New Century hits record March loan production. (Business Alert).

NEW CENTURY FINANCIAL CORPORATION, Irvine, California, announced loan production volume of $4.689 billion for the three months ended March 31,2003, compared with $2.655 billion for the same period in 2002--a 77 percent increase. The company posted record March 2003 production volume of $1.786 billion, compared with $976 million in March 2002--an 83 percent increase.

"Loan production volume for the month of March and the first quarter were new records for the company," said Robert K. Cole, chairman and chief executive officer. "In addition, the demand from secondary market investors for our product remains strong. We believe we will exceed analysts' consensus of $1.62 EPS for the first quarter of 2003 and achieve our 2003 estimate of $7.25 per share."