Amwest Insurance Reports a Profit of $324,000

Amwest Insurance Group Inc., a Woodland Hills insurance holding company specializing in surety bonds that insure the performance of contracts, reported a second-quarter profit of $324,000.

The profit compared with a net income of $114,000 a year earlier, which included an extraordinary loss of $249,000 due to prepayment penalties associated with its refinancing of bank debt.

The company wrote $18.4 million in premiums during the quarter ended June 30, up 22% from the $15.1 million in premiums written in the second quarter of 1993.

For the first half of this year, Amwest had a profit of $1.46 million, a 9% gain from $1.34 million in net income a year before. Its premiums written rose 25%, to $33.6 million from $26.9 million.