Foothill Expects to Take $968,000 Pretax Charge

Foothill Group Inc., a financial services company with executive offices in Agoura Hills and Los Angeles, said it expects to take an extraordinary $968,000 pretax charge against its fourth-quarter earnings related to prepaying $29 million of debt.

The debt was prepaid with part of the proceeds from a recent $85-million offering of lower-coupon notes by the company’s Foothill Capital Corp. unit. Foothill Capital is involved in asset-based lending and management.

David C. Hilton, Foothill Group’s chief financial officer, said the special earnings charge in the current quarter ending Dec. 31 would be offset by interest savings to the company in future years.

In last year’s fourth quarter, Foothill Group earned $2.6 million on $16.9 million of interest income.