Amwest’s 1st Quarter Profit Drops 28% From ’89

Amwest Insurance Group Inc., a Woodland Hills-based provider of bail bonds and other surety bonds, said its first-quarter profit dropped 28% from a year earlier, to $713,000 from $995,000.

The lower earnings stemmed from additional reserves Amwest has set up in the event it has to pay rebates because of Proposition 103. The insurance-reform initiative calls for price rollbacks to customers, but the measure’s implementation is still being interpreted by regulators and in the courts.

In the quarter that ended March 31, Amwest’s net premiums earned--a measure of its total revenue--climbed 25% to $11 million from $8.79 million.