New Orleans firm buys isle coffee company
Honolulu-based Coscina Bros. Coffee Co. LLC has been purchased by New Orleans-based Orpheum Property Inc. The terms were not disclosed.
Orpheum CEO Morris Kahn announced the acquisition. Coscina Bros. offers private labeling on custom coffee roasts and pancake mixes for customers including many Hawaii retailers, hotels and restaurants.
Gross sales at Coscina Bros. grew to $792,728 in 2012 from $569,509 in 2011 "and are anticipated to surpass $1 million in 2013," said Tyrus Young, CFO and director of Orpheum as well as former co-owner of Coscina Bros., in a statement.
Orpheum, a real estate holdings company, owns the Orpheum Theater, a commercial building in New Orleans, as well as several properties in California, Nevada, Oklahoma and Arkansas. It is changing its name to Axiom Global Properties to reflect the diversification of its business.
Consumer spending rose 0.7% in February
WASHINGTON » U.S. consumers stepped up spending in February after their income jumped, aided by a stronger job market that offset some of the drag from higher taxes. The gains led economists to predict stronger economic growth at the start of the year.
Consumer spending rose 0.7 percent in February from January, the Commerce Department said Friday. It was the biggest gain in five months and followed a revised 0.4 percent rise in January, which was double the initial estimate.
Americans were able to spend more because their income rose 1.1 percent last month. That followed huge swings in the previous two months, which reflected a rush to pay bonuses and dividends in December before taxes increased.
22 states see decline in unemployment
WASHINGTON » Unemployment rates fell in 22 states in February from January, a sign that hiring gains are benefiting many parts of the country.
The Labor Department said Friday that unemployment rates rose in 12 states and were unchanged in 16.
Nationally the unemployment rate slid to a four-year low of 7.7 percent in February, down from 7.9 percent in January. Since November employers across the country have added an average of 200,000 jobs a month, nearly double the average from last spring.
Anti-pollution plan would raise gas prices
WASHINGTON » The Obama administration’s newest anti-pollution plan would ping American drivers where they wince the most: at the gas pump. That makes arguments weighing the cost against the health benefits politically potent.
The proposal to reduce sulfur in gasoline and tighten auto emission standards, released Friday, would raise gasoline prices by less than a penny per gallon, the Environmental Protection Agency says. But the oil industry points to its own study putting the cost between 6 and 9 cents a gallon.
The EPA also said its proposal would add about $130 to the price of new vehicles, beginning in 2025.
Manager arrested in insider trading case
NEW YORK » A senior portfolio manager for one of the nation’s largest hedge funds was arrested Friday, accused of joining an insider trading conspiracy that the government said made more than $6 million illegally for the powerhouse investment company founded by billionaire businessman Steven A. Cohen.
The arrest broadens the government’s probe of trading practices at SAC Capital Advisors, which manages $15 billion.
Two weeks ago the Securities and Exchange Commission said that two affiliates of SAC Capital would pay more than $614 million in what federal regulators called the largest insider trading settlement ever. The settlement is subject to court approval.
Former Sears CEO takes 90 percent pay cut
The former CEO of Sears Holding Corp. took a pay cut of nearly 90 percent in 2012.
Louis D’Ambrosio became CEO of Sears in February 2011 and stepped down last month due to heath issues involving his family.
In a proxy statement filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the retailer said D’Ambrosio’s salary rose to $1 million last year from $930,769 in 2011. The value of his perks, like corporate housing and travel from his primary residence in Philadelphia to Chicago, shrank to $278,741 from $852,037 in 2011.
Sears gave D’Ambrosio a signing bonus of $150,000 and $8 million in stock awards in 2011 after he joined the company, but he received no bonus or stock awards in 2012.
UPS pays $40 million for shipping drugs
United Parcel Service Inc. agreed to forfeit $40 million to settle a federal probe into shipments for illegal online pharmacies, admitting the company had information it was helping distribute controlled substances. From 2003 through 2010, UPS knew from employees that Internet pharmacies were using its services to distribute controlled substances and medicines without valid prescriptions, according to the agreement. The company’s drivers went so far as to drop off drug packages with pharmacy customers in parking lots and along highways, according to a law enforcement letter attached to the agreement.
Stock market closed due to holiday
The U.S. stock and bond markets were closed Friday due to the Good Friday holiday. They will reopen Monday.
ON THE MOVE
RevoluSun has hired Jim Vecchio as Hawaii island project developer. He was previously a project manager for Lowney Contracting Co. since 2005 and owned J&J Home Improvements in Sussex, N.J.
University of Phoenix Hawaii campus has announced the appointment of George C. Carroll III to the Junior Achievement of Hawaii board of directors. Carroll is Hawaii Campus college chairman for the University of Phoenix College of Humanities.
Cades Schutte has announced that Zaheva Knowles is a member of the litigation department at its Waimea office. She was previously a communications director at Time for Change Foundation, a nonprofit organization that serves homeless children and women in Southern California. Knowles’ has also been a staff attorney at the Disability Rights Legal Center at Loyola Law School; a litigation associate for Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison in New York; and a law clerk for the Honorable Julian Abele Cook Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
The Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation has donated $5,000 to Partners in Development Foundation. Funds will support PIDF’s Tutu and Me program and its environmental education activities.
