Exhibit 99.1
FORM 51-102F3
MATERIAL CHANGE REPORT
Item 1 Name and Address of Company
The Cash Store Financial Services Inc. (“Cash Store Financial” or the “Company”)
15511-123 Avenue
Edmonton, AB
T5V 0C3
Item 2 Date of Material Change
March 31, 2014
Item 3 News Release
The news release with respect to the material change referred to in this report was disseminated via Canada Newswire on March 31, 2014 and filed on the system for electronic document analysis and retrieval (SEDAR).
Item 4 Summary of Material Change
Cash Store Financial Announces Agreement in Principle to Settle Investor Class Action Lawsuits
Item 5.1 Full Description of Material Change
See attached Schedule “A”.
Item 5.2 Disclosure for Restructuring Transactions
Not Applicable
Item 6 Reliance on subsection 7.1(2) or (3) of National Instrument 51-102
Not Applicable
Item 7 Omitted Information
Not Applicable
Item 8 Executive Officers
Gordon Reykdal, CEO, at 780-408-5118 or
Craig Warnock, CFO, at 780-732-5683
Item 9 Date of Report
April 1, 2014
SCHEDULE “A”
News Release
March 31, 2014
Cash Store Financial Announces Agreement in Principle to Settle Investor Class Action Lawsuits
EDMONTON, March 31, 2014 /CNW/ - The Cash Store Financial Services Inc. (“Cash Store Financial” or the “Company”) (TSX: CSF) today announced that it has entered into an agreement in principle to settle the previously disclosed proposed class action proceedings against the Company and certain of its former directors and officers relating to alleged disclosure violations commenced by investors in Ontario, Alberta, Quebec and New York. The agreement in principle covers all claims related to investments in the Company’s common shares and senior secured notes acquired or disposed of during the expanded period of November 24, 2010 through February 14, 2014, other than certain rights and claims of senior secured note holders under the note indenture dated January 31, 2012.
The proposed settlement provides for a payment in the amount of approximately Cdn $9.45 million (all-inclusive) by the Company’s insurers.
The proposed settlement is subject to the fulfillment of customary conditions including, among other things, the parties entering into a definitive settlement agreement, court approvals, approval of parties other than the Company, and the fulfillment of conditions relating to the number of opt-outs from the proposed settlement. There is no assurance that these conditions will be fulfilled.
The proposed settlement includes no admission of liability by the Company or any of the settling defendants, and the Company continues to deny any such liability or damages.
About Cash Store Financial
Cash Store Financial is the only lender and broker of short-term advances and provider of other financial services in Canada that is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: CSF). Cash Store Financial operates 510 branches across Canada under the banners “Cash Store Financial” and “Instaloans”. Cash Store Financial also operates 27 branches in the United Kingdom.
Cash Store Financial and Instaloans primarily act as lenders and brokers to facilitate short-term advances and provide other financial services to income-earning consumers who may not be able to obtain them from traditional banks. Cash Store Financial also provides a private-label debit card (the “Freedom” card) and a prepaid credit card (the “Freedom MasterCard”) as well as other financial services, including bank accounts.
Cash Store Financial employs approximately 1,900 associates and is headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta.
Cash Store Financial is a Canadian corporation that is not affiliated with Cottonwood Financial Ltd. or the outlets Cottonwood Financial Ltd. operates in the United States under the name “Cash Store”. Cash Store Financial does not do business under the name “Cash Store” in the United States and does not own or provide any consumer lending services in the United States.
For further information, please contact:
Gordon Reykdal, CEO, at 780-408-5118,
Craig Warnock, CFO, at 780-732-5683, or
Peter Block, NATIONAL Public Relations, 416-848-1431
Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of United States federal securities legislation, which we refer to herein, collectively, as “forward-looking information”. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “estimates”, “plans”, “expects”, or “does not expect”, “is expected”, “budget”, “scheduled”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, or “does not anticipate”, or “believes” or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might”, or “will be taken”, “occur”, or “be achieved”. In particular, this news release contains forward-looking information with respect to the Settlement, the Company Releasees, the Released Claims, the settlement agreement, and the class action lawsuits commenced in Ontario and Alberta being dismissed. Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Cash Store Financial, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including, but not limited to, changes in economic and political conditions, legislative or regulatory developments, technological developments, third-party arrangements, competition, litigation, risks associated with but not limited to, market conditions, and other factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our Annual MD&A, which is on file with Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities, and in our Annual Report on Form 20-F filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. All material assumptions used in providing forward-looking information are based on management’s knowledge of current business conditions and expectations of future business conditions and trends, including our knowledge of the current credit, interest rate and liquidity conditions affecting us and the general economic conditions in Canada, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Although we believe the assumptions used to make such statements are reasonable at this time and have attempted to identify in our continuous disclosure documents important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Certain material factors or assumptions are applied by us in making forward-looking information, including without limitation, factors and assumptions regarding our continued ability to fund our payday loan business, rates of customer defaults, relationships with, and payments to, third party lenders, demand for our products, our operating cost structure, current consumer protection regulations, the Settlement, the likelihood of entering into a final settlement agreement with the Plaintiffs and the dismissal of the Alberta and Quebec class action lawsuits. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. We do not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.