Business highlights

WASHINGTON — The U.S. technology industry imported more computers, high-tech components and consumer electronics in 2006 than it exported, resulting in a record $102 billion trade deficit in the sector, according to a new report due out Tuesday.

Total tech imports hit $322 billion in 2006, up 9 percent from the prior year, according to the report from the tech industry’s largest trade group, AeA. The U.S. imported more high-tech goods from China than any other nation.

But the import numbers don’t tell the whole picture. Many American companies, such as semiconductor giant Intel Corp., design and test their chips in the United States, but manufacture them in their plants overseas and then import them. Just how many of these "intracompany transfers” make up the overall import figure can’t be discerned from government data, according to AeA.

U.S. high-tech exports have increased over the past four years, although they’re still running below the dot-com bubble record of $223 billion set in 2000, according to the report from the AeA, which includes Hewlett-Packard Co., Microsoft Corp. and Dell Inc. among its 2,500 members.

Port clerks make ’final’ contract offer to avert strike

LOS ANGELES — A union representing clerks at the nation’s largest port complex submitted a revised contract proposal to employers on Monday that one labor official hoped would lead to a settlement and avert a possible shutdown of the docks.

The proposal came after both sides in the labor dispute agreed to continue negotiating past a 12:01 a.m. Monday strike deadline set by the union.

"We anticipate an agreement,” said John Fageaux Jr., president of the office clerical unit of Local 63, a division of the ILWU. "We’ve done just about all we can do to get an agreement reached.”

The 15,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union has indicated that longshoremen would honor picket lines if the 750 clerks strike.

That would effectively shut down loading and unloading operations at the neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Fageaux declined to provide specifics of the union’s latest proposal, which he has called its "last, best and final offer.”

Mattel 2Q profit up 15 percent on strength in Barbie, Hot Wheels

LOS ANGELES — Mattel Inc. on Monday reported a 15 percent increase in its second-quarter profit on global sales of Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels toy cars, although U.S. Barbie sales fell for the second consecutive quarter.

The toy maker posted net income of $43.1 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with $37.4 million, or 10 cents per share, a year ago.

Revenue totaled $1.02 billion, up from $957.7 million in the year-ago period.

The company’s profit matched expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, although revenue fell below the $1.03 billion analysts were looking for.

The company said global gross sales for Barbie rose 6 percent, although that figure included a 4 percent gain from currency exchange rates.

Barbie sales in the U.S. fell 5 percent in the quarter.

The El Segundo-based company said it was hopeful that a new Barbie music player tied to a Web site will boost sales of the company’s flagship girl’s toy line in the second half of the year.

"Both we and retailers feel good about the line,” Mattel chairman and chief executive Robert Eckert told analysts in a conference call.

"I continue to feel good about where we are strategically, but we continue to have work to do in the U.S.,” he said.

The company’s boy brands fared better, with sales of Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars up 15 percent worldwide.

Sales from lines connected with films or TV shows fell 2 percent in the quarter, although the company said it continued to see strong sales from toys related to the animated film "Cars,” released last year by The Walt Disney Co.’s Pixar Animation Studios.

Last year’s second quarter also included strong sales of products from the Warner Bros. film "Superman.”

Sales of the company’s Fisher Price line, including infant, newborn and preschool electronics, were up 10 percent worldwide.

Mattel said revenue from its American Girls line fell 10 percent worldwide.

The company will introduce a new historical doll in the second half of the year, its first in five years. American Girls boutiques are also scheduled to open in Atlanta and Dallas.

Analysts said they were pleased with the quarter overall, with international sales picking up the slack of falling domestic revenue in some cases.

The continued strong sale of "Cars” merchandise was a surprise, as was an increase in the company’s gross profit margin, said Sean McGowan, an analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities Inc.

He said fans of Mattel’s American Girls line were holding off their purchases until the latest doll in the series is released later this year. Mattel seemed poised to do well in the second half of the year, the busiest season for toy sales, McGowan said.

The company did not buy back shares in the second quarter.

For the first six months of the year, Mattel’s net income fell 18.5 percent to $55.1 million, or 14 cents per share, compared to $67.6 million, or 17 cents in the same period last year.

Revenue for the first six months increased 12 percent to $1.960 billion, compared to $1.751 billion in the same period last year.

Shares of Mattel rose 71 cents, or 2.7 percent, to close at $27.24.

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