Coastcast Corp., a major foundry that supplies many of golf’s equipment manufacturers,

Coastcast Corp. (Pink Sheets: COCA), the Rancho Dominguez, Calif., foundry that manufactures clubheads for most of the golf industry’s major equipment companies, has been taken off the sales block. Coastcast Chairman Hans Buehler said a special committee recommended and the board of directors approved terminating the marketing of the company.

Buehler also said his offer to take Coastcast private, along with fellow director Tony Novelly, has been withdrawn.

“Other proposals to acquire the company were received and determined to be unacceptable by both the special committee and the board of directors,” Buehler said.

Coastcast, which employs approximately 1,200 people, has been one of the larger victims of the downturn in the golf equipment industry the past few years. For the six months that ended this past June 30, Coastcast’s sales decreased 43 percent versus the same period a year ago to $23.9 million. The company’s loss in the six months increased to $7.5 million from $3.4 million the same period a year ago.

Coastcast last year reported sales of $62.4 million compared to $115.4 million in ’01. The company reported a loss of $10.3 million in ’02 compared to $2.3 million in ’01.

Buehler said Coastcast’s recent deregistration from the OTC Bulletin Board to the Pink Sheets is expected to result in “significant savings” to the company. Although the company will no longer be required to file periodic reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Buehler said Coastcast expects to continue making quarterly reports on sales and earnings.

“We are optimistic about the future of the company,” Buehler said. “ The past several years have been most difficult, with much of our work migrating to China. The worst part was that we did not receive tooling for new parts or programs from our golf customers. This has changed during the past eight months. We are now tooled up on most new programs with our principal customers and anticipate that we will receive a portion of their business. We are optimistic that our business will grow again and I am anticipating a significant increase in sales over the next year.”

Buehler added he expects “continuing but declining losses” for the remainder of this year, but added he anticipates a profit in the first quarter of 2004 and to remain profitable for the rest of the year.