BUSINESS BRIEFS
Island telecom business expands
Advertiser Staff
| |||
 |
|
||
Progressive Communications, a Hawai'i-based telecommunications company, has expanded its operations to San Diego and Washington, D.C.
The company also moved its headquarters last week from the Liliha area to Restaurant Row in Kaka'ako. A dedication ceremony was held Thursday.
"Hawai'i remains our corporate headquarters, just as it has been for more than 25 years," said Brooke Hasegawa, Progressive Communications vice president.
The San Diego and Washington, offices were opened in April.
Progressive Communications has been providing telecommunications services to the public, private and military sectors since 1983.
APRIL ADS FOR HAWAI'I JOBS PLUNGED
Online advertisements for Hawai'i jobs vacancies tumbled in April compared to a year earlier.Figures released by the Conference Board show there were 15,600 online ads for positions here last month.
That seasonally adjusted figure is down substantially from the 19,400 ads reported in April 2008, according to Conference Board data.
The New York-based research group said nationally there were 3.12 million vacancies advertised during April, or 130,900 fewer than a year earlier.
Hawai'i's jobless rate has been racing upward, hitting the highest level in 31 years in March, according to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.
MATSON CREDIT RATING PRESSURED
Matson Navigation Co. Inc.'s long-term corporate credit rating has been placed on Standard & Poor's Ratings Services' Creditwatch.The ratings agency said the action reflects a worse-than-expected operating performance and its expectation that Matson's financial profile will continue to be under pressure because of the U.S. recession and global economic weakness.
Standard & Poor's reported Hawai'i container and automobile volumes were down. It currently maintains an "A-" rating on Matson, the biggest carrier of ocean cargo between the Mainland and Hawai'i.
HECO CEO TO ADDRESS D.C. MEETING
Hawaiian Electric Co.'s president and chief executive officer will be the featured speaker at a conference this summer on the future of utilities.Dick Rosenblum will discuss new directions in generation technology at the June 17 to 19 conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by KEMA Inc., a Dutch electricity consulting firm.
In the Clean Energy Initiatives agreement with the state government in 2008, HECO committed to increase renewable energy statewide by 1,100 megawatts by 2030.
