Honolulu ranks high in AOL/magazine survey

Honolulu residents were named best-looking, friendliest, most laid-back and most helpful with directions in an unscientific national survey conducted by America Online and Travel + Leisure magazine.

More than 100,000 AOL members were asked their opinions on 14 popular travel destinations. Questions included topics ranging from shopping to romance.

Other survey highlights about Honolulu include:

>> The best romantic city and tops the list for honeymoons.
>> Hotels were voted as the best rooms with a view.
>> The best city for nature lovers, runners or walkers

Only one thing was lacking in the city, according to survey respondents. Honolulu was named the worst city for the arts.

The survey was conducted on AOL's Travel Channel. Cities included in the survey are Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Full survey results can be viewed at www.travelandleisure.com/travelamerica.

Fleming surges 20% after Kmart axes jobs, stores

Food distributor Fleming Cos., which has operations in Hawaii, rose $3.85, or 20 percent, to $22.70 yesterday after Kmart Corp. said it would eliminate 22,000 jobs and and close 284 stores in 40 states.

Fleming said it gets about a fifth of its business from Kmart and said it will continue to supply the retailer on a seven-day invoice and payment schedule. The store closings make up less than $400 million of its sales to Kmart, and less than 2.5 percent of Fleming's total sales for this year. The company said it will determine the effect on its earnings by Monday.

Telecom giant WorldCom adopts anti-takeover plan

JACKSON, Miss. >> WorldCom Inc. has adopted an anti-takeover measure, a move analysts said is at least an acknowledgment that potential suitors are checking out the telecommunications giant. Clinton-based WorldCom said yesterday its board approved the so-called shareholder rights plan as a way to discourage undervalued or unfair takeovers, but added that it is not currently aware of any efforts to acquire control of it.

WorldCom's depressed stock price, which closed yesterday at $9.19, has made the company ripe for a takeover. WorldCom shares tumbled to about $6 a share last month amid concerns about its debt load and a general market malaise. The stock traded as high as $71.75 over the last year. WorldCom, which reported $21.3 billion in revenue last year, has been struggling with a heavy debt load of $24 billion.

In other news . . .

BENTONVILLE, Ark. >> No. 1 retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. yesterday said its board authorized increasing its annual dividend by 2 cents per share to 30 cents, and also restored the authorization level on a share repurchase program to $3 billion. The quarterly dividend of 7.5 cents a share will be paid to shareholders on April 18.

Cincinnati >> Chiquita Brands International Inc., the world's biggest banana producer, won court approval of its Chapter 11 recovery plan, clearing the way for the company to emerge from bank- ruptcy. Chiquita plans to emerge from bankruptcy court protection on March 19.