First Financial Corp. Says 4th-Period Profits Fell 56%

Caught by a second-half slump in real estate activity, First Financial Corp. of Santa Ana said Monday that its fourth-quarter profits declined 56% from the year before but that annual revenues were down only slightly.

The title insurance company said it earned $1.6 million during the calendar quarter, down from $3.7 million in the final three months of 1983. Fourth-quarter revenues of $55.5 million were down 2% from $56.5 million.

For the year, First Financial’s profits fell 2%, to $13.3 million from $13.6 million in 1983, despite an overall increase in revenues, according to Jack Derloshon, senior vice president and chief financial officer.

Total 1984 revenues of $232.2 million were up 16% from $200.4 million reported the previous year. D. P. Kennedy, president of First Financial, said in a statement Monday that the annual revenues were a record for the company, whose principal subsidiary is First American Title Insurance Co.

Derloshon said Monday that the drop in profits and the slight decline in fourth-quarter revenues reflected a slowdown of real estate sales and development activity during the entire second half of 1984.

He said that the picture has changed since the beginning of the year and that First American is experiencing a “high level of new orders” for property title searches and title insurance policies.

First American Title Insurance Co. is the third-largest title insurer in the United States, with 1,900 branches, subsidiaries, affiliates or agents throughout the United States and in Guam, Puerto Rico and the United Kingdom.