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BUILDING FOR BUILDERS

BIA Home Building and Remodeling Show kicks off

DEAN SENSUI / DSENSUI@STARBULLETIN.COM Estimator Chris Hayashi and marketing manager Chuck Hills worked quickly yesterday to get the Graham Builders display ready for the opening of the Building Industry Association Home Building and Remodeling Show at Blaisdell Exhibition Hall. The show started yesterday and continues today from 5 to 9 p.m., tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. and wraps up Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

[ HAWAII INC. ]

NEW JOBS

>> Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel has hired Evelyn Black as counsel. She concentrates her maritime practice in defense of diving accidents, Jones Act, longshore and passenger personal injury claims. She most recently served as director of marine claims with John Mullen & Company and is a former Maui County and Honolulu police officer.

ON THE BOARD

>> Hawaii Tele-Communications Association has elected ComTel senior communications consultant Susan Shepherd to chairwoman. Other directors include: President Pat Bustamante, Pacific Light Net president; Vice President and Co-Program Chairman Jeff Gionet, Sheraton Hotels director of communications; Vice President and Co-Program Chairwoman Dolly Samson, Hawaii Pacific University professor of computer science and computer information science; Secretary Kris Aki, Sprint Hawaii program manager; Treasurer Jane Kikawa, Time Warner Telecom account executive; HTCA Administrator Lynn Apo, Projects Unlimited principal; Director and 2004 Conference Co-Chair Dale Adams, Henkels & McCoy--ISP Engineering; Communications Director Allen Hanaike, Sandwich Isles Communications senior project manager; Advisor Eric Fleckles, Goodsill Anderson Quinn & Stifel--technology admin; Advisor Rhoda Fong, INETS director of sales and marketing; Advisor Sandra Ohara, Adecco Technical director of corporate assets and government contracts; and HTCA administrator Debbie Miyake, Projects Unlimited assistant.

AWARDS

>> Hawaii Pacific University graduate students Thanita Pakjamsai and Desiree Higa have won first and third place for their Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication logo designs.

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HAWAII

Continental adds Guam-Oahu flight

Continental Airlines will add a weekly flight between Guam and Honolulu to satisfy summer demand, the carrier said.

The new service, which increases the number of Honolulu-Guam flights to eight, boosts Continental's seat capacity 14 percent. It will operate from June to September.

The additional flight continues on to Houston, offering a timely connection from Honolulu to Los Angeles.

NATION

Tower said to ponder bankruptcy

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. >> Tower Records, the pioneering record retailer that invented the music megastore and became a cultural icon in the nation's biggest cities and throughout 21 states, is considering a bankruptcy filing to aid a potential sale, a source close to the proceedings said yesterday.

The possible Chapter 11 filing could involve swapping debt for equity in a move to reduce Tower's debt burden and clear the way for a potential buyer, the source said.

MTS Inc., the privately held parent of the record retailer would not comment on the possible Chapter 11 filing, which comes nine months after a decision to sell because it could not pay $5.2 million in debt on $110 million in bonds sold in 1998.

At the time it had lost money for 13 straight quarters. Several previous reports of imminent bankruptcy filings have proved premature.

Tower Records, begun with a single store in 1960, became internationally recognized for its in-store concerts and a deep selection of popular and obscure music. But the chain has fallen victim to a slump in the music business and missteps in a rapidly changing retailing environment.

"It doesn't surprise me," said Phil Leigh, digital music analyst with Digital Inside Media. "The brick-and-mortar retailers are facing a serious problem. They've got to deal with Borders and Wal-Mart and the trend toward digital distribution."

Halliburton defends itself in ads

Halliburton Co., in a bid to blunt the barrage of criticism about its work in Iraq, has launched a new series of television commercials declaring: "We're serving our troops because of what we know, not who we know."

The 30-second spots, slated to run in Houston and a few other markets deemed "important to Halliburton," acknowledge the Houston firm has taken a public relations beating over its contracts to repair Iraq's oil infrastructure and provide support services for U.S. troops.

"You've heard a lot about Halliburton lately," Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar says in the ad. "Criticism is OK. We can take it. Criticism is not failure."

Then, amid shots of smiling soldiers being served up meals and camels crossing the desert in front of burning oil wells, Lesar assures viewers: "Our employees are doing a great job. We're feeding the soldiers. We're rebuilding Iraq."

Lesar does not mention specifically some of the troubles Halliburton has faced in recent months: alleged overbilling for trucking gasoline into Iraq, potential overcharges for food service at at least five bases in Iraq and Kuwaiti, not to mention the two former employees accused of receiving kickbacks.

Enron to sell Portland utility

HOUSTON >> Enron gained approval from its bankruptcy court yesterday to sell its Portland General Electric utility to a group of Portland, Ore., businessmen for $1.25 billion.

The business group, including former Oregon Gov. Neil Goldschmidt, will also assume $1.1 billion in debt.

The new company formed by the group, Oregon Electric, is backed by the Texas Pacific Group, an investment group led by David Bonderman, best known in Houston for financing Continental Airlines' comeback.

WORLD

Asian tuna sales suffer from surging prices

Thai Union Frozen Products Pcl, which owns the Chicken of the Sea brand, said sales this year are "weak" as surging tuna prices in Asia prompt some U.S. customers to buy fish from South America. The shares fell.

Shrinking tuna supply in Asia has pushed the price up to as high as $880 a metric ton, compared with $650 a ton in Ecuador, said Thai Union President Thiraphong Chansiri, who declined to give a sales figure. Thailand and the Philippines, the world's top tuna canners, vie with Ecuador and Venezuela for U.S. sales.

Thai Union's Chicken of the Sea label is the third-best selling seafood brand in America. Bangkok-based Thai Union, the world's second-largest processor of tuna, exports almost all its products and gets about half of sales from tuna. The United States is the company's biggest market.

Nissan threatens job cuts over fuel rule

Nissan Motor Co., which employs about 15,000 people in the United States, said it may have to curb American production and cut jobs unless it's exempted from a fuel-economy rule.

Japan's third-biggest carmaker could have to pay penalties on Infiniti luxury cars and other imported models because the average fuel-economy rating of its vehicle fleet built outside the United States will fall in 2005 when its Sentra small car is counted as a U.S.- built vehicle. The Sentra, made in Mexico, will count as a U.S. model from next year under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Nissan said in a petition it may shift production of Sentras, as well as Tennessee-built Altima and Maxima sedans outside of North America unless it receives a waiver from the rule.