Western Financial “ahead of schedule” for 2004 earnings

With strong results for the third quarter ending September 30, 2004, Western Financial Group (TSX: WFS) says it is ahead of plan in terms of yearend earnings projections.Earnings for third quarter 2004 are up 53.4% to $795,000 ($0.03 per share) from $518,000 a year earlier. Year-to-date net income is up a whopping 86.1% to $2.80 million ($0.11 per share) from $1.51 million a year earlier.Revenue for the third quarter this year grew by 32.9% to $10.77 million from $8.10 million a year earlier. And for the first nine months of 2004, revenue was up 26.8% to $30.51 million from $24.06 million the year prior.Solid growth was seen in the group’s insurance brokerage operations, where the WFG Agency Network increased its revenue for the third quarter of 2004 by 27.2% to $9.51 million from $7.47 million the year prior. Over the first nine months of 2004, agency revenues rose 241.% to $27.19 million from $21.91 million the year prior. This core business saw growth in all key business drivers, specifically in average number of products sold per account, which is now at 1.64.The new Bank West operation continues to grow, with revenues up 236% in the third quarter, with a 13% increase in assets. Losses stemming from the start-up operation also declined in the third quarter by almost 26%.And Western’s mutual fund business began processing business during the third quarter, with the plan to have control of all WFG’s existing customer accounts (eliminating the former reliance on third-party fund dealers) by the end of the year.