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Maui nurses ratify new contract

The 31 registered nurses at Hale Makua health care facilities on Maui have ratified a new three-year contract, the union announced yesterday.

The contract for the nurses at Hale Makua's skilled nursing and long-term care facilities at Kahului and its Home Health Care Unit serving all of Maui expired June 30.

The settlement improves wages by 15 percent over the next three years and maintains the current health insurance coverage agreements.

Claudine Tomasa, chief negotiator for the union, has said the bargaining was difficult.

"But eventually we were able to turn it around to something both sides could live with, after much compromise," she said.

Bankoh CEO to speak at governance forum

Bank of Hawaii Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael O'Neill will be a guest speaker at an Aug. 4 seminar on corporate governance.

O'Neill will be joined by Pat Ford, managing partner, and Jeri Calle, partner, both of KPMG LLP; C. Gregory Scates, associate chief auditor of the newly formed Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; Kent Graham, partner, O'Melveny & Myers LLP; John Rocchio, managing director, Trust Company of the West; Susan Markel, chief accountant, Division of Enforcement, Securities and Exchange Commission; and Shirley Daniel, professor, University of Hawaii College of Business.

The program, sponsored by the university, will be at the Hawaii Prince Hotel. It starts with registration at 8 a.m. and opening remarks at 8:45 a.m. It concludes with a networking reception at 4:15 p.m. Registration is $195 a person.

For more information, see the Web site at pami.hawaii.edu and click on the blue corporate governance icon.

Tenet indicted for kickbacks

SAN DIEGO >> A federal indictment accuses two subsidiaries of Tenet Healthcare Corp., the nation's No. 2 hospital group, of paying illegal kickbacks to doctors who referred patients to a San Diego hospital.

Between 1992 and 2002, Tenet HealthSystem Hospitals Inc. and Alvarado Hospital Medical Center Inc. paid more than $10 million to a fund that helped recruit doctors to the area, purportedly to fill needs in Alvarado's service area, according to a 17-count indictment returned in San Diego on yesterday.

But prosecutors contend a "substantial portion" of the money was given to established physicians so they would send patients to Alvarado. In exchange for referrals, payments allegedly went not only to recruited doctors but also to the medical practices where they were placed.

Santa Barbara-based Tenet, with 114 hospitals in 16 states, said it believes its policy on physician relocation agreements is lawful.

Microsoft says no dividend for now

SEATTLE >> Microsoft Corp. reported a 26 percent increase in its fourth-quarter profit and raised its outlook for the coming year yesterday, but doused shareholders' hopes for a dividend payout from its growing cash hoard anytime soon.

For the April-June quarter, the Redmond, Wash.-based software titan earned $1.92 billion, or 18 cents a share, compared to $1.53 billion, or 14 cents a share, for the same period a year ago.

The company now has cash reserves of $49 billion, and many investors have called for Microsoft to issue another dividend. It paid its first dividend, of 8 cents a share, earlier this year.

Microsoft does "hear the angst that many shareholders" have, said the chief financial officer, John Connors. But although the company settled the AOL Time Warner lawsuit in May, it still faces other legal issues, including an inquiry by the European Union and a lawsuit from Sun Microsystems Inc.

PeopleSoft closing on J.D. Edwards buy

SAN FRANCISCO >> Business software maker PeopleSoft Inc. was closing its $1.8 billion acquisition of rival J.D. Edwards & Co. today, with the combination posing a new and more expensive obstacle for Oracle Corp. in its hostile takeover bid for the companies.

PeopleSoft was counting the number of shares J.D. Edwards stockholders had tendered by the midnight deadline. PeopleSoft expected to close the acquisition at $14.74 per share, slightly more than the $14.36-per-share price estimated when the two sides revised the terms nearly a month ago.

Also yesterday, PeopleSoft disclosed its second-quarter results.

The Pleasanton, Calif.-based company reported a profit of $36.5 million, or 11 cents per share, compared with net income of $36 million, or 11 cents a share, a year ago. The results mirrored management estimates released two weeks ago.

Boeing to cut as many as 5,000 more jobs

SEATTLE >> The Boeing Co. plans to cut 4,000 to 5,000 more jobs than previously planned from its commercial airplane division by the end of the year, as the airline industry remains mired in the worst downturn in its history.

The cuts will come through attrition and layoffs, Boeing Commercial Airplane chief executive Alan Mulally said in an e-mail to employees. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, Boeing had said it would need to cut 35,000 from its work force by the end of 2003.

In other news ...

>> Operators of the Internet backbone and other companies scrambled to patch a serious software flaw in Cisco Systems equipment before hackers exploited it to bring down equipment that routes global network traffic.

>> Coca-Cola Co. said yesterday growth in its key soft drink brands sparked an 11 percent jump in second-quarter profit, and an executive said that a federal investigation of its business practices would not likely result in material changes in its financial reports.

>> Delta, Northwest and Continental airlines yesterday reported net profits in the second quarter largely because they were reimbursed for airport security fees by the federal government.

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[Hawaii Inc.]

New jobs

Mandara Spa has named Josay Fernandes spa director. He will be in charge of overseeing the spa's policies, procedures and day-to-day operations, while providing training for all spa staff. Fernandes has more than 20 years of experience in the hotel and spa industry, most recently as manager for Spa Grande at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa in Wailea, Maui. 

>> Hawaii Theatre Center has named Elaine Evans as director of development. She is responsible for the theatre's annual fund-raising efforts and the special events that support it. She was most recently with Media Matters, representing magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, Town & Country, Time, Newsweek and Fortune. She replaces Victoria Okada, who has taken a position with Diamond Head Capital.

Promotions

>> Aloha United Way has promoted Susan Au Doyle to vice president and chief operating officer from vice president of community building. She will be in charge of operations during any absences of President and Chief Operating Officer Irving Lauber and will have increasing responsibilities in the areas of resource development and community building. Doyle joined Aloha United Way in 2001 after serving as president and chief executive of the YWCA of Oahu and deputy director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. 

>> Central Pacific Bank promoted Jamy Hagen to senior vice president and manager of the private banking department in the financial services division. She joined Central Pacific in 2001 as vice president and manager of private banking, a new program for the bank. Hagen has more than 30 years experience in private banking. David Morimoto has been promoted to senior vice president and treasurer. He oversees asset liability management, investments and securities portfolio, and investor relations. Morimoto has worked at the bank for more than 10 years, most recently as vice president and manager of the treasury division.