Downtown restaurant to close Sept. 15

Downtown, chef Ed Kenney’s restaurant on the first level of the Hawaii State Art Museum building at the corner of South Hotel and Richard streets, will serve its last meal at that location at lunchtime on Sept. 15.

In a letter to customers, Downtown said it was closing due to "an impasse" in negotiating a favorable lease for the next five years.

Downtown opened in 2007, two years after Kenney’s first venture, Town, opened in Kaimuki. Downtown has won several honors, including numerous Ilima Awards.

Eva Laird Smith, executive director of the Hawaii State Foundation on Culture and the Arts, said the space will be open to other community members, including another full-service restaurant, through a public bidding process.

"There were many discussions on it, and they (Downtown) made their own decision," Smith said. "We’re very thankful they’ve been here. They’ve been good community partners. It’s been a good five years. It was carefully considered and in the end, they made their own decision."

American Air pilots’ contract still in limbo

DALLAS » A federal bankruptcy judge has temporarily blocked American Airlines from throwing out its contract with union pilots and imposing measures that would lower its labor costs.

Judge Sean Lane ruled in New York that American failed to prove that two parts of its proposal — dealing with furloughs and the outsourcing of flying to other airlines — were necessary to rebuild the company. But he said American could fix those elements of its plan and try again to throw out the contract.

Retailers to launch mobile app for payments

NEW YORK » A bevy of big-name retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best Buy Co. and Target Corp., are teaming up to create a company that will give customers another way to make purchases with their cellphones.

The businesses said Wednesday that the new company, Merchant Customer Exchange, is developing a mobile application that will be available for nearly any smartphone. The app is expected to integrate a variety of coupons, rebates and loyalty programs. With the announcement, retailers are entering an already crowded arena where different industry groups are jockeying for position on the smartphone screen, which everyone expects will be the new way to pay.

Cisco raises dividend after profits rise 56%

NEW YORK » Cisco Systems Inc. said Wednesday that earnings jumped 56 percent in the latest quarter compared with last year, when it was in the midst of a restructuring program. The results beat expectations, and Cisco rewarded investors by raising its dividend by 75 percent. The new quarterly dividend of 14 cents a share represents an annual yield of 3.2 percent of Cisco’s stock price, a relatively high yield for a technology company.

Cisco earned $1.9 billion, or 36 cents a share, in its fiscal fourth quarter, from May to July. That compares with income of $1.2 billion, or 22 cents a share, a year ago.

ON THE MOVE

Help, Understanding & Group Support (HUGS) has elected or promoted the following:

» Bill Tobin as a member of its board of directors. He is the owner and managing partner of Tiki’s Grill & Bar in Waikiki.

» JoAnn Lumsden as a member of its board of directors. She is a consultant and former vice president-finance and chief financial officer of Aloha United Way.

» Jade Guess to special projects officer from fund development associate.

Central Pacific Bank has appointed Patrick Matsumoto to vice president and senior commercial banking officer. He has more than 12 years of banking experience.