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STATE
FAIRBANKS - A group of state and Fairbanks organizations has begun mailing brochures to wood-product manufacturers throughout the country in hopes of spurring sales of Interior timber.
"Essentially, we've said, 'Here's what we are, here's what we have, come up here and take a look and we'll be glad to help you with a feasibility study,'" said Ron Ricketts, who helped the Fairbanks Economic Development Corp. develop the mailings.
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The goal of the project, Ricketts said, is to convince wood-product manufacturers that the disadvantages involved in forestry in the Interior are outweighed by the advantages.
"In addition to the permitting process, there is a perception in the industry that we are too far from anywhere, that all we have is little junior-sized trees that aren't valuable for much of anything," he said. "I think we're prepared to dispel those misconceptions."
NATION
BETHESDA, Md. - Marriott International reported a profitable fourth quarter Feb. 10, reversing a loss from a year ago and predicting a rebound in lodging demand in 2004.
Marriott posted 2003 fourth-quarter earnings of $169 million, or 69 cents per share, compared to a loss of $37 million, or 15 cents per share, for the 2002 fourth quarter.
The 2002 figure included charges related to Marriott's exit from its senior citizen housing business and service distribution operation.
Marriott easily beat the consensus expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call, who predicted the company would earn 61 cents per share in the fourth quarter.
Revenues for the quarter were $2.87 billion, a 6 percent increase over year ago revenues of $2.69 billion. Marriott attributed the uptick to higher franchise fees and 11 percent higher sales in its timeshare business.
For the entire year, Marriott earned $502 million, or $2.05 per share, compared to the $277 million, or $1.10 per share for 2002.
Marriott predicts an improvement in business travel, which suffered last year from the economic downturn, war in Iraq and the SARS outbreak.
"We continue to believe we will see good steady recovery throughout 2004," said Arne Sorensen, the company's chief financial officer.
WORLD
VICTORIA, British Columbia - Documents show the British Columbia government refunded hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines to fish farmers and forgave other fines shortly after the Liberal party took office in May 2001.
The Sierra Legal Defense Fund said Feb. 5 it obtained documents showing the fish farming industry had been let off the hook for as much as $2.3 million (US$1.74 million) in fines.
"We don't know the full fiscal impact, because we don't have the full story," said Tim Howard, a Sierra Legal lawyer.
Provincial Auditor General Wayne Strelioff said he would take a closer look at government financial statements concerning the industry, although he approved them earlier.
"We're concerned that these documents indicate that one of the first things the Liberals did when getting into office was hand out a favor to the aquaculture industry, the same industry that donated to their election campaigns," Howard said.
Premier Gordon Campbell said fish farmers deserved a break because their license and tenure renewals and applications had gotten snarled in a lengthy government-generated backlog.
SARS, Iraq war lead to $500 million loss at JAL
TOKYO - Japan's biggest air carrier, Japan Airlines System Corp., lost more than $500 million for the April-December period as international air traffic plunged over worries about SARS and the Iraq war.
The airline, formed in October 2002 through the merger of Japan Airlines Co. and Japan Air System Co., said Feb. 6 it lost 53.87 billion yen ($507 million) for the nine-month period.
The flagship carrier, known as JAL, posted a group operating loss of 43 billion yen ($405 million) on revenue of 1.47 trillion yen ($13.8 billion).
Air travel declined sharply in Asia last year over fears about severe acute respiratory syndrome and the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The airline also lost about 500 million yen ($4.7 million) in revenue because of canceling flights for engine defects affecting its JAS unit's MD-81 and MD-87 airplanes. The company estimated it will have canceled 596 flights by Feb. 7, affecting about 40,000 passengers.
JAL's revenue from international passengers during the April-December period fell 22 percent to 405 billion yen ($3.8 billion) compared with combined figures of the former Japan Airlines and Japan Air System group companies.
Revenue from domestic passenger services rose 6.2 percent to 512 billion yen ($4.8 billion). The JAL and JAS units will begin flying under the JAL brand in April.
- Compiled from business wire services.
