Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
4 in 10 firms expect to hire
Four in 10 Honolulu companies plan to hire more staff in the last quarter of this year, a significant improvement from a year ago, according to a survey of local companies by employment firm Manpower Inc.Of the companies surveyed, none said they planned to cut their workforce in the fourth quarter, and the rest said they plan to maintain their staff levels, according to the Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.
The outlook improved from the third-quarter forecast, in which one-third of companies interviewed said they planned to increase staff. A year ago, only 17 percent of companies planned to hire more people, while 3 percent said they would cut back.
Some of the industries with the best job prospects, Manpower said, are construction, transportation, public utilities and education.
Merged bank gains in trading
Central Pacific Financial Corp. and City Bank's parent, which began trading as one stock yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CPF, gained 45 cents to $27.95 on relatively high volume.A total 124,900 shares were traded, the most number of shares to exchange hands since July 1. The six-month average daily volume for Central Pacific, including yesterday's action, is 49,953 shares.
Clint Arnoldus, chief executive of Central Pacific, said before the merger of the two banks that the increased market capitalization of the combined institution would attract more trading. The market cap of the company is now $783.4 million.
BancWest acquisitions delayed
First Hawaiian Bank's parent said yesterday it expects to close both of its pending bank acquisitions in the fourth quarter rather than the third quarter as the companies await the Federal Reserve's approval of the transactions.BancWest Corp. has deals to purchase publicly traded Community First Bankshares Inc. and privately held USDB Bancorp.
BancWest, a subsidiary of French banking giant BNP Paribas, announced in March that it would buy Fargo, N.D.-based Community First Bankshares, which operates more than 130 branches in about a dozen Western and Midwestern states, for about $1.2 billion in cash. Community First shareholders approved the sale on June 30.
In April, BancWest agreed to acquire the Stockton, Calif.-based parent of Union Safe Deposit Bank for $245 million. USDB Bancorp operates 19 Union Safe Deposit Bank branches in San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties in the Central Valley.
BancWest, headquartered in Honolulu, also is the holding company for San Francisco-based Bank of the West. BancWest will become the seventh-largest bank holding company in the western United States once the deals are complete.
