BUSINESS BRIEFS
Women rise as business owners
Advertiser Staff and News Services
Hawai'i ranks as a hot spot for women-owned businesses, with the number of companies growing at a faster rate here than in most of the United States, a new study shows.
The state had the third-fastest growth rate in the nation when it comes to firms where the majority ownership is held by women, the Center for Women's Business Research said. Only Florida and Arizona had faster growth.
The study also found that firms where women hold at least 51 percent of ownership are growing at nearly twice the U.S. average, rising 42 percent between 1997 and 2006. That compared to growth of 23 percent for all firms.
BANK TECH ALLOWS INTERNET DEPOSITS
USAA Federal Savings Bank, which has about 35,000 customers in Hawai'i, said it has adopted technology allowing customers to deposit checks with the use of a scanner and an Internet connection.
The bank said members who qualify will get software that allows them to use a scanner to capture images of the front and back of endorsed checks that are sent to the bank.
"USAA is making banking easier and faster for USAA members, particularly those military members who may need to deposit checks from down the street or around the world," Mike Luby, bank president, said in a news release.
REASON FOR STOCK SURGE UNKNOWN
Officials from an Arizona-based company that's agreed to acquire local real estate investor Jay Shidler's Pacific Office Properties Trust LLC say they're not sure why the firm's shares have almost doubled since the start of the month.
Shares of Phoenix-based Arizona Land Income Corp. closed at $15.15 today. They ended November priced at $7.75.
Arizona Land agreed to form a public company with Shidler that will combine a property portfolio that includes several Hawai'i office buildings.
Arizona Land, which currently trades under the AZL ticker, said it recently declared a $1-per-share dividend and that it anticipates a new dividend policy may result in lower quarterly payments once the transaction with Shidler is completed.
JOBLESS RATE UP DESPITE HIRING
WASHINGTON — U.S. employers added a moderately stronger-than-expected 132,000 net new jobs last month, despite heavy layoffs in the sagging construction sector and softening factory employment, according to a Labor Department report released yesterday.
Despite the positive hiring news, the nation's unemployment rate, which is calculated from a separate survey, moved up to 4.5 percent from the previous month's 4.4 percent, the government said.
The report portrays "an economy that is losing steam but still far from collapsing," said Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg. Retailers added a hefty 20,000 new workers.
