Fremont General posts profit, shares soar 46 pct
Thu Nov 8, 2007 4:11pm EST
NEW YORK, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Fremont General Corp (FMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday said third-quarter profit declined, but its shares soared 46 percent after the troubled California savings and loan said it significantly reduced losses from selling residential real estate loans.
Net income fell 38 percent to $18.3 million, or 23 cents per share, from $29.5 million, or 39 cents, a year earlier.
Results reflected a $65.6 million gain from the July 2 sale of a $6.27 billion commercial real estate loan portfolio to iStar Financial Inc (SFI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) for $1.89 billion in cash, plus a $4.21 billion interest in the portfolio. Operating profit in the quarter totaled $32.2 million, largely from the gain.
Fremont posted a $4.1 million loss in the quarter from the sale of $243.9 million of residential real estate loans. It said it had lost $877 million from January to June from the sale of about $8.5 billion of residential loans. It said it still had $995.9 million of residential loans held for sale on Sept 30.
Fremont, based in Santa Monica, had been one of the 10 largest U.S. providers of subprime mortgages, which go to people with poor credit, before regulators in March ordered it to stop offering the home loans.
It is exploring strategic options after its agreement to obtain an $80 million infusion from a group led by billionaire investor Gerald J. Ford broke down last month.
Shares of Fremont closed up 84 cents at $2.66 on the New York Stock Exchange. They remain down 84 percent this year. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Leslie Gevirtz)
reuters.com
© Reuters 2006.
This dog can still hunt. |
