Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, February 2, 1998
Cyanotech to lay off 25% of its work force
Cyanotech Corp. today said it is laying off 25 percent of its work force because of sluggish sales.Although the Big Island producer of nutritional and other products said it expects sales of its main products to increase this year, the layoffs should help return the company to profitability at current sales levels, said Gerald R. Cysewski, Cyanotech chairman.
It wasn't immediately clear how many people would be affected by the cuts, but Bloomberg News' description of the company says Cyanotech has 74 employees. Production operations, sales and administrative functions are being restructured and cut, Cyanotech said.
Construction contracts for '97 fell 10% in isles
Contracts written in 1997 for future construction in Hawaii were down 10 percent compared with 1996, according to a new report.The F.W. Dodge division of the McGraw-Hill Cos., which tracks the construction industry, said $693 million worth of contracts for nonresidential construction, such as office buildings, were written last year, up 2 percent from $683 million in 1996.
However the $620 million figure for residential buildings was down 18 percent from $758 million in 1996. Contracts for nonbuilding construction, such as roads and bridges, totaled $307 million last year, down 17 percent from $368 million.
Downtown hotel hires Aston as manager
The downtown business hotel at Bishop and Hotel streets is now called the Aston Executive Centre Hotel.
The change is because management of the hotel shifted yesterday from owners MKS Executive Partners to Aston Hotels & Resorts. All of the employees were kept on at the 116-suite hotel, formerly the Executive Centre, the owners said. Arick Yanagihara, MKS executive vice president, said the company decided to bring in Aston for a broader marketing impact.
Gannett's net up 18% on higher ad sales
ARLINGTON, Va. -- Gannett Co.'s fourth-quarter profit rose 18 percent as the strong economy lifted advertising sales at its newspapers.The nation's largest newspaper company said profit increased to $230.4 million, or 80 cents a diluted share, from $195.6 million, or 69 cents, before a gain in the year-earlier period. Revenue rose 10 percent to $1.32 billion from $1.2 billion. Arlington, Va.-based Gannett owns USA Today, the Honolulu Advertiser and 86 other daily newspapers, plus 20 TV stations.
Newspaper publishers such as Gannett and Knight-Ridder Inc., which also announced higher-than-expected profit last week, are benefiting from low unemployment, which is leading to strong sales of high-profit classified advertisements.
U.S. savings rate lowest since 1939
WASHINGTON -- Americans' personal income increased moderately last year with spending nearly keeping pace. But the U.S. savings rate sank to a 58-year low.The Commerce Department said today that for the year, incomes rose 5.8 percent to $6.87 trillion, a bit faster than spending, which increased 5.4 percent to $5.49 trillion. But tax and fee payments to government shot up 11.4 percent. So disposable, or after tax, income rose just 5 percent, somewhat slower than spending.
To make up the difference, Americans saved less -- just 3.8 percent of disposable income, down from 4.3 percent in 1996. That represented the lowest savings rate since 1939.
Commerce officials theorized that some American households felt less need to save in 1997 because of strong stock gains.