Disney earnings jump 55 percent

NEW YORK » The Walt Disney Co. is still getting mixed messages from consumers.

They love “;Alice in Wonderland,”; a 3-D blockbuster that has brought in $962 million in worldwide box office sales. The film helped boost Disney's net income 55 percent in the first three months of 2010, compared with last year's quarter. But vacationers have not flocked back to its amusement parks and resorts. Taken together, attendance at Walt Disney World and Disneyland was roughly flat from last year.

Overall, Disney's net income came to $953 million, or 48 cents a share, compared with $613 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 6 percent to $8.6 billion from $8.1 billion.

Hawaiian Air tops in service again

Hawaiian Airlines has extended its top-ranked streak for air service reliability.

In March the carrier posted a 90.2 percent on-time performance and canceled only one out of 5,453 flights. It was the sixth consecutive month that Hawaiian earned top marks in both categories, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. In addition, the carrier was named second best at handling luggage with a filing of 1.65 mishandled baggage reports for every thousand passengers.

During the first quarter, Hawaiian also earned a second-place ranking for luggage handling and for having the fewest passengers denied boarding due to overselling.

David Black outbid on Canwest deal

David Black, the majority owner of Honolulu's two daily newspapers, is out of the running to buy Canwest LP's chain of daily newspapers—a move that would have made him the biggest newspaper magnate in his native Canada.

Canadian media executive Paul Godfrey and a group of bondholders offered $1.1 billion for the 12-daily chain. The sale, which must be approved by an Ontario judge overseeing Canwest's bankruptcy, is expected to close by July 15.

Godfrey's offer came in higher than one from Black and financial partner Torstar Corp., which owns the Toronto Star. Black began his newspaper career at Torstar before founding his roughly 150-newspaper chain. Black and the publicly traded company renewed ties in 2002 when Torstar bought nearly 20 percent of Black's company for $20 million.

“;The successful price was well beyond what we were prepared to pay,”; Torstar President David Holland said in a statement to Bloomberg News late yesterday. “;We wish the new owners well.”;

Black, who has owned the Honolulu Star-Bulletin for nine years, recently bought The Honolulu Advertiser for an undisclosed sum from Gannett Co. The papers are slated to consolidate into one newspaper, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, on June 7. Most of Black's newspapers are small weeklies in Western Canada, but he also owns the Ohio-based Akron Beacon Journal and is a minority owner of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

State urged to increase biotech use

Biotechnology is fast gaining acceptance in the agriculture industry nationwide, said Douglas Jones, executive director of Growers for Biotechnology.

Jones, a former executive at Maui-based Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., was the keynote speaker at the annual Hawaii Crop Improvement Association meeting at the Honolulu Country Club yesterday.

Hawaii's seed crop industry, which employs about 1,800 people and generates about $146 million in economic value for the state per year, is growing faster than other agricultural industries in the state, and Jones said biotechnology is being accepted due to economic realities.

“;In North America, between 80 and 95 percent of acres grown in corn, soy beans, sugar ... are biotechnologically engineered plants,”; Jones said. “;We believe in biotechnology because we're business people.”;

ON THE MOVE

RevoluSun has hired Christian Adams as project developer. He was previously a field organizer for Barack Obama's Campaign for Change, as well as having worked for Solar Center in New Jersey.

Stephen B. Yim has been selected by his peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in America 2010 in the field of trust and estates. He is a sole practitioner in the areas of estate planning, special-needs planning and estate administration.

The National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices has selected First Risk Management Services Inc., a subsidiary of First Insurance Co. of Hawaii, as a member. FiRMS underwent an extensive review process and met criteria that included business conduct standards.

The Engineering News-Record Top 500 Design Firms list ranked Belt Collins 232nd, and the Top 50 Designers in International Markets list ranked it 48th. The company is an international planning, engineering, landscape architecture and environmental consulting firm.

“;Lex Brodie's Above and Beyond Award”; was given to police officer Antonio Bustamante of District 4. He was presented a Bronze Eagle engraved trophy on April 22.