BUSINESS BRIEFS
Mesa trails the field in on-time rate
Staff and news reports
Mesa Airlines, the owner of interisland carrier go!, was the second worst airline in on-time performance in October.
Overall, the nation's airlines in October reported their best on-time performance in five years, with 86 percent of their flights arriving within 14 minutes of schedule.
Leading the pack were regional carrier Pinnacle Airlines with 90.7 percent and Northwest Airlines Inc. with 90 percent, the U.S. Department of Transportation said yesterday in its monthly report on the airlines' performance on arrivals, baggage handling, bumped passengers and complaints.
Hawaiian Airlines was third among on-time airlines with an 89.9 percent on-time rate — the first time since November 2003 that Hawaiian has not been first or second in that category.
The worst performers among the 19 airlines tracked were two regional carriers — Atlantic Southwest Airlines Inc. with an 80.3 percent mark and Mesa Airlines Inc. at 80.5 percent.
HEI NETS $110.4M IN SALE OF STOCK
Hawaiian Electric Co. Inc. said it netted $110.4 million from its recent stock sale and that more could be sold under an agreement that allows the offering underwriters to purchase up to 750,000 more shares.
HEI announced the offering of 5 million shares at $23 each on Dec. 2, saying the proceeds from the sale would go to repay HEI's outstanding short-term debt and to make loans to its Hawaiian Electric Co. unit along with using the funds for working capital and other general corporate purposes.
HEI also reported in a regulatory filing that it entered into a nine-month credit agreement with several banks, including Bank of Hawaii, for a $75 million line of credit. The company said its credit facilities are maintained to provide back-up and liquidity for its commercial paper borrowings and to provide funding for its working capital needs and other purposes.
HOKU SCIENTIFIC STOCK DOWNGRADED
Shares of Hoku Scientific, the Honolulu-based technology company, were downgraded by Cowen & Co.
The brokerage reduced its rating on the shares to "neutral" from "outperform," according to http://www.Briefing.com.
Shares of the company fell 12 cents to $2.80 in regular Nasdaq market trading.
GOLDMAN SACHS JABS AT HAWAI'I DEBT
Goldman Sachs & Co. apparently has taken notice of Hawai'i's rising pension liability and other retiree obligations.
The Wall Street firm is recommending that investors buy credit-default swaps to bet against debt issued by several states, including Hawai'i.
Bloomberg News reported Goldman's move has angered politicians and public-finance officials in several states in the three months since it recommended "shorting municipal credit."
Bloomberg said as part of a September presentation to institutional investors on "Best Long and Short Risk Strategies," Goldman recommended buying credit-default swaps on "a basket of liquid State General Obligation credits with current and worsening fiscal outlooks" and those with "Significant unfunded pension" and other retiree obligations." Hawai'i was included in the latter group.
Credit-default swaps were conceived to protect bondholders against default and pay a buyer face value in exchange for the underlying securities or the cash equivalent should an issuer fail to adhere to debt agreements, Bloomberg said.
Hawai'i's Employees' Retirement System has a funded ratio of 68.8 percent and is expected to worsen this year.
