Amfac’s quarterly
loss grows

By Rick Daysog
Star-Bulletin

Amfac/JMB Hawaii Inc. recorded a net loss of $7 million during the second quarter, reflecting higher financing costs and a drop in property and agriculture revenues.

The loss compares with a net loss of $5.1 million in second quarter 1996. For the first six months this year, the company reported a net loss of $12.4 million, up from first half 1996's $9.1 million.

The results come as Amfac -- once Hawaii's largest company -- has put large blocks of its neighbor island properties on the market to pare down its debt.

The company, which owns about 47,000 acres of largely agricultural and resort lands in Hawaii, last month put 2,700 acres of land in the Puna district on the Big Island for sale. In June, the company put 6,700 acres of its Kauai lands on the market for $19.5 million.

Amfac said it sold some of its noncore Kauai holdings for $4.4 million during the first six months this year.

As of June 30, Amfac listed assets of $484.1 million, up from $483.6 million a year ago. The company's liabilities were $652.8 million at the end of the latest quarter, compared with the year-earlier's $637.2 million.

Revenues from the company's agriculture division fell 54.7 percent in the second quarter 1997 to $7.6 million from $16.7 million in last year's second quarter.

Second quarter 1997 revenues from Amfac's property division slipped to $10.8 million from the previous second quarter's $12.2 million.

Combined revenues were $18.4 million, down from the year-earlier's $28.9 million. Amfac said its interest expenses for the latest quarter was $7.3 million, up from $6.5 million a year ago.

The company had an operating loss of $3.8 million in the three months ending June 30, up from the year-earlier's $1.3 million.

Amfac is no longer a publicly traded company but it's financial results are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by parent company Northbrook Corp.

Illinois-based Northbrook is affiliated with JMB Realty Corp., which acquired Amfac in 1988.

An Amfac spokesman could not be reached for comment this morning.