Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Friday, December 18, 1998
Barnwell records loss for quarter, year
Honolulu-based Barnwell Industries Inc. had a net loss for its fourth quarter and fiscal year, blaming slumping oil prices and write-offs as it divested its U.S. mainland operations.The oil and gas exploration company today reported a net loss of $160,000, or 12 cents a share, for the fiscal fourth quarter ending Sept. 30, compared with net income of $110,000, 8 cents a share, for the same period last year. For the fiscal year, the company had a net loss of $3.89 million, $2.95 a share, vs. net income of $1.05 million, 79 cents a share, in the previous fiscal year. The company had announced it was getting out of the U.S. oil and gas exploration business to concentrate on Canadian operations. The firm is also a partner in Kaupulehu Developments, which is developing a Big Island residential, resort and commercial project.
Report predicts more rate cuts
LOS ANGELES -- The Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by another half percentage point in 1999 in order to boost sagging consumer activity, according to a forecast released today.The quarterly report, issued by economists at the Anderson School at the University of California, Los Angeles, said current consumer exuberance will spill over into 1999 but will not last indefinitely, particularly because consumers are financing their buying sprees out of their stock market gains.
In other news . . .
WASHINGTON -- The rate of occupational injuries and illnesses declined in 1997, the fifth consecutive yearly drop, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.
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