Business Briefs

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Mokulele Airlines upgrades in-flight service

Mokulele Airlines said it will start giving away free water and Kona coffee-flavored cookies on all of its flights as part of a service upgrade.

The Kona-based interisland carrier, which operates five nine-seat Cessna Caravans, primarily serves the state’s smaller airports. The airline was purchased by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Transpac Aviation Inc. last November from Mesa Air Group Inc., the parent of interisland carrier go!

Mokulele, which offers more than 60 flights a day, has increased its daily flights, aircraft fleet and staffing 20 percent over the past nine months.

30-year mortgage rate increases to 3.55 percent

WASHINGTON » The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week after falling to record lows in each of the past four weeks.

Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan jumped to 3.55 percent. That’s up from 3.49 percent last week, which was the lowest since long-term mortgages began in the 1950s.

The average rate on the 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing option, increased to 2.83 percent. That’s above last week’s record low of 2.80 percent.

Cheaper mortgage rates have helped drive a modest but uneven housing recovery this year. Sales of new and previously occupied homes fell in June from May but were higher than the same month last year. Home prices have started to rise in a majority of cities.

European debt crisis hurts BNP Paribas

PARIS » Europe’s deepening debt crisis curbed trading revenue at France’s largest bank, BNP Paribas, pushing its net profit down 13.2 percent in the second quarter compared with the same period last year.

(BNP Paribas is the parent company of BancWest Corp., which is the holding company for First Hawaiian Bank and San Francisco-based Bank of the West.)

Net income in the three months through June 30 fell to 1.85 billion euros, or $2.27 billion, from 2.13 billion euros a year ago, BNP Paribas said Thursday.

Revenue from the bank’s advisory and capital markets operations, mainstays of its business, slumped 33 percent to 1.2 billion euros.

Bristol-Myers exec hit with insider trading

NEWARK, N.J. » A Bristol-Myers Squibb executive took advantage of his high-level position and access to nonpublic information to make $310,000 from illegal insider trades, federal prosecutors and Securities and Exchange officials said Thursday.

Robert Ramnarine was arrested Thursday morning by the FBI and was charged with three counts of using nonpublic information on companies his employer was considering buying to make stock trades.

In each case, federal authorities said, Ramnarine was able to use inside knowledge to take advantage of something that almost always happens when a big company announces plans to acquire a smaller one: The smaller company’s stock price shoots up.

Kraft lifts profits 5% despite rising costs

PORTLAND, Ore. » Kraft Foods Inc. reported Thursday that its second-quarter profit jumped more than 5 percent as higher prices helped offset the drag of raw-materials costs and currency exchange rates. The food company stood by its full-year outlook.

Many U.S. exporters are feeling the impact of a stronger dollar as sales made overseas translate to fewer greenbacks at home. And food makers are still dealing with rising costs for their ingredients. Kraft and others have raised prices to offset those pressures, but it has taken some time to roll out all the increases.

Kraft earned $1.03 billion, or 58 cents a share, for the quarter that ended June 30. That’s up from $976 million, or 55 cents a share, earned last year. After adjusting for spinoff and other one-time costs, it earned 68 cents a share versus 62 cents. That’s above the 66 cents a share forecast by analysts. Revenue fell 4 percent to $13.29 billion.

Pringles deal pulls down Kellogg earnings

NORTHFIELD, Ill. » Escalating commodity costs and ongoing weakness in Europe drove Kellogg’s second-quarter net income down 12 percent Thursday. But adjusted results topped Wall Street’s view, and the food maker’s one-two punch of breakfast goods and snacks gave a lift to revenue, driven by sales of Pop-Tarts and strength in North America.

Kellogg Co. has long been known to consumers for its morning wake-up foods like Frosted Flakes cereal and Eggo waffles. But the company is aggressively building its snacks business as well, with hopes that its recent $2.7 billion acquisition of Pringles from Procter & Gamble Co. will make it a global player in that market.

For the three months ended June 30, Kellogg reported net income of $301 million, or 84 cents a share, down from $343 million, or 94 cents a share, a year earlier. The current quarter’s results included 7 cents a share in costs related to the Pringles deal and a one-time benefit of 2 cents per share tied to the buyout of the snacks maker. Removing these items, earnings were 89 cents a share. Analysts had forecast 85 cents a share, according to financial research firm FactSet.

Revenue edged up 2 percent to $3.47 billion.

LinkedIn stock rises on rosy revenue news

NEW YORK » LinkedIn had strong revenue in the second quarter thanks to growth from ads and the fees it charges for deeper access to its vast trove of professional profiles.

Although net income fell because the company is spending more to grow, revenue increased faster than expected. The company also raised its forecast for the full year.

LinkedIn’s stock increased after the results came out Thursday, a reprieve after tepid news from other newly public Internet companies — namely Facebook and Zynga. LinkedIn, which went public more than a year ago, is among the best-performing of the newly traded companies, with its stock trading at more than twice the level of its IPO price at a time when Facebook is nearing half.

LinkedIn Corp. earned $2.8 million, or 3 cents a share, in the second quarter. That’s down 38 percent from $4.5 million, or 4 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 89 percent to $228 million from $121 million.

LinkedIn’s stock climbed $3.84, or 4.1 percent, to $97.35 in after-hours trading. The stock had closed down $2.13, or 2.2 percent, to $93.51.

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ON THE MOVE

» Ashford & Wriston, a real property and civil litigation law firm, has announced the addition of six prominent Hono­lulu attorneys: Benjamin A. Kudo, Gary M. Slovin, Wesley M. Fuji­moto, R. Brian Tsujimura, Naomi U. Kuwaye and Mihoko E. Ito.