BUSINESS BRIEFS
Borders to open Pearlridge store
Advertiser Staff
Borders Books & Music plans to open a store at Pearlridge center in September. The 22,603-square-foot store will be the book retailer's seventh Hawai'i store.
About 100,000 square feet at O'ahu's second-largest shopping mall has been vacant for two years after J.C. Penney closed in January 2003.
Local retailer INspiration Furniture bought the department store site and has been trying to fill the vacant space on three floors.
Matson to match competitor's rate
Matson Navigation Co. is matching the $899 automobile shipping rate by competitor Pasha Hawaii Transport Lines.
Matson charges $996 to ship automobiles between Hono-lulu and the West Coast and $1,042 between the Neighbor Islands and the Mainland. Beginning Sunday, the company will cut its rate to $899 for service between Seattle, Portland, Oakland and Los Angeles and Honolulu, Hilo, Kahului and Nawiliwili.
Horizon Lines, which charges $994.41 between Ho-nolulu and the West Coast, will evaluate when Pasha or Matson files rates with the federal Surface Transportation Board, a Horizon official said.
CPF nets $64.3M from share sale
Central Pacific Financial Corp., parent of Central Pacific Bank, has raised $64.3 million after expenses from a common stock offering of 2.01 million shares.
The shares were priced at $34 each. Last month, the bank offered 1.75 million shares for sale.
Mac nut firm posts net loss
Hilo-based ML Macadamia Orchards LP yesterday reported a net loss of $1.6 million, or 22 cents per share, on revenues of $13.7 million for 2004.
The company blamed the loss on a late harvest, continued low nut contract prices and higher legal fees connected to the attempted merger of Mauna Loa and Mac Farms of Hawaii.
In 2003, the grower recorded a net income of $69,000, or a penny per share, on revenues of $15.4 million. For fourth quarter 2004, it recorded a net loss of $576,000 on revenues of $7.6 million, compared with net profit of $406,000 on revenues of $6.8 million for fourth quarter 2003.
