Troubled Quintek gets money from management firm. (Media & Technology).

STRUGGLING microfilm equipment-maker Quintek Technologies has received a $4.8 million, two-year financing package under a deal with KMVI, a management firm based in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Camarillo-based publicly held firm has been under scrutiny after the Securities and Exchange Commission began an investigation over financial misstatements about the company's efforts to sell equipment in Central Europe.

The allegations stem from press releases it issued last year outlining a reported $15 million credit line it arranged with Penny King Holdings, which followed a second press release about a $10 million contract with Eurotrend Informatics Ltd., resulting in an immediate spike in the company's stock.

Both deals later fell through, prompting the investigation of alleged stock fraud.

Company CFO Andrew Haag said the company has been cooperating with investigators and maintained his firm has done nothing wrong.

According to its latest numbers for the quarter ending March 31, the company posted a $285,108 loss or $0.01 per share on sales of $100,838, compared to a year earlier when it lost $250,319 or $0.01 per share.

The company was trading on the Over the Counter Bulletin Board at 15 cents a share last Thursday, with a 52-week high of 19 cents, reached that day, and a 52-week low of 2 cents, reached on Dec. 18.

WB Spinoff Dropped

Burbank-based WB Network has dropped plans to produce a second high-profile show set for the new TV season.

Network bosses announced last week they had canceled plans for the spinoff of the network's hit drama "Gilmore Girls," that had been slated as a midseason replacement during the 2003-2004 season.

A network spokesman who confirmed the cancellation, said growing costs for the series was the primary reason for the move.

The series would have featured Rob Estes, formerly of "Meirose Place," and Milo Ventiglia.

The series had originally received a six-episode order, which is standard for mid-season shows. But it's the second high profile show under development by the network that has received the boot from programming bosses.

A remake of the 1980s ABC action show, "McGyver" had been in the works and scheduled for the fall season but after a pilot screening and retooling of the show, it was scrapped despite much hype over the return of a younger and hipper version of McGyver.

The network is jointly owned by AOL Time-Warner which controls 66 percent of the company, and by the Tribune Co., which owns 22 percent.

Micro Machine-Makers Honored

Burbank-based MEMGen Corp. has honored the winners of its "3-D MEMS Design Challenge," for manufacturing micro machines.

Top winner was Cenk Acar, a Ph.D. student in the University of California Irvine's Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department Micro Systems Lab. Acar received $10,000 for his tiny distributed-mass gyroscope which has various commercial and military applications.

The second place winner was Jason Clark, a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley's Applied Science and Technology program for his floating electro mechanical device which can be used for inertial navigation systems. He received $5,000.

Third place was won jointly by Said Emre Alper, a research assistant at Middle East Technical University's Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering in Turkey, and Tayfun Akin, Ph.D. an associate professor at the university. They will share $2,500.

Vacit Arat, MEMGen's president and CEO, said the contest alms to demonstrate the value and innovation of microdevices and micro systems.

"It was very interesting to see what imaginative design concepts people came up with once they were allowed the luxury of 3-D flexibility and many tens of metal layers," he said.

There were 132 applications submitted by individuals from 24 different countries, including 22 from the U.S., who have commercial or research interest in the design of micro devices.

Armstrong Leaves KRLA-AM

Veteran radio executive and general manager of Salem Communications' Glendale-based KRLA-AM, KFSH-AM and KKLAFM, Dave Armstrong is leaving the stations to head Salem's operations in the northeastern U.S.

Armstrong, who spearheaded the two stations' recent upsurge in the ratings, will be based out of Salem's New York City stations, WMCA-AM and WWDJ-AM where he will also serve as the stations' general manager.

With the move, Armstrong will oversee Salem's stations in the New York and Boston markets.

Armstrong is known for helping KRLA double its ratings in 2001 after switching to an all-talk format from top 40 radio and by bringing in talk show personalities, Michael Medved, Dennis Prager and veteran news commentator George Putnam.

Armstrong also changed the station's call letters from KIEV to KRLA after the Walt Disney Co. bought the original KRLA station and changed its call letters to KSPN to better reflect the station's then new ESPN Radio Network affiliation.

Vitesse Acquires Multilink

Camarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. has acquired Multilink Technology Corp. in a deal valued at $22 million.

As part of the deal Vitesse will issue 0.549 shares for each share of Multilink, an integrated circuits maker based in New Jersey.

The acquisition is scheduled to close in the third quarter, Vitesse said, subject to closing conditions and the approval of Multilink shareholders. Multilink President and CEO Richard Nottenburg will become vice president of Vitesse's Backplane Products and head a 45-member team of former Multilink employees.

The acquisition brings a family of products already in production which would cost Vitesse more than the purchase price to reproduce," said Vitesse President and CEO Lou Tomasetta.

Vitesse is a maker of optical modules, networking equipment and integrated circuits and has recently entered the data storage business as it unwinds from some segments of the networking business.

Staff Reporter Carlos Martinez may be reached at [phone] or by e-mail at [e-mail]