Shares of Bank of Hawaii Corp. have risen over 33 percent during the past month from last month’s 52-week low of $39.34. Bankoh’s stock closed today at $52.64 on the New York Stock Exchange.

During the same period, the 91-bank Bloomberg United States Bank Index rose 19.3 percent after hitting a 52-week low on July 15.

For Bankoh, no news is the good news.

There’s no subprime problem, no large writedowns and no recession in the isles … Not yet atleast.

About 1,400 local customers have filed for reimbursement from the electric utility for damages from the Oct. 15 blackout. Claims range from spoiled food to damaged electronics equipment.

HECO said it is waiting for outcome of the state Public Utility Commission’s investigation before it issues any checks. The company adds that all awards will be made on a case-by-case basis.

The local utility does not need PUC approval and could have reimbursed customers on its own.

But given that HECO is looking to the PUC for guidance, you would have thought that the commission would have opened a separate docket to expedite the reimbursement process.

Further delays reduces customers’ recovery. Records get lost, people move away and consumer forget about the claims they filed.

I can remember in the early 1990s when Castle & Cooke Inc. shutdown its pineapple operations on Lanai, workers got a early hint when they saw CEO David Murdock’s jet parked on the runway.

Local managers at Tesoro Corp. were probably feeling some unease each time top executives blew into town in company-owned Gulfstream IV and Bombardier Challenger jets.

Records provided by the state Department of Transportation show that Tesoro executives with the San Antonio-based petroleum refiner and gasoline retailer landed their corporate aircraft in Hawaii atleast six times during the past year. (See)

A spokesman for Tesoro declined to comment on the visits but it’s no secret that the company’s refinery has been losing money.

Tesoro recently reported that production at the 95,000 barrel-a-day plant at Campbell Industrial Park had fallen to 71,000 barrels.

The lower local output, combined with soaring crude prices and reduced demand on the Mainland, is helping to push down Tesoro’s companywide results.

From July 2007 to June 2008, Tesoro lost a total of $71 million, which compares to a net profit of $948 million during the year-earlier period.

The company said it expects major improvements at it local refinery. Local managers are hoping it turns out that way. They’re probably not looking forward to further visits from San Antonio.

According to a March 2008 BusinessWeek magazine article, Kathyrn Huberty of Morgan Stanley began tracking company co-founder and CEO Steven Jobs’ private-plane bills.

After all, Jobs’ tarmac-hopping might indicate that he’s out cutting business deals around the world.

So, how does Jobs’ frequent Hawaiçi trips fit into this theory?

According to records obtained from the state Department of Transportation, Jobs flew his $43.5 million Gulfstream V to Kona three times this year. (See)

They included trips in November, February and April — each for less than a week.

I’m not sure if he owns a house on the Big Island but I’m pretty sure he’s not there to launch the latest Apple product.

He probably earned every minute of that vacation time.

Last year, Apple’s stock more than doubled while earnings soared 75 percent thanks to robust iPod and iPhone sales.

By the way, Apple — which gave Jobs the long-range jet in 2000 which is registered under ownership of “Marmalade Skies” — reimbursed Jobs for costs associated with the jets.

The Cupertino, Calif.-based company paid repaid Jobs $776,000 in 2007 for expenses related to the jet.

An Apple spokeswoman declined comment.

A report by San Francisco-based Mercer LLC, an executive compensation expert hired by an independent probate court-appointed trustee compensation committee, recommended raising trustee pay by 65 percent or more, citing the complexities faced by a board that sets policy for a $9.1 billion trust. (See)

Mercer found that Kamehameha Schools board spends more than twice as much time on trust matters — 2 1/2 to 3 days a week — than do the boards of comparable nonprofit organization and for-profit corporations.

In a “CEO team Message” on Kamehameha Schools’ website, the trust expanded on that theme:

“The Committee and Mercer, LLC also observed, among other things, that the issues regularly confronted by the Trustees, from expansion of the Schools under the new Education Strategic Plan, to improving the quality and diversification of the endowment, land use and environmental issues, and litigation concerning admissions policies are highly significant, complex and time consuming matters that require a substantial commitment of time above and beyond that which is required of a typical corporate board.”

The trustee compensation committee’s recommendations aren’t a done deal: They require probate court approval and board members can always turn down any raise that gets approved as they did several years ago.

But Mercer’s findings and the trust’s follow-up comment raises a key questions about the estate’s governance policy.

Under the CEO-based management system should those duties be delegated to Kamehameha Schools’ executives and administrators or should those duties be relegated to the board?

There’s no doubt the board needs to set policy on major issues such as the admission policy litigation and the trust’s education strategic plan.

But are things like the “diversification of the endowment, land use and environmental issues” typically the responsibility of a CEO and their staff?

(By the way, Kamehameha Schools’ own tax filing with the Internal Revenue Service state that board members spend 10 hours a week on trust matters.)

There’s no doubt that Kamehameha Schools’ trustees — Diane Plotts, Douglas Ing, Nainoa Thompson, Robert Kihune and Corbett Kalama — are remarkable people, who have displayed much compassion for plight of native Hawaiians and much courage in wake of the many challenges faces by the trust.

Under their stewardship, the estate’s finances have grown at a record pace and schools are reaching more Hawaiian children than ever.

But what about future board members five, 10, or even 20 years from now? If those future board members are still spending 2 1/2 to 3 days a week on trust matters, will that open future boards to criticisms of “micromanagment?”

As part of Aloha Airlines’ bankruptcy liquidation, the defunct carrier’s trade name and intellectual properties are being sold.

It’s difficult to put a price tag on the Aloha name but local marketing expert Gloria Garvey believes the brand still carries a lot of value.

Once dubbed “the People’s Airline,” Aloha has a rich, 60-year history of serving the local market. Memorabilia associated with the airline carries a lot of nostalgic value.

None of the previous interisland carriers that came and went — Discovery Airways, Mid Pacific Airlines and Mahalo Airlines — have anywhere near the following that Aloha had.

Given the sad state of the airline industry, you’re not going to see a the start up of a new interisland carrier anytime soon.

But the economy will improve some day and the airline business will bounce back. When that happens, the Aloha trade name could be resurrected by a start-up. Or someone might want to buy the name to fly charters, Garvey said.

The history of marketing is littered with brands that folded, only to come back years later. Life magazine, Coca Cola Classic, or, more recently, Primo Beer, are just several examples.

So why aren’t there more used hybrid cars in Hawaii?

Aaron Campbell, owner of Enviro Cars Hawaii and E Cars Hawaii in Aiea, believes the same forces that make hybrids so popular are the reasons there are so few used models here.

With the price of gasoline rising to more than $4.30 a gallon, few hybrid owners are trading in their models. Owners that do trade in their hybrids, can command a premium over the blue-book value, adding to the price of the used car.

Rising shipping costs, which are brought on by higher fuel prices, also make it too costly to important used cars from the Mainland.

About a year ago, Campbell said he looked into bringing in used hybrids from California but with shipping costs rising to about $1,000 per hybrid car, it didn’t make business sense.

Mainland dealers were also beginning to charge stiff premiums for the popular used cars.

Campbell said he probably could make a small profit exporting used hybrid cars to the Mainland, where the premiums on used models are much higher than they are here.

But that, he said, would defeat the purpose he got in the car sales business, which was to bring in more environmentally sound vehicles in the islands.

“That’s one ethical line I’m not willing to cross,” said Campbell.

The Honolulu Advertiser Bloomberg Hawaii Stock Index was down about 4.3 percent during the three months ending June 30. By contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.4 percent while the Standard and Poor’s 500 was down 10.5 percent.

Of the 11 local stocks that make up the index, seven saw increases in their stock prices. But that was offset by declines in local bank stocks, which continue to be hard-hit by an industry-wide decline.

Central Pacific Financial Corp., reeling from loans to California homebuilders hard-hit by the subprime meltdown, was down more than 43 percent while Bank of Hawaii Corp.’s stock was off 3.7 percent.

Shares of thinly traded Hoku was down about 38 percent during the quarter. In May, Hoku disclosed that a $110 million financing deal with Merrill Lynch to finance a new Idaho plant fell through. Hoku said it will rely on the sales of stock, warrants and debt securities or a combination of them to finance the plant.

Companies heavily dependent on oil — Alexander & Baldwin Inc., Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and Hawaiian Holdings Inc. — were up slightly during the quarter while Barnwell Industries Inc. — which explores and produces oil and natural gas in Canada — saw its stock rise more than 21 percent.

Rain, who had a supporting role in the summer flop Speed Racer, will have to testify in the federal court trial stemming from the abrupt cancelation of his Aloha Stadium concert last year.

Local promoter, Click Entertainment, is suing Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, over the failed concert. U.S. District Judge David Ezra recently ordered Rain’s Korean handlers — JYP Entertainment Co. and Star M Entertainment — to pay Click more than $2 million for the Aloha Stadium fiasco.

Attorney Eric Seitz, who represents Click, said he deposed Rain in South Korea last year but the singer did not answer any substantial questions.

It’ll be interesting to see if Rain can dance his way out of questioning this time — especially if he under oath and in front of a seasoned federal judge.

Aerosmith suit update: Maui Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza is expected to rule next month on whether to grant class-action status on the suit.

Jilted concert-goers sued Aerosmith last year, alleging the bad-boy rock band canceled a sold-out, Sept. 29, 2007 concert on Maui in favor of a larger concert in Chicago and “a lucrative, private concert for Toyota car dealers” that same week at the University of Hawaii-Manoa’s Les Murakami Stadium. (See)

The cancellation cost ticket buyers anywhere between $500,000 and $3 million for travel costs, handling fees and other nonrefunded costs, the suit said. Although buyers received refunds for the face value of the tickets, they did not get their money back for fees and other costs associated with the event, the suit said.

The class-action status increases the potential damages that Aerosmith would have to pay should they lose the suit. The threat of a big payout can provide consumers with more leverage to force a settlement. Stay tuned.

Bank of Hawaii Corp., the trustee for the estate, today named PM Realty Group as the exclusive broker for the Galbraith lands, replacing Cushman & Wakefield and Sofos Realty Corp.

The property officially goes back on the market on July 28.

PM Realty’s hiring comes weeks after an effort to sell the land to Canadian developer Dennis Blain fell through. Blain’s $40 million offer was terminated by the bank after Blain asked for a 60-day extension.

Despite a soft real estate market, the new sales effort could get a boost from a measure passed by the Legislature this year.

The law, which took effect today, allows owners of ag lands to petition the state Land Use Commission to convert 15 percent of their acreage for urban or rural use so long as they preserve 85 percent of their land for high-quality agricultural uses.

That means that a buyer of the Galbraith lands could seek to convert 315 acres for housing. A developer could build more than 1,000 homes on that much land.

But any buyer would have to compete with public and private sector efforts to preserve the land for agricultural use. A separate measure, which was passed by the state Legislature this year, dedicates $13 million toward that plan.

Based in Houston, PM Realty Group is a privately held, national real estate company with more than 1,300 employees and 20 offices nationwide. In Hawaii, the company manages about 2 million square feet of property and its clients include Chevron, Morgan Stanley, Pacific Guardian Life and the Employees’ Retirement System of the State of Hawaii.