BUSINESS BRIEFS
Hotel owner's room revenue falls
Advertiser Staff
Host Hotels & Resorts, a hotel owner that has two properties in Hawai'i, reported second-quarter profits rose but revenue per available room fell in Hawai'i because of lower demand.
Host said it expects revenue per available room will continue to fall in Hawai'i during the second half of the year because of rising fuel costs and the lower number of flights offered to Hawai'i. Host, which owns the Fairmont Kea Lani and the Hyatt Regency Maui Resort, made its comments on a conference call with analysts.
KONA'S CYANOTECH SWITCHES AUDITOR
Cyanotech Corp., the Kona-based producer of nutrition and health products made from microalgae, said it had selected Grant Thornton LLP as the company's independent auditor.
Cyanotech said its audit committee decided to assess audit companies in the state as part of its corporate governance practices. Cyanotech said it did not have any disagreements with its prior auditor, KPMG LLP, during the past two fiscal years.
SOFTWARE FIRMS FORM PARTNERSHIP
Blue Cliff Inc., a Hawai'i-based software development and training company, has entered a sales and marketing partnership with iMedica Corp., a developer of healthcare software for physician practices.
Blue Cliff President Arthur Koga said the partnership with iMedica will help it address the low adoption rates among physicians of electronic medical records systems here. He said only 13 percent of physicians in Hawai'i have adopted the systems. That compares to the national average of 17 percent nationally.
SOLAR COMPANY IMPROVES SYSTEM
Sopogy, a Honolulu-based company developing small-scale solar energy systems for the industrial, commercial and utility sectors, has unveiled its newest solar concentrator model.
The company said the system, which uses reflectors and optics that harness sunlight to create heat that passes through a turbine, is lighter and less expensive than previous models its produced. Sopogy will sell the system, the SopoNova 4, in the U.S. and internationally.
The state Legislature earlier this year passed and Gov. Linda Lingle signed into law a bill authorizing the issuance of up to $35 million of special purpose revenue bonds to help Sopogy Inc. build a solar farm power plant on O'ahu.
HAWAIIAN PARENT TO REPORT RESULTS
Hawaiian Holdings Inc., the parent company of Hawaiian Airlines, has scheduled a conference call to discuss its financial performance for the three months ended June 30.
The company said it will release its results July 30 after the close of New York financial markets and will host a call for investors and analysts that day at 10:30 a.m. Hawai'i time. People can listen to the discussion by going to the investor relations portion of Hawaiian Air's Web site.
$5M GRANT TO HELP SMALL COMPANIES
Gov. Linda Lingle has released a $5 million grant-in-aid that will be used to assist small companies that are developing business applications for military and commercial markets.
The grant to the Pacific International Center for High Technology Research will help firms commercialize technologies and leverage federal and private funding sources to help build Hawai'i companies. The center is an independent, nonprofit organization created by the state Legislature that has experience managing federal research contracts.
