Business briefs

Advertiser Staff

BancWest Corp. earnings up 56%

The parent company of First Hawaiian Bank said its first-quarter earnings rose 56 percent in large part because of the acquisition of United California Bank on March 15 last year.

Honolulu-based BancWest Corp., a subsidiary of Paris-based BNPParibas, said its net income for the first quarter was $102.1 million, compared with $65.4 million last year. BancWest's total assets were $34.9 billion as of March 31, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier.

Gannett buys '101 Things'

Gannett Co. Inc. has purchased the "101 Things to Do" magazines, four quarterly publications that cover events and activities on Kaua'i, O'ahu, Maui and the Big Island.

Terms of the sale by owner Greg Gardiner were not disclosed.

Gannett, which owns The Honolulu Advertiser, also acquired the 101thingstodo.com Web site and the right to expand the 101 franchise.

The "101 Things to Do" magazines and Web site will be operated in connection with Hawaii.com rather than The Advertiser.

Refinery to get Russian oil

Tesoro Petroleum Corp.'s refinery at Kapolei will receive a shipment of Russian crude oil.

A tanker transporting the 1 million barrels of oil will then proceed on to Tesoro's refinery near San Francisco, which will receive in mid-May the first Russian crude oil shipment to a West Coast port.

The Golden Eagle refinery is the company's largest with the capacity to process 168,000 barrels a day.