A&B profit sinks to 13-year low with drops in real estate, shipping sectors

Dried-up real estate sales and an ill-fated expansion of cargo shipping from China reduced Alexander & Baldwin Inc.’s profit last year to its lowest level in 13 years.

The Honolulu-based company earned $34.2 million in 2011. That’s a good chunk of change by many measures but not very good for A&B. The return represented the smallest annual profit for the company since it earned $25 million in 1998.

A&B’s net income last year was down 63 percent from 2010 earnings of $92.1 million and even lagged the $44 million earned in 2009 as Hawaii struggled more with economic recovery. A&B’s profit peak in the last decade was $142 million in 2007.

The fourth quarter was particularly weak, as A&B squeezed out a $1.6 million profit in the October-December period compared with $20.2 million in the same quarter in 2010.

"2011 was a challenging and atypical year for our company," Stan Kuri­yama, A&B’s president and chief executive officer, told stock market analysts in a conference call after the financial report was released Monday. "The diverse markets and economies in which we operate affected our various lines of business in different ways in 2011. Despite our mixed financial performance in 2011, the company remains strong."

The muted income results come on the heels of a plan A&B announced in December to split its largest subsidiary, Matson Navigation Co., into a separate company and leave A&B focused on real estate and agriculture.

A&B has said the separation should result in better operation of both companies and attract more focused investors and stock analysts that help boost shareholder value. The company said Monday it expects to complete the split sometime between July and September.

All of A&B’s divisions posted an operating profit last year, though the level of profit varied widely.

Reduced profit at A&B last year was heavily influenced by both Matson and real estate operations, which were offset by particularly strong results from agriculture.

On the real estate side, earnings were hurt by a $10.6 million operating loss from property sales in the fourth quarter. A year earlier the division had a $17.8 million operating profit.

A&B sold $2.8 million of real estate in the fourth quarter compared with $49.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Results in the recent quarter also included writing off the value of land in Wai­awa that A&B is selling. The land was a small piece in a joint venture to develop homes on Wai­awa Ridge.

The project was canceled three years ago.

For the full year, real estate sales produced an operating profit of $15.5 million, down 69 percent from $50.1 million in 2010.

Revenue from leasing commercial property such as offices and warehouse space produced an 11 percent gain in operating income for A&B last year, or $39.3 million compared with $35.3 million a year earlier.

At Matson, operating profit fell 38 percent to $74.1 million last year from $118.7 million the year before. The results included $7.1 million of losses related to scaling back cargo service between China and California that Matson started in 2006 and doubled in late 2010. Matson cut the service in half in August.

Kuriyama said Matson’s remaining China service remains profitable and is one of only a few carriers achieving a profit on the route.

In Hawaii, container volume for Matson was up 2 percent last year despite a 6 percent dip in the fourth quarter that the company attributed to an extra week’s worth of ship departures in the 2010 fourth quarter because of sailing schedules.

Hawaii automobile shipments were down 1 percent last year principally due to the timing of car rental fleet replacements.

Agriculture operations shined last year for A&B, as the division’s operating profit surged to $22.2 million from $6.1 million the year before.

The division, which only a few years earlier had been a financial drag, provided A&B with its biggest operating profit gain for any division and helped offset operating profit decreases in ocean transportation and real estate.

Farm operations led by Maui sugar subsidiary Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. had a "banner year" driven by higher production and prices of sugar, A&B said.

Shares of A&B stock closed up 97 cents at $48.11 on Monday before the company announced earnings. A&B shares in the last 52 weeks have closed as high as $54.47 on April 1 and as low as $33.16 on Nov. 25.