BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hoku earnings flat in quarter
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Kapolei-based Hoku Scientific Inc. yesterday said second-quarter profits remained virtually flat at $303,000, or 2 cents a share, compared with a year-ago profit of $293,000, or 2 cents a share. Revenues during the three months ended Sept. 30 rose 46 percent to $1.9 million versus revenues of $1.3 million in the year-ago period.
During the quarter, Hoku scaled back investments in its fuel-cell business to focus on its polysilicon and solar businesses.
Shares of Hoku rose a penny to close at $3.63 a share on the Nasdaq stock market yesterday.
HAWAI'I PACIFIC A COLLEGE 'BEST BUY'
Hawai'i Pacific University has been named one of Barron's "Best Buys in College Education" for 2006.
HPU is one of 247 schools featured in the guide, which selects institutions based on tuition rates, financial aid, student-faculty ratio, a survey of student satisfaction and other data.
"Once again, Barron's has provided important third-party quality validation of our claim to offer a quality education at a reasonable cost," said HPU President Chatt Wright.
MILEAGE-CLAIM ALLOWABLE RISES
WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service, reflecting rising fuel and vehicle costs, is raising the standard mileage rate used to calculate the deductible costs of driving for business purposes.
The agency said that as of Jan. 1, 2007, the new rate will be 48.5 cents per mile for business miles driven. That is the same as the 48.5 cent rate temporarily imposed during the final months of 2005 when gas prices spiked in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. During 2006 the rate was 44.5 cents per mile.
