Foothill Group Doubles Its Profit for 4th Quarter

Foothill Group, a financial-services concern based in Agoura Hills and Los Angeles, said its fourth-quarter profit more than doubled from a year earlier on a 21% gain in revenue.

Foothill’s net income for the three months ended Dec. 31 was $2.07 million, or 23 cents a share, up from $910,000, or 11 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose to $19.7 million from $16.3 million.

The company’s profit for all of 1987 also more than doubled, to $7.77 million, or 85 cents a share, from $3.24 million, or 41 cents a share, in 1986. Annual revenue climbed 27%, from $60.1 million to $76.3 million.

Foothill attributed the gains to lower loan losses and a wider net interest margin, which is the spread between its cost of obtaining funds and the interest it earns on re-lending those funds.