Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
Territorial Bancorp Inc. said Tuesday it has repurchased 227,900 shares of its common stock at an average price of $29.95 a share. It was the seventh repurchase program for the parent company of Territorial Savings Bank.
Shares of the company closed down 24 cents at $30.34.
Mattel doubles down on Uno with Dos game
NEW YORK >> What’s next for Uno? Dos, of course.
Mattel is launching the new card game Dos next month in hopes of giving its nearly 50-year-old Uno brand a second life. Dos has similar rules as Uno, except players make two piles of cards and can throw down two cards at a time instead of one.
It comes as Mattel tries to turn its business around, mainly by updating classic brands, such as Barbie dolls and Hot Wheels cars. The toy maker’s revenue fell 11 percent last year, hurt by the bankruptcy filing of Toys R Us and the changing tastes of kids, who are increasingly reaching for a tablet instead of a toy.
Uno, however, was a bright spot: The company says Uno sales were up 12 percent in 2017 from the year before. Mattel, which is based in El Segundo, Calif., has sought to sell Uno in more places, including dollar stores and video game shops. And it also has been chasing trends, releasing Uno cards with emojis, baby animals or unicorns. An Uno smartphone app is in the works for the spring, and Mattel already has launched a way to play the card game through Facebook Messenger.
Dos, which costs $5.99, will first be sold at Target in March and then roll out to other stores in August.
Japan’s economy grew at 0.5% annual pace
TOKYO >> Japan’s economy grew at a slower than expected 0.5 percent annual pace in the October-December quarter, as strong exports failed to fully compensate for relatively weak domestic demand.
The preliminary data released today show Japan has managed eight straight quarters of growth, the longest expansion since the financial bubble of the late 1980s.
But the figures were well below analysts’ forecasts of 0.9 percent annual growth or higher.
Growth in the previous quarter was revised down to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent.
Housing investment weakened, although overall consumer spending, which accounts for the lion’s share of activity, was higher.
ON THE MOVE
Kaiser Permanente has announced that three new physicians have joined the health care provider in America:
>> Dr. Irina Crook is board-certified in internal medicine as well as a hospitalist at Kaiser Permanente Moanalua Medical Center. Crook was able to finish her residency at Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, W.V.
>> Dr. Jay Faris is a board-certified family medicine doctor at Kaiser Permanente’s Maui Lani Medical Office. Faris received his medical degree from Memorial University of Newfoundland’s School of Medicine.
>> Dr. Karen Soules serves as a urogynecologist at Kaiser Permanente’s Honolulu Medical Office. Soules is also an assistant professor at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine.
74