Amwest Insurance Group’s 2nd-Quarter Profits Flat

Amwest Insurance Group, a Woodland Hills provider of bail bonds and other surety bonds, said its second-quarter profit inched down to $879,000 from $880,000 a year earlier.

The flat results came despite a 63% increase in Amwest’s net premiums earned--a gauge of Amwest’s insurance underwriting revenue--to $8.46 million from $5.19 million.

The latest earnings would have been higher except for a $200,000 charge that Amwest recorded from its previously announced settlement of lawsuits between the company and Dallas County, Tex. The lawsuits stemmed from a dispute over whether Amwest was liable for reimbursing the county for thousands of bail bonds written by a former Amwest agent in Texas.

For the first half of 1989, Amwest’s profit rose 13% to $1.87 million from $1.67 million, while its net premiums earned jumped 67% to $17.3 million from $10.3 million.