A&B 1st-quarter net slips
but operations gain

By Russ Lynch
Star-Bulletin

Alexander & Baldwin Inc. today reported a 35 percent drop in first-quarter earnings but said the difference was due to a large insurance claim settlement that boosted income in the first quarter of 1997.

A&B said all its operations showed improved results this year compared with the equivalent period of last year.

The company reported a net profit of $13.8 million, or 31 cents a share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with a net of $21.2 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.

The 1997 period included income of $12.4 million, or 27 cents a share, from the settlement of an insurance lawsuit concerning 1989 earthquake damage to San Francisco docks used by A&B's big subsidiary, Matson Navigation Co.

Matson's operating profit for the first quarter declined by $16.7 million to $17.4 million, compared with $34.1 million in the first quarter of 1997. However, the insurance settlement last year was treated as operating income, so the real difference in profit fromongoing operations of Matson was an increase of $3.3 million, A&B said.

A&B's food products business -- including the California & Hawaiian Sugar Co. refinery in the San Francisco area and Hawaii's biggest sugar plantation, Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. on Maui -- had an operating profit of just under $3 million in the latest quarter, a 25 percent increase from $2.4 million in the year-earlier quarter.

A&B's overall revenues for the latest quarter were $291.4 million, off 1.7 percent from $296.3 million in the year-earlier quarter, which included the insurance income.

"These first-quarter results are encouraging, but we have to be cautious about conclusions we draw from them," said John C. Couch, board chairman, president and chief executive officer.

Couch said A&B made gains from an alliance between Matson and another shipping company, APL, but "there is still a great deal of uncertainty overall about how much Hawaii will be affected by the economic problems in Asia and, in particular, those in Japan."