Mercury S&L; Net Is Down for Quarter, Half

Mercury Savings & Loan Assn. in Huntington Beach said Thursday it had lower earnings for the second quarter and the first six months.

The S&L;’s net income for the second quarter fell 9.7% to $3.25 million from $3.6 million in last year’s second quarter. In the first six months, Mercury’s net income fell 23.2% to $5.3 million, from $6.9 million in the same period last year. William Shane, the S&L;’s president, said that until April, Mercury had been making mostly fixed-rate loans and selling them in the secondary market, creating income quickly. But when interest rates jumped in April, the S&L; started making mostly adjustable rate loans and keeping them in its own portfolio, a practice that spreads the revenues over a longer period.

Mercury’s assets at the end of June increased only slightly to $2.22 billion, from $2.17 billion a year earlier.