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Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Tuesday, March 14, 2000

Macadamia firm ups dividend, buys land

ML Macadamia Orchards L.P. today announced a 25 percent increase in its quarterly distribution to its partners.

The Honolulu based macadamia nut grower said its partners will receive a quarterly distribution of $12.5 cents on May 15, up from 10 cents a share previously. ML Macadamia said the increase, which is effective for unitholders of record on March 31, reflects improved sales following several drought years.

The partnership also announced it has agreed to acquire 142 acres of orchards on the Big Island from Ka"u Agribusiness Co. for $9 million. ML Macadamia said it hopes to complete the land deal in the second quarter.

Founded in 1986, ML Macadamia is the world's largest mac nut grower and owns or leases 4,027 acres of orchards on the Big Island.

Isle bank company raises its dividend

CPB Inc. said today it has raised its first-quarter dividend by one cent, or 7.1 percent, to 15 cents a share. The latest dividend increase follows a one-cent rise declared in January.

The new dividend is payable April 28 to shareholders of record March 31.

CPB, the parent of Central Pacific Bank, reported a record profit for its latest quarter, earning $4.4 million in the final three months of 1999, up 15.8 percent from $3.8 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Nortel to buy Xros for $3.25 billion

BRAMPTON, Ontario -- Nortel Networks Corp., North America's No. 2 phone-equipment maker, agreed to buy Xros Inc. for $3.25 billion in stock, the latest in a flurry of acquisitions to gain fiber-optic technology.

Xros, a startup based in Sunnyvale, Calif., is developing a switch that redirects beams of light from one piece of glass fiber to another using tiny mirrors. Nortel expects to begin selling the device next year, after completing the Xros purchase in the second quarter, Bloomberg News reported.

Xros gives Nortel a device to compete with larger rival Lucent Technologies Inc., which has developed a similar product.