Downey Savings & Loan Assn.: The Newport...

Downey Savings & Loan Assn.: The Newport Beach S&L; posted a second-quarter profit of $6.5 million, or 40 cents a share, a 32% decline from earnings of $9.5 million, or 58 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier. For the first half, profit totaled $12.2 million, or 76 cents a share. That compared to earnings of $31.7 million, or $1.96 a share, for the comparable period last year, which included a gain of $15.1 million from an accounting change. Downey attributed the earnings decline for the latest quarter to an increased provision for loan losses after the Northridge earthquake and a $1.5-million write-off resulting from a tenant in Downey’s headquarters building defaulting on a lease and vacating the space.