Mortgage Investments’ Profit Drops 20% in ’88

Mortgage Investments Plus, a real estate investment trust in Woodland Hills, said its fourth-quarter profit rose 9% from a year earlier but its 1988 earnings dropped 20%.

The company said its net income for the quarter that ended Dec. 31 climbed to $1.25 million, or 14 cents a share, from $1.15 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier. For all of 1988, Mortgage Investment’s profit fell to $4.28 million, or 47 cents a share, from $5.33 million, or 59 cents a share, in 1987.

The company’s lower results last year reflected an 18% gain in expenses, to $4.71 million from $3.99 million, and a 13% drop in interest income, to $8.89 million from $10.2 million.