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Cyanotech CFO resigns position
Cyanotech Corp. Chief Financial Officer Ron Scott, who has been with the Kona aquaculture company for 12 years, has resigned, citing personal reasons, and will move to the mainland, the company said yesterday.The 48-year-old Scott, whose resignation is effective Feb. 28, will remain on the board of directors. He said he remains on good terms with the company and has no health problems. He has no job lined up, said Scott.
Cyanotech's controller, Jeffrey H. Sakamoto, was promoted to vice president of finance and administration, and will assume Scott's responsibilities.
Sakamoto, 45, joined Cyanotech in 1995 as controller and has worked closely with Scott in all aspects of financial management, the company said.
Scott joined Cyanotech in 1990 as vice president of finance and administration and in 1995 was elected to the board and also promoted to the positions of executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Cyanotech, which grows nutritional products out of microalgae, is due to report its earnings tomorrow.
HEI to pay 62-cent dividend
Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc., which has paid dividends continuously since 1901, declared a 62 cents a share payout for the fourth quarter yesterday. The dividend is equivalent to an annual rate of $2.48 a share, or $248 for 100 shares.The company, which on Monday announced a 13.5 percent rise in fourth-quarter net income, has maintained the dividend at the same level for the past 21 quarters.
Robert F. Clarke, chairman, president and chief executive officer of HEI, reiterated his comment from the past several quarters and said the company will keep the dividend level at the current rate for the "foreseeable future."
The fourth-quarter dividend will be payable March 10 to stockholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 12. HEI also announced its it annual stockholders meeting will be 9:30 a.m. April 22 in Room 805 at the American Savings Bank Tower, formerly the Pacific Tower. Stockholders of record at the close of business on Feb. 12 will be entitled to vote.
Baywest buys California properties
Baywest Properties, owner of several residential properties in Hawaii and commercial real estate on the mainland, has acquired two more California properties.Harter Business Park in Woodland, Calif., at 125,000 square feet, was purchased for about $5 million. The other buy, for $6.9 million, was a 100,000-square-foot office complex in Temecula, Calif.
Baywest Properties has a portfolio of $150 million. In Hawaii it owns a 93-room hotel, called Bamboo, in Waikiki; a 318-unit townhouse complex in Central Oahu, the Royal Palm at Waipio; and 95 fee-simple townhouses in the Kailua Bay Resort in Kona. Baywest's founder and president is Jerry Lynch. His Honolulu partner is Jonathan McManus.
Travel agents gave convention high marks
Travel agents liked their recent annual meeting in Hawaii better than any other convention they've had in the past five years, according to a survey.Agents who went to the American Society of Travel Agents' 2002 World Travel Congress, held in November at the Hawaii Convention Center, gave the event a score of 8.7 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 was the best.
The previous five congresses received lower ratings: New York, 7.3; Las Vegas, 7.2; Strasbourg, France, 5.3; Los Angeles, 6.8; and Glasgow, Scotland, 7.2.
Agents primarily gave high marks to functional aspects of the Hawaii convention, but said they were also happy with local sightseeing events and social opportunities.
The Hawaii congress had 3,000 attendees, including agents and vendors. Previously ASTA had not held its annual convention here since 1981.
ASTA's 2003 World Travel Congress is to be held in Miami's South Beach in October.
Travelocity to plug Hawaii on Web site
Travelocity.com is opening a Hawaii shop, on its Web site.A single Web page will be devoted to isle vacations, hotels, cruises and activities. Las Vegas, the Caribbean, Mexico and Florida are getting the same exposure, which is part of a new roll-out by Travelocity.
The links can be found at the "Guides and Advice" tab at www.travelocity.com. Travelocity competitor Expedia Inc. has a similar Hawaii-oriented page.
Maui General Store stock jumps 650%
Maui General Store Inc., which said yesterday it signed an international distribution agreement with New Horizons Technologies International Inc. to sell disposable cell phones and replacement air time, saw its stock soar 400 percent, or 8 cents, to 10 cents today from its all-time low of 2 cents. A total of 41,000 shares changed hands, 11 times its average daily volume.The company, a merchandiser of island products, went public on the Pink Sheets in August. It plans to launch its Internet and mail-order catalog business during the fourth quarter of this year.
Aston parent moves corporate headquarters
ResortQuest International Inc., owner of Aston Hotels & Resorts in Hawaii, is moving its corporate headquarters to Destin, Fla., from Memphis, Tenn., in what the company calls a strategic maneuver.ResortQuest, which manages more than 20,000 vacation rental properties, had its profit drop 49 percent in the first nine months of 2002 to $4 million from $7.8 million in 2001.
The company said the move will put its executives closer to their business, since one-third of ResortQuest's inventory is in Florida.
Sprint reaches contract deal
KANSAS CITY, Mo. >> Sprint Corp. reached tentative deals with workers in five states who had threatened to walk off the job yesterday if contract issues were not settled before an early afternoon deadline.The strike would have affected about 2,700 local telephone employees in Florida, Indiana, Oregon, Tennessee and North Carolina.
The last strike in Sprint's local telephone division was in 1989, when 124 employees in New Jersey walked off the job for 165 days.
