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MLP says buyer found for center

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. said a buyer has been found for the Queen Kaahumanu Center on Maui.

In an announcement late yesterday, the company did not name the buyer but said it expects to sign an agreement soon.

Don Young, acting president, said there are some legal steps to go through but the company anticipates closing the deal by the end of July.

A company spokesman could not be reached after business hours yesterday.

MLP and its 50-50 partner in the shopping center, the state Employees' Retirement System, have been looking for a purchaser for some time. The center has lost money every year since the ERS invested in it in April 1995 and lost $2.5 million last year on revenues of $14.8 million.

MLP, the general partner in the Kaahumanu Center Associates partnership, had total losses of $5.7 million last year. The Kahului center has 570,000 square feet of leasable space.

U.S. economy still dawdling

WASHINGTON >> The United States is still trying to snap out of its economic lethargy. The economy grew a bit faster in the first three months of 2003 than first thought, but the advance was still considered mediocre.

Gross domestic product -- the total value of goods and services produced within the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 1.9 percent in the January to March quarter, a slightly better showing than the 1.6 percent growth rate estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department reported today.

While economists certainly prefer seeing the economy expanding, rather than contracting, they said economic activity needs to crank up to a growth rate of around 3 percent or higher to get back into a more normal growth pattern and get companies to really start hiring.

"Until that happens, it won't feel much like an economic recovery to the average person," said Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist at LaSalle Bank.

Japan Airlines traffic plunges during May

Japan Airlines System Corp., Asia's No. 1 carrier, said international passenger numbers probably fell more sharply this month than after the September 2001 terrorist attacks, as the SARS virus and the Iraq war stifled travel demand, according to Bloomberg News.

Traffic probably halved in May on overseas flights of the carrier's Japan Airlines Co. unit, which handles about 85 percent of the group's international passengers. That's steeper than the 41 percent drop in November 2001, the worst decline after the terrorist attacks in the U.S., Japan Airlines System spokesman Tatsuo Yoshimura said. June traffic may drop 40 percent, he said.

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome has worsened a travel slump caused by the war in Iraq and the weaker Japanese economy. Japan Airlines System recently forecast a $361 million net loss for the year ending March 31 2004.

Qwest earns $150 million

Qwest Communications International Inc., the U.S. local-telephone company under investigation for overstating sales, earned money for a second-straight quarter and obtained a $1 billion loan to refinance debt.

First-quarter net income was $150 million, or 9 cents a share, Qwest said in a statement. The Denver-based company, which had 10 straight quarterly net losses through September, also said U.S. regulators have expanded their accounting probe.

Chief Executive Richard Notebaert will use the loan to pay off debt due this year, buying Qwest more time to meet payments on $22.3 billion in borrowings. Qwest was on the brink of bankruptcy in August before agreeing to sell its phone-book business.

Exxon shareholders back company

DALLAS >> Shareholders of Exxon Mobil Corp. supported company management and rejected environmentalist-backed resolutions on global warming and renewable energy yesterday.

Chairman and chief executive Lee R. Raymond defended the company's environmental record and said the market for renewable energy was very limited.

In other news ...

>> First-time claims for jobless benefits remained above 400,000 for a 15th straight week, the Labor Department reported, as companies remain reluctant to hire in the absence of evidence the economy is gaining strength.

>> Tokyo's main international airport at Narita rejected airlines' calls to lower landing fees, the most expensive in the world, after severe acute respiratory syndrome prompted a fall in demand.

>> D.R. Horton Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. homebuilder by stock-market value, raised its earnings forecast for fiscal 2003 to $3.85 to $3.90 because of a gain in new-home contracts. D.R. Horton owns Schuler Homes Hawaii.

>> ImClone Systems Inc. founder Samuel Waksal cheated an ImClone shareholder out of $90,000 in 1986, a prosecutor told a federal judge as part of a bid to stiffen Waksal's sentence next month.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

NEW JOBS

>> Founder John Groark has sold the Groark Cos. to its employees. The new entity is named John Groark & Associates Inc. Groark Design Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the water features contractor. Frank Fontana is president of John Groark & Associates. Wendell Lee is vice president and Donald A. Morrison is chief financial officer, as well as secretary and treasurer.

>> MW Group Ltd. has hired Luke Estes and Kimo Greenwell as leasing specialists. Estes was most recently a research analyst for Medusky and Co., a real estate appraisal firm. Greenwell most recently worked as a sales associate in the sales and marketing department of the Hokulia project in Kona. MW Group is a property developer and manager with more than 15 properties in Hawaii. 

>> Aloha Festivals has named Yuki Lei Sugimura Maui island manager. She will coordinate all aspects of the celebration, such as securing sponsors, volunteers, vendors and funding for all islandwide events. She has more than 16 years of experience in marketing and event management, previously coordinating the Ready to Learn Program, Hawaii 3R's Project and the Hawaii National Guard's community outreach program. Sugimura will relinquish her position as Aloha Festivals board member to assume this new role.

ON THE BOARD

>> The Senate recently confirmed Gov. Linda Lingle's appointment of Becky Hayashida, planner for Group 70 International, as commissioner for the Rental Housing Trust Fund Commission. The commission provides gap financing for rental housing projects.