Business Briefs

30-year mortgage rate lingers at record 3.87 percent

WASHINGTON » The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage stayed at a record low this week, providing some added incentive for those looking to buy a home or refinance.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday the rate on the 30-year loan was unchanged at 3.87 percent, the lowest level on records dating back to the 1950s.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage rose to 3.16 percent, up from last week’s record low of 3.14 percent.

The low rates have done little to boost the struggling housing market. Rates have been below 5 percent for all but two weeks in the past year, yet few people can qualify to buy a home or refinance. Many of those who can have already done so.

Aiea Price Busters store to open today

A new Price Busters store will open in Aiea Commercial Center at 99-079 Kauhale St., beginning with a Hawaiian blessing at 9:30 a.m. today.

The Pearlridge Price Busters closed in late December as the local chain’s new Hawaii-based owners, Retail Partners Hawaii LLC, prepared for the move to the new location.

The store will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturdays and from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

Grand-opening festivities are planned from 11 a.m. to

2 p.m. Feb. 18. The first 200 customers will receive Price Busters gift cards, and additional giveaways are planned.

Record sales boost Cyanotech’s net 39.3%

Shares of Kona-based Cyanotech Corp. soared nearly 40 percent Thursday after the maker of microalgae products reported its fourth straight quarter of record sales.

Cyanotech, which makes nutrition and health products from microalgae, recorded sales of $6.7 million in the October-to-December quarter, up 71 percent from the same period a year earlier.

Net income rose to $1.1 million, or 20 cents a share, from $10,000, or zero cents a share, a year earlier.

Cyanotech produces BioAstin Natural Astaxanthin and Hawaiian Spirulina Pacifica. The products are produced in Cyanotech’s 90-acre facility at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii in Kona.

Shares closed up $2.56, or 39.3 percent, Thursday to near a 12-year high of $9.07 on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The last time the shares traded at that level was March 31, 2000, when they reached $10.

Kodak dropping cameras, digital frames

ROCHESTER, N.Y. » Eastman Kodak Co. said Thursday that it will stop making digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames in a move that marks the end of an era for the beleaguered 132-year-old company.

For the last few decades, the Rochester, N.Y.-based company has struggled. It was battered by Japanese competition in the 1980s and failed to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology. The company sought bankruptcy protection from creditors last month in a case that covers $6.7 billion in debt. It has a year to devise a restructuring plan. Citigroup Inc. was approved to lend the company

$650 million to continue operating.

Pepsi to slash 8,700 jobs in restructuring

NEW YORK » PepsiCo announced a restructuring on Thursday that includes cutting 8,700 jobs globally and plowing money into advertising drinks like Pepsi and Mountain Dew in North America.

PepsiCo announced its cost-cutting plan as it reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit, but also forecast a decline in adjusted 2012 earnings.

The company plans to increase advertising and marketing behind its brands by $500 million to $600 million in 2012, with a particular focus on North America. It also plans to invest $100 million on in-store racks, displays and coolers. Additionally, it plans to increase dividends and share buybacks in 2012 to return cash to shareholders.

PepsiCo, which also makes Quaker Oats and Tropicana juice, said it expects the restructuring will save the company $1.5 billion by 2014. That is on top of $1.5 billion in cost cutting it previously announced.

For the fourth quarter, the company said net income

rose 4 percent to $1.42 billion, or 89 cents a share, up from $1.37 billion, or 85 cents a share, last year. Excluding restructuring and other costs, net income was $1.15 a share. Analysts expected $1.13 a share. Revenue rose 11 percent to $20.16 billion.

Quarterly loss hits $3.3B at postal service

WASHINGTON » Teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, the U.S. Postal Service’s quarterly loss ballooned to $3.3 billion amid declining mail volume and the soaring costs of health benefits for future retirees.

From October through December, losses were $3 billion more than the same period a year ago, even though that quarter is typically the strongest due to increased holiday shipping. The mail agency said that at this rate, it will run out of money by October.

The postal service is seeking new leeway from Congress to eliminate Saturday mail delivery, raise stamp prices and reduce health and other labor costs. Also at stake are roughly 100,000 jobs, part of a postal cost-cutting plan to save up to $6.5 billion a year by closing 252 mail processing centers and up to 3,700 post offices.

ON THE MOVE

Kauai Island Utility Cooperative was named Solar Utility of the Year at the Solar Power Generation USA conference in Las Vegas last week. The award is one of four that Solar Power Generation USA presents at the show.

Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties has announced that the following agents from its Windward office have earned their brokers licenses and (R) designation: Kathleen Funk-Linton, Kathy Grindle, Donna Maier, Barbara D. Morelli, Leon Mosher and Dawn Reneau.

The American Cancer Society has elected its new board officers: state Sen. Rosalyn Baker, board chairwoman; Dr. Melvin Paul Palalay, board president; Steven Ai, vice chairman; Dr. Daryl Kurozawa, vice president; Joseph Wikoff, past chairman; Dr. James Grobe, past president; Dr. Carla Nip-Sakamoto, board secretary; and Michael Chang, board treasurer. Also elected to the board are Darcy Endo-Omoto, Hawaiian Electric Co. vice president of government and community affairs; and state Sen. Dr. Joshua Green; each will serve a two-year term.