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[ FAST FACTS HAWAII ]

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Critchfield buys into Hawaii firm

A leading heating, ventilation and air conditioning contractor based in Menlo Park, Calif., has joined forces with two Hawaii-based mechanical engineers to create Critchfield Pacific Inc.

Chairman of the new company is Joe Critchfield, whose 28-year-old company on the mainland, Critchfield Mechanical Inc., operates out of a 60,000-square foot facility and has more than 300 employees.

Critchfield's partners in the local venture are Ron Swenson, president, and Gary Gribbon, vice president, who previously headed their own Hawaii firm, Precision Mechanical.

The pair started Precision Mechanical in January after leaving California-based Southland Industries. While at Southland, Swenson and Gribbon were responsible for projects at Turtle Bay and Lanikea Condominiums.

Swenson said yesterday Critchfield Pacific has eight employees. He said that before he partnered with Critchfield, the company outsourced much of its job needs, but now it will have access to Critchfield Mechanical's large staff.

Current projects, he said, include part of the Outrigger Hotels' redevelopment project in Waikiki and the Courtyard Kauai at Waipouli Beach.

HEI downgraded to 'underperform'

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. was downgraded yesterday from "market perform" to "underperform" by analyst Kathleen L. Steinbrecher at Piper Jaffray & Co.

Steinbrecher said she expects the company to continue to experience "earnings pressure in 2005 and beyond both on the cost side from the utility (Hawaiian Electric Co.) and on the revenue side from the savings bank (American Savings Bank).

"As a result," she said, "we are reducing 2005 and 2006 EPS (earnings per share) estimates from $1.61 to $1.57 and $1.70 to $1.65, respectively."