Release Details

Same Store Sales of 4.5%, Two Year Same Store Sales of 10.2%

Diluted EPS $0.56; Non-GAAP Diluted EPS $0.47, up 48.7%

Merchants Preferred Integration Exceeding Expectations

PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 6, 2019-- Rent-A-Center, Inc. (the "Company" or "Rent-A-Center") (NASDAQ/NGS: RCII) today announced results for the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

“I’m pleased to report strong third quarter results, which met our expectations. Consolidated same store sales increased 4.5 percent and the continued execution of our strategic plan drove adjusted EBITDA growth of 14.8 percent versus the third quarter of last year. As a result we are reiterating and narrowing our annual guidance,” stated Mitch Fadel, Chief Executive Officer of Rent-A-Center.

Mr. Fadel continued, “The integration with Merchants Preferred is progressing ahead of our expectations and we continue to believe our differentiated platform of offering both staffed and virtual options for our retail partners positions us for significant growth, including growth in national accounts and e-commerce retailers. Our focus is to serve lease-to-own customers across multiple channels by enhancing the customer experience through enabling technologies. In addition, we maintain a conservative balance sheet with ample capital to fund our growth initiatives and return capital to shareholders,” concluded Mr. Fadel.

Consolidated Overview

Results for the third quarter of 2019 are Non-GAAP excluding special items and compared to the third quarter of last year unless otherwise noted.

On a consolidated basis, total revenues of $649.4 million increased 0.7 percent driven by a consolidated same store sales increase of 4.5 percent offset by refranchising over 100 locations in the past twelve months and the closures of certain Core U.S. stores. Excluding effects on revenues resulting from the refranchising efforts, revenues increased 2.7 percent. Net earnings and diluted earnings per share, on a GAAP basis, were $31.3 million and $0.56 compared to net earnings and diluted earnings per share of $12.9 million and $0.24 in the third quarter of 2018.

Special items in the third quarter of $(5.0) million were primarily driven by a tax benefit related to the reversal of previously recorded reserves for uncertain tax positions, partially offset by debt refinancing charges, closure of certain Core U.S. stores and transaction costs associated with the acquisition of Merchants Preferred.

The Company’s Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share were $0.47 compared to $0.32 in the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 48.7 percent. The Company generated $41.7 million in operating profit in the third quarter compared to $32.4 million in the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 28.9 percent. Adjusted EBITDA in the third quarter was $56.6 million compared to $49.3 million in the third quarter of 2018, an increase of 14.8 percent.

For the nine months ended September 30, 2019, the Company generated $228.1 million of cash from operations. The Company ended the third quarter with $73.7 million of cash and cash equivalents compared to $111.0 million as of the end of the third quarter of 2018. At the end of the third quarter outstanding indebtedness was $260 million, down $20 million from the close of the refinancing completed on August 5, 2019. The Company's net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio ended the third quarter at 0.8 times compared to 3.4 times as of the end of the third quarter of 2018.

The Rent-A-Center Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.25 per share in the third quarter which was subsequently paid out on October 9, 2019.

Segment Operating Performance

CORE U.S. third quarter revenues of $436.5 million decreased 3.3 percent driven by the refranchising of over 100 locations in the past 12 months and rationalization of the Core U.S. store base partially offset by a same store sales increase of 3.7 percent. Excluding effects on revenues resulting from the refranchising efforts, revenues increased 1.1 percent. As a percent of revenue, skip/stolen losses were 4.1 percent, 60 basis points higher versus the prior year. Operating profit was $54.2 million, which increased 240 basis points versus the prior year, was driven by lower labor and other store expenses as a result of lower store count and our cost savings initiatives. Adjusted EBITDA was $59.3 million, as a percent of total revenue increased 220 basis points versus the prior year.

ACCEPTANCE NOW third quarter revenues of $184.5 million increased 6.4 percent driven by the acquisition of Merchants Preferred and a same store sales increase of 6.2 percent. As a percent of revenue, skip/stolen losses were 8.9 percent, 60 basis points higher versus the prior year. Operating profit was $21.9 million, as a percent of total revenue decreased 350 basis points versus the prior year, driven by lower gross profit and higher skip/stolen losses. Adjusted EBITDA was $22.3 million, as a percent of revenue decreased 350 basis points versus the prior year.

MEXICO third quarter revenues increased 6.9 percent on a constant currency basis. Operating profit was $1.2 million, as a percent of total revenue increased 190 basis points versus the prior year.

FRANCHISING third quarter revenues of $15.0 million increased due to higher store count with over 100 locations refranchised in the past 12 months and higher inventory purchases by our franchisees. Operating profit was $1.1 million, as a percent of total revenue increased 50 basis points versus the prior year.

CORPORATE third quarter expense decreased $4.2 million compared to the prior year primarily due to the realization of our cost savings initiatives.

Sale/Partial Leaseback of Corporate Headquarters

The company recently completed a competitive bidding process and reached an agreement in principle to sell its corporate headquarters. Due to the Company's successful restructuring efforts over the past two years, a significant portion of the building was not being utilized, presenting the Company with an opportunity to realize material value by selling the building and leasing back a smaller footprint. Net proceeds from the sale are expected to be approximately $35 million, after taxes and fees, and will be utilized to advance the Company's stated capital allocation priorities of funding growth initiatives in the retail partner business and returning capital to shareholders. The transaction is expected to close in late 2019 or early 2020 and therefore has not been reflected in current fiscal 2019 guidance.

2019 Guidance ⁽¹⁾

The Company is providing the following narrowed guidance for its 2019 fiscal year, reflecting the ongoing execution of our strategic plan.

• Consolidated revenues of $2.635 billion to $2.670 billion
  • Core U.S. revenues of $1.800 billion to $1.820 billion
  • Acceptance NOW revenues of $735 million to $750 million
• Consolidated Same Store Sales increases in the mid-single digits
• Adjusted EBITDA of $245 million to $260 million
• Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share of $2.10 to $2.35
• Free cash flow of $205 million to $220 million ⁽²⁾
• Net debt of $200 million to $185 million
• Net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio of 0.80x to 0.70x ⁽³⁾

Non-GAAP Reconciliation

To supplement the Company's financial results presented on a GAAP basis, Rent-A-Center uses the non-GAAP measures ("special items”) indicated in Table 2 below, which primarily excludes financial impacts in the third quarter of 2019 related to debt refinancing charges, store closures, incremental legal and advisory fees, and cost savings initiatives and discreet income tax items, including the reversal of a previously recorded reserve for uncertain tax positions. Gains or charges related to store closures will generally recur with the occurrence of these events in the future. The presentation of these financial measures is not in accordance with, or an alternative for, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States and should be read in conjunction with the Company's consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Rent-A-Center management believes that excluding special items from the GAAP financial results provides investors a clearer perspective of the Company's ongoing operating performance and a more relevant comparison to prior period results. This press release also refers to the non-GAAP measures adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) and Free Cash Flow (net cash provided by operating activities less purchase of property assets). Reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and Free Cash Flow to the most comparable GAAP measures are provided in Tables 3 and 4, below.

The Company believes that presentation of adjusted EBITDA is useful to investors as, among other things, this information impacts certain financial covenants under the Company's credit agreements. The Company believes that presentation of Free Cash Flow provides investors with meaningful additional information regarding the Company's liquidity. While management believes these non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating the Company, this information should be considered as supplemental in nature and not as a substitute for or superior to the related financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Further, these non-GAAP financial measures may differ from similar measures presented by other companies.

Reconciliation of net earnings to net earnings excluding special items:

Reconciliation of net cash provided by operations to free cash flow:

Webcast Information

Rent-A-Center, Inc. will host a conference call to discuss the third quarter results, guidance and other operational matters on Thursday morning, November 7, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. ET. For a live webcast of the call, visit https://investor.rentacenter.com. Certain financial and other statistical information that will be discussed during the conference call will also be provided on the same website. Residents of the United States and Canada can listen to the call by dialing (800) 399-0012. International participants can access the call by dialing (404) 665-9632.

About Rent-A-Center, Inc.

A lease-to-own industry leader, Plano, Texas-based, Rent-A-Center, Inc., is focused on improving the quality of life for its customers by providing them the opportunity to obtain ownership of high-quality, durable products such as consumer electronics, appliances, computers, furniture and accessories, under flexible lease purchase agreements with no long-term obligation. The Company owns and operates approximately 2,100 stores in the United States, Mexico, and Puerto Rico, approximately 1,100 Acceptance Now kiosk locations in the United States and Puerto Rico, and Merchants Preferred, a virtual lease-to-own provider in the United States. Rent-A-Center Franchising International, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national franchiser of approximately 340 lease-to-own stores operating under the trade names of "Rent-A-Center", "ColorTyme", and "RimTyme". For additional information about the Company, please visit our website at www.rentacenter.com.

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," "predict," "continue," "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, including its ability to execute its franchise strategy; risks associated with pricing changes and strategies being deployed in the Company's businesses; the Company's ability to continue to realize benefits from its initiatives regarding cost-savings and other EBITDA enhancements, efficiencies and working capital improvements; the Company's ability to continue to effectively operate and execute its strategic initiatives; failure to manage the Company's store labor and other store expenses; disruptions caused by the operation of the Company's store information management system; the Company's ability to realize the strategic benefits from the acquisition of substantially all the assets and assumption of certain liabilities of C/C Financial Corp., a Delaware Corporation d/b/a Merchants Preferred ("Merchants Preferred" and the acquisition thereof, the "Merchants Preferred Acquisition"), including achieving expected growth rates, synergies and operating efficiencies from the acquisition; the Company's ability to successfully integrate Merchants Preferred's operations which may be more difficult, time-consuming or costly than expected; operating costs, loss of retail partners and business disruption arising from the Merchants Preferred Acquisition; the ability to retain certain key employees at Merchants Preferred; risks related to Merchants Preferred's virtual lease-to-own business; the Company's 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 and its ability to generate sufficient cash flow to pay dividends; 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; 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 lease purchase agreements; the passage of legislation adversely affecting the Lease-to-Own industry; the Company's compliance with applicable statutes or regulations governing its transactions; changes in interest rates; capital market conditions, including availability of funding sources for the Company; changes in the Company's credit ratings; changes in tariff policies; 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 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; litigation or administrative proceedings to which the Company is or may be a party to from time to time; and the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2019, and June 30, 2019. 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 hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191106006112/en/

Source: Rent-A-Center, Inc.

Investors:
Rent-A-Center, Inc.
Maureen Short
EVP, Chief Financial Officer
972-801-1899
maureen.short@rentacenter.com