Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. caught investors by surprise Wednesday when the New York Stock Exchange halted trading of its stock for about 45 minutes.
The utility-owner said the pause occurred because its earnings results differed from market expectations and because the company made a series of regulatory filings including one related to a planned spinoff of its bank. Hawaiian Electric released earnings during trading hours because of a scheduling conflict, said the company, which has typically issued the statements before or after market hours in the past two years.
“It was unusual, yes,” Paul Patterson, an analyst for Glenrock Associates LLC, said of the trading halt. “But given the explanation, it was understandable.”
Hawaiian Electric’s explanation squashed speculation that news related to its proposed $2.6 billion merger with NextEra Energy Inc. may have been pending. The companies are waiting on a decision by Hawaii regulators on the planned tie-up. Hawaiian Electric Chief Executive Officer Constance Lau said Wednesday during a call with investors that either company can exit the transaction by June 3 if it hasn’t been completed.
Bank Unit
“The companies, at least on the NextEra side, have said they didn’t expect any decision until June, so people were working with that schedule in the back of their minds,” Kit Konolige, a Bloomberg Intelligence utilities analyst, said by phone.
Hawaiian Electric plans to spin off its American Savings Bank unit as part of the merger.
The company’s first-quarter earnings, excluding some items, fell to $33.9 million, or 31 cents a share, from $36.6 million, or 35 cents, for the same period a year ago, the Honolulu-based company said in its statement. Adjusted results missed analyst’s estimates by about 6 cents based on data compiled by Bloomberg.
“The earnings results, both GAAP and core, were different than the consensus expectations,” James Ajello, Hawaiian Electric’s chief financial officer, said in a conference call with investors. “Then we had a number of filings stacked up.”
