Right Start Blames Catalog Sales, Relocation for Loss

The Right Start Inc., a Westlake Village marketer of merchandise for infants and young children, blamed reduced catalog sales and the cost of relocating a warehouse for some of its losses in its latest quarter.

The nationwide retailer had a net loss of $628,000, or 10 cents a share, on sales of $10.5 million in the three months that ended Nov. 29.

This compared with a loss of $1.4 million, or 23 cents share, on sales of $11.8 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

In the six months that ended Nov. 29, Right Start had a net loss of $594,000, or 9 cents a share, on sales of $20.5 million. In the same period a year earlier, the company lost $1.4 million, or 22 cents a share, on sales of $26.3 million. Much of the latter period’s loss came from a charge related to the sale of a catalog operation.

The company opened five new stores last fall, in malls in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Chicago area.

Chief Executive Lenny Targon said the new outlets have exceeded expectations. He said the company plans to open five more stores before June 1. This would bring the number of Right Start stores to 21.

In another earnings report, Camarillo Community Bank said it had record earnings in 1995 of $1 million, or 71 cents a share.

This represented an increase of 121% over 1994, when the bank earned $452,000, or 32 cents a share.

In the fourth quarter of 1995, the bank’s earnings totaled $274,000, or 19 cents a share, compared to $196,000, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier.

The bank’s unaudited assets as of Dec. 31 were $75.5 million, and shareholders’ equity exceeded $7 million--both record figures.