BUSINESS BRIEFS
ML Macadamia records a profit
Advertiser Staff and News Services
A more bountiful harvest and higher macadamia-nut prices helped ML Macadamia Orchards LP reverse its losses and post a profit last year.
The Hilo, Hawai'i-based company earned $771,000 in 2005, or 10 cents a share, after losing $1.6 million, or 22 cents a share, the year before, the company said. Revenue rose to $17.4 million in 2005 from $13.7 million in 2004.
Macadamia Orchards received an average of 56 cents per pound for its nuts in 2005, up from 50 cents a pound the year before. The company harvested 21.7 million pounds of nuts in 2005, up 15 percent from the year before. Lower legal fees also helped boost profits, the company said.
PHYSICIAN NAMED TO HOANA PANEL
Hoana Medical, a Honolulu-based medical-device company, has named Dr. Robert Wachter to the company's medical advisory board.
Wachter is known for his work in patient safety, and was recently named the 26th most influential physician-executive in the U.S. by Modern Physician magazine.
He is chief of the medical service and co-chairman of the patient safety committee at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. Wachter will help Hoana develop and implement devices, such as the company's flagship product, the LG1 Intelligent Medical Vigilance System, which received U.S. Food and Drug Administration clearance last month for distribution in the United States.
FASTOW A SKILLED LIAR, LAWYER SAYS
HOUSTON — An attorney for Enron Corp. founder Kenneth Lay assailed a key prosecution witness yesterday as a skillful liar who exaggerated the financial peril the company faced in 2001.
Lawyer Michael Ramsey aggressively challenged the credibility of Andrew Fastow, the former chief financial officer at Enron, who testified last week that Lay was well aware of the dire straits faced by the company, even as he talked it up to employees and the public.
