selected as “Mobile App Innovation of the Year” for the second year running in the sixth annual Mobile Breakthrough Awards program conducted by Mobile Breakthrough, an independent market intelligence organization that recognizes the top companies, technologies and products in the global wireless and mobile markets. Cubic Mobile for Travelers is a cross-platform mobile application designed with transit agency passengers in mind. The platform provides multimodal mobile ticketing; is designed with complete account management; and comes with in-app top-ups.
City, Mesa and Miramar colleges ranked
among top in U.S. for Hispanic students
San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego Miramar College have been recognized as among the top 100 colleges in the country for enrollment of Hispanic/Latino students, according to a ranking by Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine. Among two-year colleges across the United States, San Diego City College was ranked 35th, while Miramar College was ranked 68th. Mesa College was ranked 45th for four-year colleges and universities. All three of the district’s credit colleges have been designated as Hispanic Serving Institutions by the U.S. Department of Education, making them eligible for grant funding to expand and improve student access and completion. Each has made the success of Hispanic students a high priority
Planet Based Foods expands
retail distribution with Kroger
San Diego’s Planet Based Foods announced its first mainstream grocery distribution with Kroger. Planet Based Foods’ new vegan, gluten-free Southwest Taquitos and Original Taquitos, as well as its Green Chili Southwest Hemp Burger, are now available in the frozen aisle at 700 Kroger stores across 10 Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Kroger is the first retailer to carry the brand’s plant-based taquitos.
SketchBox announces new partnership with Cupixel
SketchBox, a leading monthly art supply subscription service, announced a new partnership with augmented reality art education app Cupixel. SketchBox now includes 30 days of free access to Cupixel’s augmented reality training courses, including new courses created specifically for SketchBox’s monthly boxes. Combining SketchBox with Cupixel allows users of all skill levels to create intricate pieces of art. This improves on SketchBox’s long-running tutorial video series by incorporating augmented reality into the learning process.
Mindgruve launches multilingual
website for Procopio law firm
Mindgruve, a San Diego-based digital agency, announced the successful launch of a new multilingual, mobile-first website for Procopio, alaw firm with about 200 attorneys in seven offices throughout the United States, including San Diego. Procopio selected Mindgruve to design and develop a new website and overarching strategy for the firm’s diverse client and brand-building needs. Mindgruve’s team of strategists, designers, data scientists, and engineers conducted an in-depth audit of Procopio’s current website to develop a new and improved user experience for current and future clients. Chad Robley is CEO and founder of Mindgruve.
Valcre raises $12.7 million in Series A funding round
Valcre, the commercial real estate industry’s appraisal software platform, announced a $12.7 million Series A funding round led by Avenue Growth Partners with participation from Second Century Ventures. The investment will support rapid team growth and product innovation while deepening Valcre’s commitment to streamlining appraisal workflows throughout the U.S., Canada and Australia. Prior to this funding round, the company had spent six years growing its platform and accumulating the industry’s leading roster of real-estate services clients including Avison Young, Kidder Mathews, Kroll, Apprise by Walker & Dunlop, RSM, CohnReznick, and several hundred others.
AECOM gets SDG&E program management contract
AECOM, aninfrastructure consulting firm, has been selected to provide program management for San Diego Gas & Electric’s (SDG&E) Strategic Undergrounding Program that aims to reduce wildfire risk and improve electric safety and reliability during extreme weather conditions by burying power lines in key locations. In this role, AECOM will provide project management services in support of SDG&E’s wildfire mitigation and public safety power shutoff risk reduction efforts.
Erik Soderquist joins The Kleinfelder Group
as executive VP and chief financial officer
Erik Soderquist has joined The Kleinfelder Group, an engineering, design, and construction management firm in San Diego, as executive vice president and chief financial officer. Soderquist will oversee all financial activities across the organization, as well as perform integral leadership engagements for the organization’s corporate services, risk mitigation, and real estate departments. Soderquist will replace John Murphy, who after six successful years as Kleinfelder’s CFO, has been appointed as Kleinfelder’s chief operating officer.
