ORANGE COUNTY EARNINGS : Sterling S&L; Earns $900,367 in 3rd Quarter

Bolstered by the profits from the sale of an El Toro apartment complex it held as an investment, Sterling Savings & Loan Assn. of Irvine posted third quarter earnings of $900,367, up from $50,235 for the same quarter last year. Revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30 were more than $2.6 million, up from $64,944 for last year’s third quarter.

Sterling, which opened Feb. 27, 1984, posted nine-month earnings this year of nearly $2.3 million. Its profits for the first seven months last year were $159,787. Revenues for the nine-month period this year were more than $6.5 million, compared with revenues for the seven-month period last year of just over $1 million.

More than half of the S&L;’s 1985 earnings for the first nine months came from its wholly owned service corporation, Sterling Builders, which accounted for a little more than $1.5 million of total earnings. Spokeswoman Anita Price said most of that money came from the sale of an El Toro apartment complex that subsidiary developed.

In other areas, however, Sterling Savings also showed large gains. Total loans, for instance, stood at $33.9 million at the end of September, up from $15.5 million at the same time last year. Assets also jumped to $74 million as of Sept. 30, up from $20.9 million a year ago.