Foothill Group Profits Leap 24% in Quarter

Foothill Group Inc., a financial services concern with executive offices in Agoura Hills and Los Angeles, said its fourth-quarter profit jumped 24% from a year earlier, to $2.6 million from $2.1 million.

Foothill’s latest earnings for the three months ended Dec. 31 came despite an 8% decline in its interest income, to $16.9 million from $18.3 million a year earlier.

Foothill attributed the higher profits to an increase in sales of bank loans and gains on investments.

But Foothill Thrift, one of its units, lost $254,000 in the fourth quarter because of a restructuring.

For the year ended Dec. 31, Foothill Group’s net income almost doubled, to $12.1 million from $6.3 million in the previous year, despite a 5% decline in interest income, to $72.8 million from $76.5 million.