Washington Federal, Inc. parent company of Washington Federal Savings, posted record earnings of $37,118,000 or 58 cents per diluted share for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2002, compared to $35,385,000 or 55 cents per diluted share for the same period one year ago. That’s a 5-percent per share increase.

On Jan. 17, Washington Federal paid a cash dividend of 23 cents per share to common stockholders of record on Jan. 3. This is company’s 80th consecutive quarterly cash dividend.

For the calendar year ended Dec. 31, 2002, an investment in Washington Federal Common Stock produced a total return of 10.1 percent.