Kaiser Permanente named 2000 marketer of the year

The American Marketing Association Honolulu chapter yesterday honored Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program as its marketer of the year for 2000.

Association President Craig Togami said among the reasons Kaiser was chosen for the award was that it had "met its marketing demands and competitive pressures and contributed to Hawaii's economy."

Other judging criteria include whether a company has proven its ability to use resources, media and agencies in Hawaii, and whether it is actively involved with and employs people from the community.

HVCB going worldwide with Lei Day on May 1

The Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau is taking Lei Day worldwide. On May Day, May 1, bureau representatives will give out fresh flower lei to passers-by in 17 cities in North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, bringing a message of aloha from the islands.

Hawaii's congressional delegation and Tony Vericella, bureau president and CEO, will lead a group making presentations to members of Congress in Washington. The "May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii" tradition started in 1928 when island poet and artist Don Blanding said islanders should set aside one day a year to make a point of wearing lei themselves and giving them to friends and family.

Thrifty plans to open seventh Hawaii facility

Thrifty Car Rental will open its seventh Hawaii location at Kaanapali, Maui, beginning May 1. The new facility will be located at the Weinberg Transportation Center in Kaanapali.

Thrifty has one other location on Maui at the Kahului airport. Kaanapali was chosen as a second location to better serve the area's hotels and Kapalua airport, said the company's president, Bill Rind.

Thrifty, a locally owned car rental franchise with locations statewide, was purchased by its current owners, Cardinale Leasing Inc., in 1999.

Other Thrifty locations include Waikiki, and the Honolulu, Kona, Hilo and Lihue airports.

Merrill Lynch lowers rating on Tesoro

NEW YORK >> Merrill Lynch said today that it cut its rating on petroleum refiner and marketer Tesoro Petroleum Corp. to intermediate-term neutral from accumulate.

"While we believe there could be more upside in the earnings and share price, we feel the lower risk money has already been made," Merrill said.

The brokerage said it expects the company's first-quarter earnings per share to be very strong and at or above the top end of the company's forecast range of 35 cents to 50 cents, with a consensus of 40 cents.

Tesoro runs a 95,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Hawaii. It also sells jet fuel and has 30 branded gas stations in the islands.

Boeing's net doubles in first quarter

SEATTLE >> Boeing Co.'s first-quarter profit more than doubled as the biggest planemaker rebounded from last year's 40-day engineers' strike.

Profit from operations rose to $762 million, or 89 cents a share, from $359 million, or 41 cents, a year earlier. Sales rose 34 percent to $13.29 billion from $9.91 billion, Boeing said.

Deliveries in the commercial-airplane unit, which accounted for 60 percent of sales, jumped to 122 from 75. Profit as a portion of sales in the unit rose to 10.2 percent, the highest in at least a decade, as the Seattle-based company closed excess factory space and cut the time it takes to build each plane.

Analysts expected Boeing to earn 80 cents a share, the average estimate of a First Call/Thomson Financial survey. Unofficial forecasts ranged from 84 cents to 90 cents.

O'Neill to gain $25 million from Alcoa stock-sale deal

WASHINGTON >> Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill stands to gain about $25.3 million from a 22 percent surge in Alcoa Inc.'s shares during the 26 days since he announced his still-incomplete plans to divest his holdings.

O'Neill's spokesmen say the former Alcoa chairman now is in the process of arranging the stock sales.

While the process is continuing, O'Neill "has steadfastly recused himself from matters pertaining to Alcoa or the aluminum industry," Treasury Department spokesman Rob Nichols said.

The value of O'Neill's shares have climbed $97.5 million from $79.7 million, while his potential option gains from last year's grants have risen to $7.7 million from $274,469. That doesn't count whatever options he retains from previous years.

Most traders expecting May half-point rate cut

NEW YORK >> Most Wall Street firms that trade directly with the Federal Reserve expect the central bank to lower interest rates half a percentage point next month, according to a Bloomberg News survey.

The move would be the fifth of its kind this year, putting the target rate for loans between banks at 4 percent, the lowest in seven years. Fed officials are expected to approve the change at a meeting May 15.

Fifteen of the 25 trading companies polled said they expect the so-called federal funds rate to drop to 4 percent from its current 4.5 percent after that meeting.

Nine of the companies said the Fed is more likely to reduce the rate by a quarter point, to 4.25 percent. One, Barclays Capital, forecast that the rate will be unchanged.