Spear Financial Reports Jump in Profit for Quarter

Spear Financial Services Inc. in Glendale said its second-quarter profit jumped 54% from a year earlier, aided by a one-time gain of $830,000.

In the quarter ended June 30, Spear earned $758,900, up from $491,591 a year earlier. Its second-quarter revenue rose 31%, to $8.25 million from $6.32 million.

Spear provides discount brokerage services and sells insurance-related investments through bank offices. The one-time gain was a payment the company received from Security Pacific Bank Washington as part of the bank’s decision, announced in January, to end its affiliation with Spear and to market insurance investments itself.

Another Security Pacific Corp. unit, Security Pacific Bank Arizona, likewise terminated its program with Spear earlier this month. No severance payment for Spear stemming from that program has yet been announced.

For the first half of 1991, Spear’s profit more than doubled, to $992,470 from $484,251, and its six-month revenue climbed 21%, to $14.1 million from $11.7 million.

Spear Chairman Charles M. Spear cautioned in a statement, however, that while he expects the company to set sales and profit records for all of 1991, its results for the rest of the year “will be somewhat below our earlier expectations.”