4 Large Southland S&Ls; Report Improved Earnings

Four more large Southern California-based savings and loan associations reported big boosts in profits.

The improved profits have resulted from lower deposit costs and higher loan volume. Great Western Financial Corp. and H. F. Ahmanson have been among those financial institutions reporting record annual earnings for 1985.

Columbia Savings & Loan Assn. said its 1985 earnings reached $122 million, nearly triple the $44.1 million it earned a year earlier, even though fourth-quarter earnings fell to $18.5 million, down 18% from the last three months of 1984.

Columbia Savings also predicted that its earnings in the first quarter of 1986 should exceed the three-month record of $37.7 million set in the second quarter of 1985.

Columbia noted that its 1985 financial results are unaudited. More complete earnings information will be released within two weeks, the firm said.

Meanwhile, the parent company of Glendale Federal Savings reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $20.6 million, 40% higher than in the second period of fiscal 1985.

GlenFed said six-month earnings totaled $39.6 million, a 52% increase over the $26 million earned in the comparable year-earlier period.

“Net interest income, record loan volume and improved interest-rate spread contributed to our excellent earnings for the second quarter,” GlenFed Chairman Raymond Edwards said.

GlenFed said its loan volume from October through December reached $2 billion, up 83% from a year earlier.

Meanwhile, Mercury Savings & Loan Assn. posted record net income of $11 million last year, more than twice the $4.9 million in net earnings reported the previous year. Profit for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 also more than doubled, to $5 million from $2.2 million the previous year.

Financial results showed substantial gains in all of the S&L;’s operating divisions last year, including a record $814 million in total loans originated, according to Ronald P. Hansen, senior vice president for finance. Mercury originated $798 million in loans during 1984.

Valley Federal Savings & Loan, bouncing back from heavy real estate lending losses in 1984, said it earned $3.7 million in the fourth quarter and $10.4 million for all of last year. The results represented a turnaround from a loss of $11.5 million in 1984, including a $3.2 million-deficit in the fourth quarter. Valley Federal’s assets stood at $2.5 billion as of Dec. 31, down 5% from 12 months before.

For detailed data and results of other companies, please see tables, Page 11.