Imperial Corp. Lists Drop in 1st-Quarter Net Income

Imperial Corp. of America reported Friday that net income fell dramatically to $6.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, down from $19 million during the first quarter of 1987.

The holding company for Imperial Savings & Loan blamed the drop on a falloff in gains from the sale of loans. The one-time gain from loan sales fell to a pre-tax level of $2.1 million during the first quarter of 1988. Imperial reported a $24.6 million pre-tax gain during the first quarter of 1987.

Imperial’s profitability also was hurt by $3.8 million in non-recurring charges. Those charges included $3 million for the settlement of a lawsuit dating back to 1984.

Kenneth J. Thygerson, Imperial president and chief executive, said he is “pleased” with the quarter despite the drop in net income.

“Other measures of Imperial’s performance . . . (indicated) progress in our efforts to lower expenses, reduce interest rate risk . . . and improve the diversity and quality of our assets,” Thygerson said in a prepared statement.

Net interest income fell slightly to $46.4 million during the quarter, down from $49 million during the previous first quarter. Imperial’s net interest income has remained between $49.1 million and $46.4 million for the past 15 months, Thygerson said.

Operating expenses fell to $43.6 million from $55.9 million, in large part to Imperial’s sale of its nationwide mortgage banking unit and out-of-state thrift operations in Kansas and Colorado.

Total assets remained constant at $10.9 billion. Loans secured by real estate rose to $6.5 billion, up from $6.2 billion during the like quarter a year ago, and deposits increased slightly to $7.2 billion, up from $7 billion a year ago.