Advertisement - Click to support our sponsors.

Business Briefs

Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire

Friday, April 28, 2000

Bankoh CEO: No plans for sale

Pacific Century Financial Corp. isn't positioning itself to be sold and there is no truth to the rumor that San Francisco-based banking giant Wells Fargo & Co. is seeking to buy the company, Lawrence M. Johnson, Pacific Century's chairman and chief executive told shareholders this morning.

At the annual meeting of Bank of Hawaii's parent company, Johnson said the Wells Fargo rumor has surfaced every now and then for the past five years. Pacific Century's restructuring program is designed to improve profitability and enhance service, not make the company attractive to a potential buyer, he said.

Meanwhile the restructuring is working, Johnson told the meeting at the Bank of Hawaii headquarters in downtown Honolulu. He noted the 24 percent increase in annual profit last year and the 12 percent rise in first-quarter profit.

Johnson thanked shareholders for their patience through several years of economic hard times in Hawaii. The company's stock hit a 52-week low of $14.62 on March 1, but has been rebounding recently and is up 10 percent so far this year. It closed at $20.56 today, up 19 cents.

Atlantis promotes exec to run Navatek

Atlantis Adventures said it has completed the purchase of the 400-passenger, 140-foot tour boat Navatek I and has named Valerie King, Atlantis vice president of marketing, to the new post of president of Navatek I Cruises. King joined Atlantis in 1990. Atlantis said it will continue the current Navatek tours, including whale watching and breakfast, lunch and dinner cruises. It also will add a Hawaiian-buffet lunch cruise in July, after spending $500,000 to renovate the vessel. Atlantis operates tourist submarines, and manages and markets Sea Life Park and Waimea Valley Adventure Park.