Mahalo for supporting Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Enjoy this free story!
A Hawaii company involved in Canadian oil and natural gas production is selling its corporate headquarters amid continued financial challenges.
Honolulu-based Barnwell Industries Inc. announced Wednesday that it entered into a contract to sell its downtown office space in the Alakea Corporate Tower.
Barnwell did not disclose a sale price, but listed the unit for $2.4 million last year and said it expects the deal to close between July and September.
The company bought the 4,783-square-foot suite occupying the tower’s entire 29th floor in 2003 for $1.1 million, according to property records.
The move is the latest in a string of efforts by Barnwell to sell assets or cut expenses in recent years during challenging financial times in the energy production industry.
Barnwell said it lost $856,000 in its fiscal second quarter that ended March 31. That was an improvement from a $1.5 million loss in the same period last year that was primarily due to a $1.6 million noncash reduction in oil and natural gas property value in connection with lower oil prices.
Revenue declined to $4 million in the recent quarter from $4.6 million a year earlier.
Barnwell said in its earnings report that it recently retained an adviser to resume trying to sell noncore oil and gas assets after suspending the effort early last year, and that it might sell shares of its stock to another company under an arrangement made in March.
Shares of Barnwell stock, which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $3.22 Thursday, down from $3.31 Wednesday.
Shares over the past 52 weeks have closed between 55 cents on May 19 and $5.76 on Jan. 28.
SECOND-QUARTER LOSS
$856,000
YEAR-EARLIER LOSS
$1.5 million
74