Rent-A-Center, Inc. Announces Dismissal of Securities Lawsuit
PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 2, 2003--Rent-A-Center, Inc. (the "Company") (Nasdaq/NNM:RCII), the leading rent-to-own operator in the U.S., today announced that the federal district court in Texarkana, Texas has dismissed the plaintiffs' claims in Terry Walker, et. al. v. Rent-A- Center, Inc., et. al. The Walker case alleged that the Company and certain officers and directors of the Company, as well as the managing underwriters of an earlier Company common stock offering, violated federal securities laws by issuing false and misleading statements and omitting material facts regarding the Company's financial performance and prospects for the third and fourth quarters of 2001. The court's ruling permits the plaintiffs to replead the case within the next sixty days.
"We are very pleased with the court's decision in this case and view this as a significant development in this matter," commented Mark E. Speese, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "As we have continually stated, we believe the plaintiffs' claims are without merit."
Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas, currently operates 2,581 company-owned stores nationwide and in Puerto Rico. The stores generally offer high-quality, durable goods such as home electronics, appliances, computers and furniture and accessories to consumers under flexible rental purchase agreements that generally allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed-upon rental period. ColorTyme, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national franchisor of 326 rent-to-own stores, 314 of which operate under the trade name of "ColorTyme," and the remaining 12 of which operate under the "Rent-A-Center" name.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "could," "estimate," "should," "anticipate," or "believe," or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. The actual future performance of the Company could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to (i) whether the plaintiffs replead the claims in this matter and the court's view of such claims, if repled, and (ii) the risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including the Company's annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002, the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2003, the Company's quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2003. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Company is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect the events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
CONTACT: Rent-A-Center, Inc.
David E. Carpenter, 972-801-1214
dcarpenter@racenter.com
or
Robert D. Davis, 972-801-1204
rdavis@racenter.com
SOURCE: Rent-A-Center, Inc.