Columbia Savings sold $1.2 billion in securities.

The sale will result in a pretax profit of $80 million in the first quarter, the Beverly Hills-based savings and loan said. The securities were Government National Mortgage Assn. certificates with yields of about 11%. They were sold “to protect Columbia from the risks associated with early prepayment” of the mortgage-backed securities, Columbia Chief Executive Thomas Spiegel said. As a result of the sale, Columbia’s assets have dropped below $9 billion from year-end levels of slightly more than $10 billion.