Hamilton Financial Services Corp. has taken down the for-sale sign.
In announcing its annual earnings, the company also said it would seek to go it alone, ending a five-month search for a buyer.
The San Francisco-based mortgage bank announced a loss of $3.15 million, or 52 cents a share, for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 1994, contrasted to net income of $888,000 in the fourth quarter of 1993.
For the full year, the company had a loss of $11.25 million, or $1.87 per share, compared to net income of $3.6 billion, or 70 cents a share, in the period a year earlier.
Hamilton has been hit by losses on sales of loans into the secondary market as well as on originations, according to William Kirschenbaum, chairman of Hamilton Financial. Price competition in the shrinking mortgage market has pushed many mortgage lenders into the red.
Loan-origination volume for the fourth quarter was $275 million, a 56% decrease from the $619 million originated in the comparable 1993 period. For the full year 1994, loan originations were $1.06 billion compared to $2.12 billion in 1993.
In 1993, the company enjoyed a gain on origination and sale of loans of $8.3 million; in 1994, this activity resulted in a loss of $7.8 million. In January 1995, the company announced a restructuring and cost-reduction plan that included eliminating 120 jobs as well as closing retail and wholesale offices throughout the company.
Hamilton will record a one-time charge of about $1.5 million in the first quarter of 1995 relating to this restructuring and cost-reduction plan.
The company will continue to focus on originating and servicing mortgage loans through its subsidiary, Hamilton Financial Corp., and will continue to operate its mortgage-loan subservicing center in Scottsbluff, Neb.
