Profits dip at Novato-based Willis Lease

Profits at Novato-based Willis Lease Finance Corp. dipped 41.4 percent year-to-year in the first quarter after the company leased fewer aircraft, engines and parts, the company reported Monday.

The company recorded a profit of $2.5 million in the first quarter, down from $2.9 million the previous quarter and $4.3 million in the first quarter of 2011. The figures do not include the $782,000 in earnings paid out as preferred dividends each quarter.

On average, 84 percent of the company's parts and planes were leased out during the first quarter, down from 89 percent in the same period of 2011.

"While the oversupply of certain engine types in the market clearly impacts our utilization, there are other factors that are not market-driven that have an impact as well," Willis Lease President Donald Nunemaker said in a statement.

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