Option One Earns $262.5 Mil

The Option One mortgage operations of H&R Block Inc., Kansas City, Mo., posted pre-tax earnings of $262.5 million for the company's third fiscal quarter.This is up from $77.4 million for the same three-month period ended Jan. 31, 2002. Excluding a gain from sale of residual assets the company made in November, pretax earnings were $131.6 million for the most recent period. Overall, loan originations for the quarter at the company's two units, Option One Mortgage Corp. and H&R Block Mortgage Corp. were $4.5 billion, up from $2.9 billion for the same period in 2002. Mark Ernst, chairman and chief executive of Block, said "originations in our retail mortgage operations were up 41% compared to last year, demonstrating the momentum that we are building in our effort to broaden and deepen our relationship with H&R Block tax clients. H&R Block tax clients generated 10.6% of all loans originated and 42.5% of all retail loans during the quarter."