Net Income Up $2.3 Million for Mercury S

Spurred by an improving secondary market for real estate loans and rising mortgage loan interest rates, Mercury Savings & Loan Assn. of Huntington Beach reported net income for the third quarter of $2.3 million, more than five times the $444,000 profit reported a year earlier.

Mercury more than doubled net income for the first nine months to $6 million from $2.7 million, according to the association’s unaudited financial report.

The S&L;’s sharply higher performance came from a combination of factors, including a 2.6% difference between the interest rate it earned on loans and investments and the rate it paid on deposits and borrowings, said chief financial officer Ed Richardson.

Richardson also pointed to the upswing in real estate sales, which has helped Mercury sell more loans in the secondary market, as part of the reason for the increase.

Deposits rose in the first nine months this year to $1.58 billion from $1.51 billion for the same period last year. Total loans on Sept. 30 were $1.56 billion, up slightly from $1.54 billion last year, Richardson said.

Mercury’s assets, meantime, remained near the $2 billion level, rising to $2.04 billion on Sept. 30 from the year-ago total of $1.94 billion.

Richardson said the association’s regulatory net worth was about 3.4% of assets. The Federal Home Loan Bank Board requires S&Ls; to maintain a minimum net worth of 3% of assets.