Alaska Air to start Bellingham-Maui route
Alaska Airlines will begin seasonal service between Bellingham, Wash., and Maui on Nov. 8, with four weekly flights.
The airline initiated daily nonstop service between Bellingham and Honolulu in January 2011.
For the new route, Alaska Airlines is offering $179 one-way fares on an introductory basis for flights between Nov. 8 and Dec. 24. Tickets must be purchased by July 3.
Allegiant Air, which is entering the Hawaii market for the first time Friday with a flight from Las Vegas to Honolulu, previously announced plans to begin to begin twice-a-week service to Maui from Bellingham on Nov. 14 and two flights a week to Honolulu starting Nov. 15.
Territorial’s stock downgraded to ‘neutral’
Analyst Mike Shafir downgraded the shares of Territorial Bancorp Inc. to "neutral" from "buy" due to price valuation after the stock market closed Wednesday.
Shafir, of New York-based brokerage firm Sterne Agee, said in a research note that the stock of Territorial Savings Bank’s parent had surpassed his price target of $23 a share. The stock jumped 73 cents, or 3.3 percent, to an all-time high of $23.14 on Wednesday. The stock has been running up in advance of the three-year anniversary of its conversion from a mutual holding company to a publicly traded corporation on July 10, 2009, when its shares were priced at $10. Territorial’s shares are up 17.2 percent this year.
The third anniversary marks the end of a federal moratorium preventing the takeover of thrifts that undergo mutual conversions. Shafir said in his note that the bank would garner a premium of $27 a share if it were to be acquired by another bank.
Shafir also said he lowered his earnings-per-share estimates for Territorial for 2012, 2013 and 2014 to $1.29, $1.26 and $1.25, respectively, because of net interest margin compression.
The net interest margin is the spread between the bank’s lending rates and deposit rates.
Car rental company adds new site on Maui
Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc. will expand with nine new locations this summer, opening one of them as a Dollar Rent A Car at the Maui Coast Hotel in Kihei. No time frame was given for the opening of the Maui location.
Dollar and Thrifty have about 1,575 corporate and franchised locations worldwide, including 585 in the U.S. and Canada. The company is based in Tulsa, Okla.
Hawaii County joins recycling challenge
Hawaii island is among 50 U.S. communities in the running for a $100,000 grant from SC Johnson in its Green Choices Recycling Challenge.
The challenge is a partnership between the company and Recyclebank, a recycling incentives program, in which communities in each state are encouraged to compete for the highest recycling participation rate during the six-month contest.
A community leaderboard will be maintained online at www.recyclebank.com/greenchoices, and the winning community will be named in January.
Kauai customers can defer smart meters
Kauai Island Utility Cooperative members who do not want to have a smart meter installed will be able to continue exercising that option under a resolution approved by the utility’s board of directors.
Tuesday’s unanimous decision formalizes a policy that the KIUC has been following since installation of smart meters, also known as advanced meters, began in April. The new technology allows the KIUC to record consumption of electric energy remotely without having to send an employee to read the meter.
The policy allows KIUC members to "defer" the installation of smart meters for the time being. The resolution said that as the smart meter project nears completion, the "deferral policy" will be converted to an "opt-out program" that will charge a fee to cover the cost of customers without a smart meter. Any fee would be subject to review and approval from the PUC, according to the KIUC.
Barclays to pay in manipulation case
Barclays PLC and its subsidiaries will pay about $453 million to settle charges that they tried to manipulate interest rates that can affect how much people pay for loans to attend college or buy a house.
The incidents occurred between 2005 and 2009 and sometimes took place daily, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday in announcing the settlement. A $200 million civil penalty levied against Barclays is the largest in the CFTC’s history.
ON THE MOVE
Kai Medical has announced its new appointments to the board of directors:
» Mike Sayama, a vice president at Hawaii Medical Service Association;
» Brett Johnson, general counsel of Qantas Airways Ltd.;
» Darryl Nakamoto, former chief financial officer and treasurer of Hoku Corp.
» Verizon Wireless has named Russ Preite president of its Northern California/ Nevada/Hawaii region. He was previously president of the upstate New York region for Verizon Wireless.
