Lagging Alyn Hopes Change at Top Reverses Its Fortunes

IRVINE —  Alyn Corp., a metal composite materials maker that has a low level of sales and mounting losses, named Steven S. Price as its president Wednesday.

He replaces the company’s founder, Robin Carden, who will concentrate on product development and marketing.

Price, 42, was plucked from AlliedSignal, where he headed the company’s automotive aftermarket division for the past three years. Credited with restructuring that division, Price takes the reins of an Irvine-based company that went public in 1996, but has never turned a profit.

Analysts praised the move, saying the emphasis upon inventing new products, in which Carden excels, must now switch to making and selling those designs. The challenge for Price is to take his experience at larger, well-known companies--some operating in the same industries as Alyn--and translate Alyn’s products into sales.

“They’ve been developing markets and now it’s time to deliver,” said Stuart Pulvirent of Furman Selz LLC in New York. “This guy’s job is to make sure the delivery is smooth and the execution goes well.”

Despite the leadership change, Alyn’s stock fell 75 cents, to $7.63, in Nasdaq trading. More than 66,000 shares exchanged hands, the largest volume in nearly two months.

Carden said Price is well-suited for meeting the company’s needs.

“We need a professional, talented chief executive officer to guide the company,” Carden said in a prepared statement. “ . . . He is the person who best suits our needs.”

Price was not available for comment Wednesday.

Before joining AlliedSignal, he was general manager of the residential unit of Nibco Inc., a privately held maker of copper, cast and plastic plumbing fittings and valves. In addition, he spent 15 years in marketing positions with Procter & Gamble Co. and Black & Decker Corp.

Alyn, which raised $37 million in a 1996 initial public offering, has struggled to increase its sales.

But beginning last year, the company signed a series of deals that could add significant revenues and make the company a full-fledged manufacturer of automotive- and sporting-goods components.

Its most recent contract came last October when Alyn agreed to make frames for Bolle Inc. sunglasses. And in December, Alyn signed agreements for $15.5 million in equipment finance and working capital.