Hawaiian Electric Profit Falls

Hawaiian Electric Industries(HE Quote), an electric utility and financial services company, said Tuesday its second-quarter earnings fell 1.4% from the year-ago period, on higher operating expenses and mild weather.

The Honolulu-based company earned $27.2 million, or 33 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $27.6 million, or 34 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call were expecting earnings of 41 cents a share.

Second-quarter revenue rose 15.8% from a year ago to $605 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $585.9 million in the most recent quarter.

"Quarter-over-quarter, electric utility results declined due to lower sales from cooler and less humid weather and customer conservation and higher operation and maintenance expenses, while bank results improved due to strong loan growth and an improved net interest margin," the company said.

Second-quarter operating income fell 1.1% from a year ago to $60.7 million and operating margin decreased 180 basis points to 10%.

Second-quarter earnings from the electric utility business fell 11.7% from a year ago to $17.3 million, on a kilowatt-hour sales decline of 2%. Revenue for the segment rose 17.4% to $503.4 million.

Earnings from the financial services segment rose 19.1% from a year ago to $16.2 million. Net interest income increased 8.4% to $52.9 million and net interest margin increased to 3.3% compared with 3.1% a year ago.