Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Monday, August 10, 1998
Loan fund will aid Molokai businesses
Molokai Ranch Ltd. has put up $250,000 to add to $550,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create an $800,000 revolving fund to make loans to small businesses on Molokai.Bank of Hawaii is also involved, processing and servicing all of the loans.
The new Molokai Revolving Loan Fund will be able to make loans from $25,000 to $200,000, borrowing money from the USDA's rural development system at a 1 percent interest rate and relending it to qualified applicants, initially at 5 percent. The percentage difference will cover administrative costs and possible loan losses, organizers said.
People on Molokai interested in applying for loans under the program should contact Kip Dunbar, manager Bank of Hawaii's Kaunakakai branch.
Bell Atlantic hopes for quick end to strike
NEW YORK -- Striking Bell Atlantic Corp. workers marched in picket lines today, the first business day of the walkout against the telephone company that stretches from Maine to Virginia."No Contract, No Peace," read signs carried by some pickets in Charleston, W.Va. At a picket line in New York, bottles and an egg were thrown.
Company and union officials continued meeting this afternoon in efforts to end their stalemate over a three-year contract for the Communications Workers of America, whose old contract for 73,000 workers expired yesterday.
Company officials were hopeful a deal could be worked out soon, said company spokesman Eric Rabe. "We don't think that there's much more to do."
Planet Hollywood records surprise loss
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Planet Hollywood International Inc. reported an unexpected second-quarter loss and said its profit for the year will be far less than analysts' forecasts, as sales slump at its movie-theme restaurants.The company, which operates 87 Planet Hollywood and 10 All-Star Cafe restaurants, said it hasn't seen any improvement in its operations from the first half of the year. It will examine ways to cut costs..
The once high-flying chain has struggled to ring up sales. One problem has been that first-time customers don't return, leading to a 17 percent drop during the quarter in sales at restaurants open at least a year and a half.
Orlando-based Planet Hollywood's second-quarter loss was $1.4 million, or 1 cent a diluted share, compared with net income of $16.3 million, or 15 cents, a year ago. It was expected to earn 7 cents, the average estimate of four analysts surveyed by First Call Corp., Bloomberg News reported. Revenue fell 14 percent to $105.1 million for the quarter ended June 28 from $121.9 million last year.
Harrah's to purchase big resort in Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS -- Harrah's Entertainment Inc. is buying the owner of the Rio Suite Hotel and Casino, the world's 13th largest hotel, for $518 million in stock to expand its hotel and casino empire.The fast-growing Rio, half a mile west of the Las Vegas Strip, has become one of the most popular hotels among the city's 1.3 million residents.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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