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HAWAII

City Bank will gather shareholders May 28

CB Bancshares Inc. said last night it will hold a special meeting for its shareholders on May 28 to comply with a provision of the Hawaii Control Share Acquisitions Statute.

The bank, which is the target of a hostile takeover from rival Central Pacific Financial Corp., said it did not yet know the time or location of the meeting.

Central Pacific Bank's parent forced the action by sending a letter and information statement Monday to CB Bancshares. The parent of City Bank had until today to set a date for the meeting and was required to schedule it by June 22.

"We just felt we wanted to schedule it as quickly as possible so that shareholders could speak or vote on the issue," CB Bancshares spokesman Wayne Miyao said. "(The bank) doesn't want to prolong this situation."

Meanwhile, Central Pacific vowed yesterday in a letter to its employees that it would strive to keep job losses to a minimum if its proposed merger with CB Bancshares goes through.

Central Pacific said the reduction of jobs was a last resort but added that it would not be able to be more specific until it had an opportunity to sit down with CB Bancshares management.

Local airline employees get help

Some 8,000 airline and airline-related workers in Hawaii who were laid off because of terrorism and the war on terrorism can collect an additional 10 months of unemployment compensation checks, on top of the 26 weeks they are already entitled to, the state Department of Labor & Industrial Relations said yesterday.

Money for the additional jobless payments comes from the $78.5 billion federal Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush on April 16. The workers, who have already used up their existing federally funded temporary benefits, will receive notices about the addition, said Nelson Befitel, state labor director.

Since the state already provides up to 26 weeks unemployment benefits, the unemployed workers in the industries covered by the emergency legislation will be able to get up to 65 weeks of jobless benefits, Befitel said. The first phase of the federal program, which went into effect in March 2002, provided 13 weeks of special payments on top of the 13 weeks maximum paid by the state.

The new money applies to workers in airlines, businesses that operate at airports and businesses that supply or service airlines.

Ford Island trade fair scheduled

A construction contractor subsidiary of the California-based Fluor Corp. is holding a business trade fair from 3-5 p.m. Tuesday in the Ala Moana Hotel Hibiscus Ballroom.

Fluor Federal Services LLC said it will install nearly seven miles of new or improved roads, four miles of pipe and 10 miles of cable as part of development of Ford Island in Pearl Harbor. Fluor said it will introduce its management and provide information about opportunities available on the project.

ELSEWHERE

California nixes Wells Fargo mortgage license

SAN FRANCISCO >> California regulators revoked Wells Fargo Bank's state mortgage license yesterday, escalating a dispute over whether the lender has been cheating borrowers by charging interest before the law allows.

The rebuke won't stop Wells Fargo from continuing to finance home loans in California, its biggest market. The San Francisco-based bank so far has been able to convince a federal judge that federal regulations should take precedence over state regulations.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in February issued a legal opinion validating Wells Fargo's practice of imposing finance charges when its customers receive the mortgage amount.

California law forbids interest charges until the day before the loan is officially recorded.

The contrasting rules have triggered a regulatory turf war that has fractured the relationship between California's Department of Corporations and a bank giant that has been headquartered in the state for 151 years.

Wells has used its market clout to build a booming mortgage business. The bank said it originated or purchased 350,000 California mortgages last year.

Another round in the battle is scheduled Monday when the antagonists face off in federal court.

Fuel economy has improved little, EPA says

WASHINGTON >> Vehicle fuel economy has improved little since the mid-1980s, at least partly because of the continuing popularity of sport utility vehicles, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a report yesterday.

The average fuel economy for 2003 cars and trucks is 6 percent lower than in 1988, the EPA said. The average fuel economy of cars and light trucks peaked in 1987 and 1988, when it reached 22.1 miles per gallon. In 2003, the average fuel economy was 20.8 miles per gallon.

The EPA examined fuel economy from 1975 to 2003, weighting the fuel economy for each vehicle by its sales volume. In 2003, SUVs, pickups and other light trucks comprised 48 percent of all sales, the EPA said. That was more than twice their market share in 1983.

United wants to close two maintenance sites

Chicago >> United Airlines' parent UAL Corp., the world's second-biggest airline, sought bankruptcy court approval to shut two of its three maintenance facilities, eliminating jobs for some of the sites' 2,280 employees.

The carrier asked for permission to reject leases and close facilities in Oakland, Calif., and Indianapolis, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Work at the sites would shift to United's biggest maintenance base in San Francisco and to outside contractors, spokesman Chris Brathwaite said.

UAL, which filed the biggest U.S. airline bankruptcy in December, has been seeking to reduce costs by eliminating jobs, cutting pay and trimming benefits as it scales back the number of its flights. The company has said it will reduce labor expenses by $2.56 billion annually.

The International Association of Machinists is still urging United to keep the Oakland facility open, according to a spokesman.

The Indianapolis base, which had been closed temporarily last month, has 1,380 employees, and the Oakland facility has 900, Brathwaite said. Of those workers, about 1,800 were unionized employees represented by the International Association of Machinists. The rest were in non-union management or administrative jobs.

Ivax Corp. recommended on 'Louis Rukeyser'

New York >> Shares of Ivax Corp., a generic drugmaker, are worth buying because the stock is being purchased by insiders and has been rising in above-average trading, a panelist on "Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street" television show said yesterday.

"I think the stock, while it's a little extended here at about $16, looks easily like a $20 stock," Jeffrey DeGraaf, chief technical analyst at Lehman Brothers Inc., said on the CNBC show. "I'd love to buy some more on a pullback to $13 or so."

DeGraaf also recommended shares of Halliburton Co., the world's second-largest provider of oilfield services, and Symbol Technologies Inc., the world's largest maker of bar-code scanners.

Panelist Louise Yamada, head of technical research at Citigroup Global Markets, recommended shares of generic drug-maker Mylan Laboratories Inc.

Japan Airlines, All Nippon may get loans

Tokyo >> Japan Airlines System Corp. and All Nippon Airways Co., Japan's two biggest carriers, may get emergency loans from the government-run Development Bank of Japan after demand for air travel slumped because of a deadly virus and concern about the Iraq war.

No decision has been made yet on whether to offer the loans or on the amount involved, the bank's spokesman Tetsuro Murata told Bloomberg News. "We are considering the project as we are required to take emergency measures" because of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, "which has a significant impact on Japan," he said.

Japanese airlines and their global rivals, are suffering a slump in demand because of the war in Iraq and the spread of SARS, which has killed 391 worldwide, forcing flight reductions and cost cutting. Japan's main airlines have said combined sales this year will drop by more than &YEN100 billion ($843 million) as a result. A bank bailout may hurt the carriers' credit ratings.

"Government loans will help for the time being, but over the longer term will erode (the airlines') financial standing," said Junichi Yamaki, senior vice president at Moody's. "It is still not clear what effect SARS will have on these carriers, and we want to have a closer look at their earnings outlooks before we take any further action."

Enron indictments miss top execs

HOUSTON >> The U.S. government demonstrated major progress in its Enron Corp. investigation with a slew of new indictments this week, but did not move closer to ensnaring the topmost executives and may be slowed in its efforts to do so, lawyers said yesterday.

On Thursday, federal prosecutors leveled charges against eight new defendants, nearly doubling the number of executives from the bankrupt energy giant who have either pleaded guilty or have been indicted.

Former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay and former chief executive Jeffrey Skilling, both of whom have denied wrongdoing have yet to be charged.