Imperial Corp. Lists Drop in 1st-Quarter Net Income

Imperial Corp. of America reported Friday that net income fell dramatically to $6.2 million for the first quarter ended March 31, down from $19 million during the first quarter of 1987.

The holding company for Imperial Savings & Loan blamed the drop on a falloff in gains from the sale of loans. The one-time gain from loan sales fell to a pre-tax level of $2.1 million during the first quarter of 1988. Imperial reported a $24.6 million pre-tax gain during the first quarter of 1987.

Imperial’s profitability also was hurt by $3.8 million in non-recurring charges. Those charges included $3 million for the settlement of a lawsuit dating back to 1984.

Kenneth J. Thygerson, Imperial president and chief executive, said he is “pleased� with the quarter despite the drop in net income.

“Other measures of Imperial’s performance . . . (indicated) progress in our efforts to lower expenses, reduce interest rate risk . . . and improve the diversity and quality of our assets,� Thygerson said in a prepared statement.

Net interest income fell slightly to $46.4 million during the quarter, down from $49 million during the previous first quarter. Imperial’s net interest income has remained between $49.1 million and $46.4 million for the past 15 months, Thygerson said.

Operating expenses fell to $43.6 million from $55.9 million, in large part to Imperial’s sale of its nationwide mortgage banking unit and out-of-state thrift operations in Kansas and Colorado.

Total assets remained constant at $10.9 billion. Loans secured by real estate rose to $6.5 billion, up from $6.2 billion during the like quarter a year ago, and deposits increased slightly to $7.2 billion, up from $7 billion a year ago.