Kauai water firm buys Puhi Sewer and Water

Aqua Engineers, a Kauai-based recycled water company, has purchased Puhi Sewer and Water for an undisclosed amount.

Puhi Sewer and Water, a subsidiary of Grove Farm Properties, provides wastewater treatment services to certain areas of Puhi and Lihue. The deal represents Aqua Engineers’ first acquisition of a regulated public utility.

“We have the expertise in utility services from operations to accounting so it makes sense to move into ownership,” said Ken Davis, president and chief operating officer for Aqua Engineers. “For more than 10 years, we have successfully owned and operated the Army wastewater utility at Schofield Barracks on Oahu through one of the nation’s first utility privatization contracts.”

Davis said acquiring Puhi Sewer and Water will further the 95 employee-owned Aqua Engineers’ investment in Hawaii and Kauai.

Yellen talks of economic thaw, rate hikes

WASHINGTON » Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Wednesday she is encouraged by signs that the economy is reviving after a brutal winter. And if the improvements stay on track, the Fed will likely start raising interest rates later this year.

Yellen, however, downplayed the importance of the timing of the first rate hike as she delivered the Fed’s midyear economic outlook to Congress. Interest rates will remain at very low levels “for quite some time after the first increase,” she said.

Delta earnings soar thanks to cheap fuel

DALLAS » Delta Air Lines’ second-quarter profit nearly doubled to $1.5 billion as huge savings on fuel offset weak growth in revenue.

The company predicted a record quarter when it next reports financial results in October.

Profits are soaring as airlines keep planes full by not adding too many new flights. That has caught the attention of the U.S. Justice Department, which is investigating whether the airlines are illegally working together to prop up prices by limiting the number of flights — and signaling those moves to each other in advance.

Spending on fuel plunged 40 percent — a savings of nearly $1.2 billion when Delta Connection flights are added.

Netflix adds 3.3 million more customers

SAN FRANCISCO » Netflix’s second-quarter performance followed a familiar script of rapid subscriber growth that has enthralled investors. The world’s largest Internet video service added 3.3 million worldwide streaming subscribers during the three months to end the period with 65.6 million customers.

About 900,000 of the additional subscribers were signed up in the United States, where Netflix now has 42.3 million customers.

The increases were far better than Netflix’s management projected and represented the biggest subscriber gains during the second quarter since the company began streaming video over high-speed connections eight years ago.

Total revenue was $1.6 billion in the quarter, up 23 percent from the period last year.

But net income was down 63 percent from last year, to $26.3 million, in the second quarter.

On The Move

» Hawaiian Airlines has appointed Paul Astrom to director of marketing analytics and strategy. His experience includes working in industries such as automotive, online media publishing, digital marketing and e-commerce. Astrom previously held positions in sales and marketing at Sony Ericsson in Stockholm, business analytics at fish4 Trading Ltd. in London as well as web analyst and director for integrated digital analytics at Kelley Blue Book where he served for eight years.

» The American Institute of Architects’ Hawaii State Council will present Donald Goo with the Medal of Honor on Saturday, Aug. 22. Goo was previously a partner with WATG, which is a Hawaii based international architecture and planning firm.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: