Bankoh
earnings jump

The sale of its Arizona
operations helped

---

By Rick Daysog
rdaysog@starbulletin.com

The parent of Bank of Hawaii today reported earnings of $26.7 million for the second quarter, thanks in part to the sale of its Arizona operations.

Pacific Century Financial Corp.'s earnings for the three months ended June 30 compare with $6.7 million in the second quarter of 2000 when the company took a $32.9 million charge for bad loans.

On a per-share basis, the company netted 33 cents during the recently completed quarter, compared to 8 cents during same period last year.

For the first six months this year, Pacific Century earned $60.4 million, or 74 cents a share, up from $46.5 million, or 58 cents a share, during the first half of 2000.

"The results of our second quarter clearly demonstrate that we are delivering on our commitment to position the company for improved future performance," said Michael O'Neill, Pacific Century's chairman and chief executive officer. "We got a lot done but there's lots to do."

O'Neill said today that the bank also intends to buy back about $70 million of its common stock. The move is expected to boost the company's stock price, which has more than doubled during the past year.

Shares of Pacific Century slipped 53 cents by today to close at $24.90 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The latest results were largely in line with Wall Street's expectations. Analysts surveyed by Zack's Investment Research Inc. had forecasted Pacific Century's second quarter earnings at 35 cents a share.

The bank's latest results were boosted by the $24.8 million sale of its nine-branch Arizona unit to Salt Lake City-based Zions Bancorp. Pacific Century also received $7.4 million from the sale of its stake in Star Systems Inc. and $3.7 million from its holdings in the Bank of Queensland.

Some of that was offset by $4.2 million in additional costs from Pacific Century's new restructuring plan. Under the restructuring, Pacific Century -- which plans to change its name to Bank of Hawaii Corp. -- is selling its California operations to U.S. Bancorp. The company is also marketing its Asia-Pacific units.

The results announced today compare with an unusually sluggish second quarter in 2000 when the bank charged off $32.9 million on bad loans.

The bank's second quarter 2001 earnings of $26.7 million are down $7 million from first quarter 2001's $33.7 million.