Rent-A-Center, Inc. Reports April Key Operating Metrics
Core U.S.
- Same Store Sales: (13.0%)
- Delinquencies: 6.5% and 40 basis points unfavorable versus prior month
- Average Monthly Rate of New Agreements: 3.8% unfavorable versus prior year
- Co-worker Turnover: 83.4% and 15.9 percentage points favorable versus prior year
Acceptance NOW
- Same Store Sales: 5.5%
- Delinquencies: 7.9% and 90 basis points favorable versus prior month
In the Core U.S. segment, April same store sales declined sequentially due to lower rental and fees revenues caused primarily by one less business day year-over-year. The impact of the business day reduced same store sales by approximately 4 percentage points, offsetting the positive impact seen year-to-date on improving the quality of the portfolio and recapturing the portfolio that was lost. The quality of the rental portfolio remains strong coming out of the tax season and is 140 basis points ahead of the prior year delinquency rate. In addition, the Company is beginning to see the value proposition changes and stronger assortment positively impact the average monthly rate as the year-over-year gap improved by 280 basis points sequentially. During April, the Company implemented a new profit sharing compensation program, which is expected to improve accountability and execution at the store level. The turnover number remained essentially flat sequentially; however, the gap versus last year improved. The Company is well-positioned to carry forward the positive momentum through the summer months and is encouraged by the meaningful improvements across key metrics year-to-date.
In Acceptance NOW, April same store sales continued to be positively
impacted by the delay in tax refunds as merchandise sales remained close
to double digits, while rental and fees was just under 5 percent. The
overall comp in Acceptance NOW was not impacted from a business day
perspective as they are open seven days a week in most retail partner
locations. Delinquencies improved sequentially for the second month in a
row due to the focus on quality sales and higher seasonality. The
Acceptance NOW team has only 6.8 percent delinquencies in partners
excluding Conn’s and
Metric Definitions
Core U.S.
- Same Store Sales – year-over-year revenue performance on comparable stores
- Delinquencies – percent of customer agreements greater than 7 days past due
- Average Monthly Rate of New Agreements – average monthly rental rate for agreements originated in the period
- Co-worker Turnover - annualized year-to-date store co-worker turnover
Acceptance NOW
- Same Store Sales – year-over-year revenue performance on comparable stores
- Delinquencies – percent of customer agreements, in staffed locations, greater than 32 days past due
About
A rent-to-own industry leader,
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release and the guidance above contain 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," "believe," or “confident,” or the
negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. The
Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements are accurate. However, there can be no assurance that such
expectations will occur. The Company's actual future performance could
differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause or
contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: the
general strength of the economy and other economic conditions affecting
consumer preferences and spending; factors affecting the disposable
income available to the Company's current and potential customers;
changes in the unemployment rate; difficulties encountered in improving
the financial and operational performance of the Company's business
segments; the Company’s chief executive officer and chief financial
officer transitions, including the Company’s ability to effectively
operate and execute its strategies during the interim period and
difficulties or delays in identifying and/or attracting a permanent
chief financial officer with the required level of experience and
expertise; failure to manage the Company's store labor and other store
expenses; the Company’s ability to develop and successfully execute
strategic initiatives; disruptions, including capacity-related outages,
caused by the implementation and operation of the Company's new store
information management system, and its transition to more-readily
scalable, “cloud-based” solutions; the Company's ability to develop and
successfully implement digital or E-commerce capabilities, including
mobile applications; disruptions in the Company's supply chain;
limitations of, or disruptions in, the Company's distribution network;
rapid inflation or deflation in the prices of the Company's products;
the Company's ability to execute and the effectiveness of a store
consolidation, including the Company's ability to retain the revenue
from customer accounts merged into another store location as a result of
a store consolidation; the Company's available cash flow; the Company's
ability to identify and successfully market products and services that
appeal to its customer demographic; consumer preferences and perceptions
of the Company's brand; uncertainties regarding the ability to open new
locations; the Company's ability to acquire additional stores or
customer accounts on favorable terms; the Company's ability to control
costs and increase profitability; the Company's ability to retain the
revenue associated with acquired customer accounts and enhance the
performance of acquired stores; the Company's ability to enter into new
and collect on its rental or lease purchase agreements; the passage of
legislation adversely affecting the Rent-to-Own industry; the Company's
compliance with applicable statutes or regulations governing its
transactions; changes in interest rates; adverse changes in the economic
conditions of the industries, countries or markets that the Company
serves; information technology and data security costs; the impact of
any breaches in data security or other disturbances to the Company's
information technology and other networks and the Company's ability to
protect the integrity and security of individually identifiable data of
its customers and employees; changes in the Company's stock price, the
number of shares of common stock that it may or may not repurchase, and
future dividends, if any; changes in estimates relating to
self-insurance liabilities and income tax and litigation reserves;
changes in the Company's effective tax rate; fluctuations in foreign
currency exchange rates; the Company's ability to maintain an effective
system of internal controls; the resolution of the Company's litigation;
and the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's
Additional Information and Where to Find It
The Company intends to file a proxy statement with the
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Source:
Rent-A-Center, Inc.:
Daniel O’Rourke
VP - Finance, Investor
Relations and Treasury
(972) 801-1104
InvestorRelations@rentacenter.com