The Kahului-based company said it lost 56 cents a share in the second quarter, up from 29 cents a share, or $2.1 million, a year ago.

It was the fifth consecutive quarterly net loss for Maui Land & Pine, which is in the midst of restructuring its mix of pineapple, resort, retail and real-estate operations.

"We are in transition," said Donald Young, acting president and chief executive officer, who said several nonrecurring expenses hurt earnings. "We will continue to undergo restructuring."

Total revenue was up about 8 percent at $36.5 million, but increased expenses — including legal fees, pension costs, depreciation and consultant fees — widened the operating losses.

The biggest rise in expenses occurred in the company's pineapple division, where there were management changes and employee layoffs.

The strategy also includes increasing sales of fresh whole and sliced pineapple, ready-to-eat fruit mixes and other noncanned items.

For the quarter ended June 30, pineapple revenue was up 7.7 percent to $23.9 million as gains in prices and production of fresh whole Hawaiian Gold pineapples from Maui and pineapple from the company's Costa Rica subsidiary, Royal Coast Tropical Fruit Co. Inc., offset reduced canned pineapple sales.

But $2.1 million in additional general and administrative expenses over the 2002 second quarter resulted in a $2.9 million operating loss for the division.

Maui Land & Pine's resort business reported a $1 million operating loss during the quarter, compared with a $400,000 operating loss for the same quarter last year. The loss was due to reduced real-estate sales that offset a 2 percent gain in revenue from improved guest occupancies, golf revenue and merchandise sales at Kapalua Resort.

The company's commercial property division narrowed its second-quarter operating loss to $139,000, down from $458,000 in the year-ago quarter. The improvement was primarily from more lot sales at the company's Kapua Village employee subdivision, which generated $2.1 million in revenue in the quarter, up from $1.1 million in the year-ago quarter.

Other second-quarter operating losses totaled $763,000.

For the first six months of the year, Maui Land & Pine reported a net loss of nearly $4.7 million.

For the third quarter, the company expects to record a roughly $2 million gain from the sale of Napili Plaza shopping center to Alexander & Baldwin Inc. The transaction was completed last week. Maui Land & Pine also anticipates completing a sale of Queen Ka'ahumanu Center to a California investment group later this month.

Shares of Maui Land & Pine stock closed down 17 cents at $22.83 yesterday after the earnings release.