Electro Rent Earnings Drop 47% in 1st Quarter

Electro Rent Corp., a Van Nuys company that rents and leases personal computers and other electronic equipment, reported a sharp decline in earnings in its fiscal first quarter.

In the three months that ended Aug. 31, Electro Rent earned $2.65 million, down 47% from $4.95 million in profit a year before. Its revenue rose 8%, to $27.5 million from $25.4 million.

The company said that rentals of its equipment continued to grow in the first quarter, but leasing was off.