MATSON YIELDS HIGHER 4TH QUARTER INCOME FOR A&B

MATSON YIELDS HIGHER 4TH QUARTER INCOME FOR A&B    Alexander & Baldwin, Inc., the parent company of Matson Navigation, said that its ocean transportation subsidiary produced higher operating incomes for the fourth quarter and the year ended Dec. 31, 1999.
   Fourth-quarter operating income at Matson was $18.3 million, up 15 percent compared to the $15.9 million result for the same quarter in 1998.
   Matson’s revenue for the quarter was $204.1 million, compared to $181.6 million in the year-earlier quarter. The increase was due primarily to higher revenue in the Hawaii service, A&B said. Matson’s fourth-quarter 1999 Hawaii service container volume was 11 percent higher and automobile volume 86 percent higher than in the fourth quarter of 1998.
   For the whole year, Matson generated an operating income of $83.8 million last year, compared to $66.3 million in 1998, an increase of 26 percent.
   Matson’s revenue rose to $746.7 million in 1999, from $722.7 million in the previous year. Matson’s total Hawaii container volume was 5 percent higher and its total Hawaii automobile volume was 37 percent higher than in 1998.
   A&B said that Matson’s results were higher, even after the effects of rapidly rising fuel costs and “costly declines in productivity” associated with longshore labor negotiations in Hawaii and on the U.S. West Coast.
   For the year, A&B reported a group net income of $62.6 million, compared to $25.1 million in 1998, and revenues of $959.3 million, down from $1.31 billion in 1998.