IN HAWAII

Hilton estimates mold cleanup at $10 million

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. >> Hilton Hotels Corp. today reported a 12 percent decline in earnings for its second quarter due to sluggish travel demand and a charge related to work done at a hotel in Hawaii.

Net income for the quarter ending in June was $76 million compared with $86 million for the 2001 quarter, or 20 cents per share versus 23 cents. The company took a charge of $10 million for estimated costs to fix mold damage found at the new Kalia Tower at the Hilton Hawaiian.

Hilton Grand Vacations, the company's timeshare business, last month completed the sale of about $52 million of timeshare notes receivable out of a total portfolio of about $190 million to a subsidiary of GE Capital. The transaction resulted in about a $2 million gain in the second quarter ending June 30.

The company reported revenue of $1.04 billion, down 5 percent from $1.09 billion in the 2001 period.

Aloha announces new chief operating officer

Brenda Cutwright was named executive vice president and chief operating officer at Aloha Airlines yesterday.

Cutwright, who has served as chief financial officer for the past 10 years, will direct all aspects of the Honolulu-based company's operations dealing with customers, Aloha said.

She will head a division that includes passenger services, in-flight services, catering, cargo and contract services, sales, marketing, planning, business development and computer services, Chief Executive Officer Glenn Zander said.

Cutwright has been at the carrier for 18 years.

Zander also announced the promotions of Owen Sekimura to the position of vice president-finance and chief financial officer.

Minority businesses to be honored Friday

Businesses in Hawaii owned by people of ethnic minorities and organizations that help minorities in business will be recognized Friday for awards from the local office of the Minority Business Development Center of Honolulu and the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Ronald Langston, national director of the center, will be the keynote speaker at the ceremony in the Hale Koa Hotel's Waikiki ballroom.

Awards are going to: Darren Kimura, president of Energy Conservation Hawaii LLC, outstanding minority service firm; Alan Shintani, president of Alan Shintani Inc., outstanding minority construction firm of the year; Keith Ito and Elden Ito, top officers of RevaComm Inc., outstanding minority technology and e-commerce firm; and Irene Motonaga, president, SynCADD Systems Inc. outstanding minority technology firm/software development.

Other awards went to Thanh-Lo Lekhac Sananikone of Pac Mar inc., import-export; Alan M.L. Lee, Grant Thornton LLP, minority business advocate; Aylward Enterprises Inc., Dellew Corp., U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Army Garrison Hawaii, and the U.S. Coast Guard.

For more information, or to attend the 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. event, call Vicky Ducnas at 521-6221.

ON THE MAINLAND

IBM to buy PWC unit for $3.5 billion

Armonk, N.Y. >> International Business Machines Corp., the world's biggest seller of computers and related services, agreed to buy PricewaterhouseCoopers' business- consulting unit for $3.5 billion in cash and stock.

The division will scrap plans for an initial public stock sale, the companies said in a statement. The acquisition is expected to close the end of the third quarter.

IBM and rivals such as Hewlett-Packard Co. are trying to bulk up services revenue to make up for slowing sales of computer hardware and software.