Amwest Insurance Group’s Profit Rises 27% for Quarter

Amwest Insurance Group, a Woodland Hills underwriter of bail bonds and other surety bonds, said its fourth-quarter profit rose 27% from a year earlier and that full-year 1988 earnings climbed 29%.

In the quarter that ended Dec. 31, 1988, Amwest’s profit rose to $883,000 from $698,000, while its net premiums earned--a financial measure similar operating revenue--rose 23% to $6.72 million from $5.49 million.

For all of last year, Amwest’s net income totaled $3.62 million, up from $2.82 million in 1987. The company’s net premiums earned for the year increased 11% to $23.1 million from $20.9 million.