A&B’s profit propelled by paving, property sales

Real estate sales along with operations from road paving business Grace Pacific helped Alexander & Baldwin Inc. almost double its second-quarter profit, the company reported Thursday.

Honolulu-based A&B said it earned $9.2 million in the three-month period ended June 30, up from $5 million a year earlier.

Revenue more than doubled to $146.7 million from $62.6 million in the same period.

Much of the gain was the result of revenue and operating profit from Grace Pacific, which A&B bought in October.

A&B’s new division that includes Grace Pacific generated an $8 million operating profit in the second quarter. There was no year-earlier comparison because of the timing of the acquisition.

A&B almost generated as much operating profit, $7.8 million, from its real estate development and sales segment, which compared with a $700,000 operating loss in the second quarter of last year.

Real estate sales in the recent quarter included three residential lots on Kahala Avenue that A&B bought from Japa­nese billionaire Gen­shiro Kawa­moto, 10 homes or lots at resorts on Kauai and Hawaii island, and five parcels that A&B said were not part of its core business.

One of the resort home sales was a custom house at Kukui­‘ula on Kauai that sold for $7.2 million — a record price at the resort, according to A&B, which is developing the project.

In other A&B divisions, the company generated a $12 million operating profit from commercial real estate leasing in the second quarter, up from $10.6 million a year earlier. And in the agribusiness division that includes Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co., A&B’s operating profit sank to $400,000 from $8.3 million principally due to lower sale prices for raw sugar as well as reduced molasses sales.