BRIEFLY
Maui L&P loses $2.2M

Advertiser Staff and News Services

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. Inc. reported a net loss of $2.2 million, or 31 cents per share, in the fourth quarter, compared with net income of $4.6 million, or 63 cents per share, for the fourth quarter of 2001.

Revenues for the fourth quarter were down 3 percent from a year earlier. The company said in a statement Saturday that operating losses from its pineapple segment exceeded the operating profit from its resort segment.

The pineapple segment lost $3.3 million compared with a profit of $724,000 for the fourth quarter of 2001. The company blamed the loss on higher legal fees, and pension and insurance costs. It also said higher shipping and marketing costs, partly because of the labor dispute at the West Coast ports, added to losses.

The Kapalua Resort had a profit of $481,000 in the fourth quarter, compared with $7.1 million a year ago.

Hotel talks may need mediator

The Kapalua Resort and the union representing its groundskeepers are scheduled to meet with a federal mediator Feb. 25 in an effort to resolve obstacles to a new labor contract.

The company's 102 groundskeepers, represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142, voted 78-3 Friday to authorize a strike against the resort.

The union's contract expired Saturday.

The union's negotiating team met with Kapalua Land Co. representatives Saturday and Sunday, but the two sides could not reach agreement on wages, said Caroline Egli, Kapalua's vice president of administration.