Delta Reports 4Q Profits

Delta Financial Corp., Woodbury, N.Y., has reported earnings of $5.7 million ($0.27 per share) for the fourth quarter, up from $215,000 ($0.01 per share) a year earlier.However, the company said it took a $1.7 million pretax charge for probable hurricane-related losses. This was partially offset by adding $1.3 million of pretax income related to cumulative adjustments from prior periods with respect to Statements of Financial Accounting Standards Nos. 91 and 133. For the full year, Delta had net income of $18.0 million ($0.84 per share), up from a loss of $9.3 million ($0.51 per share) for 2004. The loss was a result of Delta's shifting from gain-on-sale accounting to portfolio accounting in the first quarter of 2004. For the fourth quarter of 2005, Delta had record loan originations of $1.1 billion, up 45% from the same period last year and 7% from the third quarter of 2005. For the full year, it did $3.8 billion in production, also a record. Company president and chief executive Hugh Miller said Delta expects loan volume to grow by at least 15% this year. Delta can be found online at http://www.deltafinancial.com.