EXHIBIT 99
EZCORP ANNOUNCES 66% EARNINGS GROWTH
FOR FIRST QUARTER
AUSTIN, TEXAS (JANUARY 20, 2005) -- EZCORP, Inc. (Nasdaq/NM: EZPW) announced
today results for its fiscal first quarter, which ended December 31, 2004.
For the quarter ended December 31, 2004, EZCORP's net income improved sixty-six
percent to $4,949,000 (thirty-seven cents per share) compared to $2,990,000
(twenty-three cents per share) for the 2004 first fiscal quarter. Total revenues
for the quarter increased thirteen percent over the prior year period to
$61,628,000 with sales, pawn loan and payday loan revenues up eight, seven and
seventy-one percent respectively.
During the quarter, the Company sold a portfolio of old payday loan bad debt for
approximately $905,000. Excluding the benefit of this sale, net income for the
quarter would have increased forty-six percent to $4,370,000 (thirty-three cents
per share).
Commenting on these results, President and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Rotunda,
stated, "The quarter was an excellent start to our 2005 fiscal year. Earnings
were strong and exceeded our previously announced guidance. The earnings growth
was driven by year over year increases in sales and lending revenues and
improvements in our payday loan collections. For the quarter, our net defaults
measured as a percent of loans made during the quarter improved to 4.9%,
excluding the sale of old bad debt, compared to 5.6% for the same period a year
ago.
Rotunda continued, "During the quarter, we opened forty EZMoney Payday Loans
locations bringing our total store fronts, including our 280 EZPawns, to 445. We
are on track with our expectation to open 120 to 140 EZMoney locations this
fiscal year.
Rotunda concluded, "We expect our second quarter earnings to be in the range of
twenty-seven to thirty cents per share compared to twenty-three cents for the
fiscal 2004 second quarter. For our 2005 fiscal year, we are raising our
guidance to $1.00 to $1.05 per share compared to earlier guidance of ninety to
ninety-five cents and fiscal 2004's seventy cents per share."
EZCORP meets the short-term cash needs of the cash and credit constrained
consumer by offering convenient, non-recourse loans collateralized by tangible
personal property, commonly known as pawn loans, and short-term
non-collateralized loans, often referred to as payday loans. The Company also
sells merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from its pawn lending
operations, to consumers looking for good value. As of December 31, 2004, the
Company operated 280 EZPAWN and 165 EZMONEY Payday Loans locations, 128 of which
adjoin an EZPAWN location.
This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the
Company's expected performance for future periods including, but not limited to,
new store expansion and expected future earnings. Actual results for these
periods may materially differ from these statements. Such forward-looking
statements involve risks and uncertainties such as changing market conditions in
the overall economy and the industry, consumer demand for the Company's services
and merchandise, changes in regulatory environment, and other factors
periodically discussed in the Company's annual, quarterly and other reports
filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
You are invited to listen to a conference call discussing these results on
January 20, 2005 at 3:30pm Central Standard Time. The conference call can be
accessed over the Internet (or replay it at your convenience) at the following
address.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/playerlink.zhtml?c=69434&s=wm&e=997984
For additional information, contact Investor Relations at (512) 314-2220 or Dan
Tonissen at (512) 314-2289.
EZCORP, INC.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)
(in thousands, except per share data)
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<Table>
<Caption>
THREE MONTHS ENDED DECEMBER 31,
------------------------------------
2004 2003
-------------- --------------
Revenues:
Merchandise sales $ 32,018 $ 31,062
Jewelry scrapping sales 4,306 2,493
Pawn service charges 16,669 15,552
Payday loan service charges 8,290 4,861
Other 345 346
-------------- --------------
Total revenues 61,628 54,314
Cost of goods sold:
Cost of merchandise sales 18,780 17,583
Cost of jewelry scrapping sales 3,133 1,690
-------------- --------------
Total cost of goods sold 21,913 19,273
-------------- --------------
Net revenues 39,715 35,041
13
Operations expense 22,703 20,777
Bad debt and other payday loan direct expenses 1,609 1,839
Administrative expense 5,867 5,862
Depreciation and amortization 1,887 1,915
-------------- --------------
Operating income 7,649 4,648
19
Interest expense, net 339 448
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliate (460) (365)
Loss on sale/disposal of assets 37 --
-------------- --------------
Income before income taxes 7,733 4,565
Income tax expense 2,784 1,575
-------------- --------------
Net income $ 4,949 $ 2,990
============== ==============
-------------- --------------
Net income per share, assuming dilution $ 0.37 $ 0.23
============== ==============
Weighted average shares - assuming dilution 13,237 12,847
</Table>
EZCORP, INC.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)
(in thousands, except per share data and store counts)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<Table>
<Caption>
AS OF DECEMBER 31,
2004 2003
-------------- --------------
Assets:
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 3,115 $ 1,402
Pawn loans 44,714 46,380
Payday loans, net 8,666 5,683
Pawn service charges receivable, net 9,465 9,602
Payday loan service charges receivable, net 1,759 1,137
Inventory, net 32,317 32,527
Deferred tax asset 9,711 8,163
Prepaid expenses and other assets 5,233 3,163
-------------- --------------
Total current assets 114,980 108,057
Investment in unconsolidated affiliate 16,527 15,144
Property and equipment, net 26,049 24,701
Deferred tax asset, non-current 4,946 4,391
Other assets, net 4,016 5,555
-------------- --------------
Total assets $ 166,518 $ 157,848
============== ==============
Liabilities and stockholders' equity:
Current liabilities:
Accounts payable and other accrued expenses $ 13,831 $ 9,837
Customer layaway deposits 1,686 1,675
Federal income taxes payable 3,336 1,012
-------------- --------------
Total current liabilities 18,853 12,524
Long-term debt 22,000 32,450
Deferred gains and other long-term liabilities 3,868 4,229
-------------- --------------
Total long-term liabilities 25,868 36,679
Total stockholders' equity 121,797 108,645
-------------- --------------
Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $ 166,518 $ 157,848
============== ==============
Pawn loan balance per ending pawn store $ 160 $ 166
Inventory per ending pawn store $ 115 $ 116
Book value per share $ 9.85 $ 8.91
Tangible book value per share $ 9.64 $ 8.70
Pawn store count - end of period 280 280
Mono-line payday loan store count - end of period 165 23
Shares outstanding - end of period 12,365 12,188
</Table>