BUSINESS BRIEFS
Fairmont Orchid on market again
Advertiser Staff and News Services
The owners of the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii luxury hotel on the Big Island's Kohala Coast recently put the resort up for sale.
Built in 1990, the 32-acre oceanfront property has had several owners since it opened as the Ritz-Carlton Mauna Lani.
The latest owner is Boston-based real estate investment firm Westbrook Partners LLC, which paid $250 million for the 540-room hotel two years ago. Resort public relations director Aven Wright-McIntosh said the property, which has earned a four-diamond designation from AAA, has been marketed since June by the New York brokerage firm Eastdil Secured LLC and has attracted the interest of 37 parties.
CHECKS ONGOING FOR BOTULISM
The state Department of Health said it is continuing to do spot checks on store shelves for food products made by Castleberry's Food Co., which is voluntarily recalling canned meat products because of a botulism outbreak.
Several Hawai'i retailers, including Foodland and Costco, have carried some of the Augusta, Ga.-based company's brands, including the Best Yet and Cattle Drive labels.
The Health Department said there have been no reports of botulism or reports of illnesses linked to the products in Hawai'i.
HAWAIIAN AIR MAINTENANCE SET
Boeing Co. 767 aircraft operated by Hawaiian Airlines Inc. will have maintenance work performed by Air New Zealand Ltd. under a $36 million contract, Bloomberg News reported.
The five-year contract will virtually fill all the spare capacity on Air New Zealand's heavy maintenance production line until 2012, Bloomberg reported. The first of Hawaiian Airlines' 18 767s will arrive in mid-August.
MAUI FIRM’S BABY CARRIER HONORED
A baby carrier made by a Maui-based company has been selected by Parenting magazine as being among the top 20 baby products in the last 20 years.
ERGO Baby Carrier Inc. said it was honored with the selection earlier this year. The baby carrier was created by Karin Frost, a Maui resident who came up with the design in looking for ways to carry her child while living an active lifestyle.
MAC FARMS $8.5M SALE CLOSING PUT OFF
ML Macadamia Orchards LP, the world’s largest grower of macadamia nuts, said it now expects to close its $8.5 million purchase of most of the assets of Mac Farms of Hawaii LLC by the end of the year.
The company previously had expected to complete the sale in October. ML Macadamia filed documents at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that said the preparation of audited financial statements by Mac Farms had been delayed, requiring a new closing date.
CENTRAL PACIFIC TO MAKE PRESENTATION
Central Pacific Financial, the parent company of Honolulu-based Central Pacific Bank, said President and Chief Executive Officer Clint Arnoldus and Chief Financial Officer Dean Hirata will make a presentation to investors and financial analysts during the Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Community Bank Investor Conference Tuesday in New York.
A webcast of the 10:30 a.m. talk will be at www.kbw.com/news/conferenceCommunity.html. A copy of the presentation will also be posted on Central Pacific’s Web site at www.centralpacificbank.com.
NOKIA BUYS MEDIA SERVICE TWANGO
Twango, a Redmond, Wash., media-sharing service that counts two former Hawaiçi residents among its founders, has been purchased by Nokia, the world’s largest mobile phone company.
Jim Laurel, a former Kailua resident, and Michael Laurel, a graduate of Mililani High School and the University of Hawai'i-Manoa, were among Twango’s five founders. Nokia said the purchase will help it offer people an easy way to share multimedia content through their desktop and mobile devices.
Peggy Laurel, a Makiki resident, said her sons still maintain ties to Hawai'i through the university. “They still consider themselves Hawai'i boys,” she said.
AMAZON’S PROFITS MORE THAN TRIPLE
SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc.’s second-quarter profit more than tripled, boosted by strong sales of books, music and electronics worldwide. The Web retailer’s stock soared in after-hours trading.
Earnings for the three months ended June 30 climbed to $78 million, or 19 cents per share, from $22 million, or 5 cents per share during the same period last year, the company said yesterday.
Results topped Wall Street’s expectations. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a profit of 16 cents per share.
Revenue rose 35 percent to $2.88 billion from $2.14 billion in the year-ago quarter, beating analysts’ expectations for $2.81 billion in sales.
Before the announcement, shares of Amazon sank $2.49, or 3.5 percent, to close at $69.25. They gained $12.65 to $81.90, in after-hours electronic trading.
