Honolulu-based Barnwell Industries swung to a profit in the first quarter from a loss in the same period a year earlier, helped by improved performances in the company's real estate development and oil and gas subsidiaries.

Barnwell earned $1.5 million, or 18 cents a share in the first quarter compared with a loss of  $17 million, or $2.06 a share a year earlier.

The company's Kaupulehu Developments partnership received $1.2 million in the first quarter from its share in sales at a development on the Kona Coast. That compared with $214,000 it received in the same quarter a year last year.

The company's Canadian oil and natural gas segment benefited from a 107 percent increase in oil prices and a 16 percent rise in natural gas prices from a year earlier, the company said.

Barnwell's shares fell 13 cents to $3.93 today on the American Stock Exchange.