BUSINESS BRIEFS
In search of conventioneers
Advertiser Staff
A Hawai'i tourism team is promoting the state to meeting planners in the Midwest this week.
A delegation of 16 Hawai'i meetings professionals will be selling the islands to meeting planners based in Chicago and Des Moines, Iowa.
The effort is being led by the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau and the Hawai'i Convention Center.
Business receptions for about 90 are planned for tonight at Roy's Restaurant in Chicago, and tomorrow at Gibson's Steakhouse in Rosemont, Ill. Grammy Award-winning slack key guitarist Daniel Ho will perform.
INVESTOR BACKS MOKULELE AIR
Local mechanical engineer Dorvin Leis has "finalized his intent" to invest millions of dollars in Mokulele Airlines.
Leis is owner of Dorvin D. Leis Co., a local mechanical engineering firm with more than $100 million in annual revenues.
Mokulele — which recently entered into a code-share agreement with Mesa Airlines to operate the go!Express interisland flights — is a local carrier that serves small, under-served destinations throughout the state.
Correction: Local mechanical engineer Dorvin Leis has "finalized his intent" to invest millions of dollars in Mokulele Airlines. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Leis had invested in the airline.
FRESH DEL MONTE POSTS RECORD NET
A gain on the closing of pineapple operations at Kunia helped Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. record net income of $51.6 million during the first three months of this year. A year earlier it had a net profit of $16.5 million.
The Coral Gables, Fla.-based company said it had a $2.9 million gain from exiting pineapple operations in Hawai'i. It attributed the bigger overall profit to the improved performance of the company's global operations.
BORDERS SOON AT WINDWARD MALL
Borders Group Inc. said it will open its newest Hawai'i store at the end of July at Windward Mall in Kane'ohe.
The 22,000-square-foot store will employ 22 and offer up to 200,000 book, music and movie titles for sale. The store also will house a Starbucks cafe and a Paperchase shop.
