EXHIBIT 99.1
EZCORP ANNOUNCES 95% EARNINGS GROWTH
FOR SECOND FISCAL QUARTER
AUSTIN, TEXAS (APRIL 25, 2006) -- EZCORP, Inc. (Nasdaq/NM: EZPW) announced today
results for its second fiscal quarter and six month period, which ended March
31, 2006.
For the quarter ended March 31, 2006, EZCORP's net income increased 95% to
$7,727,000 ($0.56 per share) compared to $3,969,000 ($0.29 per share) for the
quarter ended March 31, 2005. Total revenues for the second fiscal quarter
increased 25% to $78,941,000 while operating income improved 97% to $11,540,000.
Operating income margins for the quarter, measured as a percent of net revenues,
improved approximately eight percentage points to 23%.
For the six months ended March 31, 2006, EZCORP's net income increased 62% to
$14,483,000 ($1.06 per share) compared to $8,918,000 ($0.66 per share) for the
same six month period a year ago. Total revenues grew 24% to $154,711,000 while
operating income increased 62% to $21,855,000. Operating income margins for the
six months, measured as a percent of net revenue, improved approximately five
percentage points to 22%.
Commenting on these results, President and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Rotunda,
stated, "Our results for the second fiscal 2006 quarter were driven by continued
strong growth in our payday loan and credit service business and double digit
growth in our pawn business. Payday loan and credit service contribution, or fee
revenue less bad debt and direct transaction expense, improved 109% to $13.2
million. Payday loan and credit service revenues almost doubled to $15.6 million
while bad debt and direct transaction expense measured as a percent of revenue
improved four percentage points to 15%."
Rotunda continued, "Our pawn contribution or pawn net revenues improved 12% in
the second quarter as a result of an 18% increase in sales gross profit and a 5%
increase in pawn service charges. Higher levels of inventory available for sale
during the quarter and higher gold values contributed to this strong pawn
performance."
Rotunda concluded, "We expect our third fiscal 2006 quarter's earnings to be in
the range of $0.20 to $0.23 per share compared to $0.16 for the fiscal 2005
third quarter. For our 2006 fiscal year, we are raising guidance to $1.60 to
$1.65 per share compared to fiscal 2005's $1.09 per share. We expect year over
year earnings growth to slow in the second half of our fiscal year compared to
the first half primarily due to the earnings drag from the large number of
stores anticipated to open in the next two quarters. Based on new
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EZMONEY locations in the pipeline, we expect to open 80 to 90 EZMONEY stores
over the next two quarters for a total of approximately 115 new stores this
fiscal year."
EZCORP is a lender and provider of credit services to individuals who do not
have cash resources or access to credit to meet their short-term cash needs. In
281 EZPAWN locations, the Company offers non-recourse loans collateralized by
tangible personal property, commonly known as pawn loans. At these locations,
the Company also sells merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from its pawn
lending operations, to consumers looking for good value. In 263 EZMONEY
locations and 83 EZPAWN locations, the Company offers short-term
non-collateralized loans, often referred to as payday loans, or fee based credit
services to customers seeking loans.
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 the 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 April
25, 2006 at 3:30pm Central Time. The conference call can be accessed over the
Internet (or replayed at your convenience) at the following address.
http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=33261
For additional information, contact Dan Tonissen at (512) 314-2289.
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EZCORP, INC.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)
(in thousands, except per share data)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THREE MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31,
-----------------------------
2006 2005
-----------------------------
1 Revenues:
2 Merchandise sales $ 39,036 $ 33,293
3 Jewelry scrapping sales 8,569 6,966
4 Pawn service charges 15,453 14,682
5 Payday loan service charges 1,103 7,828
6 Credit service fees 14,451 --
7 Other 329 329
-----------------------------
8 Total revenues 78,941 63,098
9 Cost of goods sold:
10 Cost of merchandise sales 22,775 18,961
11 Cost of jewelry scrapping sales 5,562 4,940
-----------------------------
12 Total cost of goods sold 28,337 23,901
-----------------------------
13 Net revenues 50,604 39,197
14
15 Operations expense 27,908 23,988
16 Payday loan bad debt and direct transaction expenses 390 1,495
17 Credit service bad debt and direct transaction expenses 1,935 --
18 Administrative expense 6,695 5,796
19 Depreciation and amortization 2,136 2,071
-----------------------------
20 Operating income 11,540 5,847
21
22 Interest expense, net 41 275
23 Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliate (673) (636)
24 Loss on sale/disposal of assets 23 6
-----------------------------
25 Income before income taxes 12,149 6,202
26 Income tax expense 4,422 2,233
-----------------------------
27 Net income $ 7,727 $ 3,969
=============================
28
-----------------------------
29 Net income per share, assuming dilution $ 0.56 $ 0.29
=============================
30
31 Weighted average shares - assuming dilution 13,838 13,755
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EZCORP, INC.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS (UNAUDITED)
(in thousands, except per share data)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SIX MONTHS ENDED MARCH 31,
------------------------------------------
2006 2005
------------------------------------------
1 Revenues:
2 Merchandise sales $ 74,692 $ 65,311
3 Jewelry scrapping sales 15,266 11,272
4 Pawn service charges 31,967 31,351
5 Payday loan service charges 2,255 16,118
6 Credit service fees 29,873 --
7 Other 658 674
------------------------------------------
8 Total revenues 154,711 124,726
9 Cost of goods sold:
10 Cost of merchandise sales 43,547 37,741
11 Cost of jewelry scrapping sales 10,451 8,073
------------------------------------------
12 Total cost of goods sold 53,998 45,814
------------------------------------------
13 Net revenues 100,713 78,912
14
15 Operations expense 54,221 46,691
16 Payday loan bad debt and direct transaction expenses 1,122 3,104
17 Credit service bad debt and direct transaction expenses 5,739 --
18 Administrative expense 13,517 11,663
19 Depreciation and amortization 4,259 3,958
------------------------------------------
20 Operating income 21,855 13,496
21
22 Interest expense, net 263 614
23 Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliate (1,188) (1,096)
24 Loss on sale/disposal of assets 8 43
------------------------------------------
25 Income before income taxes 22,772 13,935
26 Income tax expense 8,289 5,017
------------------------------------------
27 Net income $ 14,483 $ 8,918
==========================================
28
------------------------------------------
29 Net income per share, assuming dilution $ 1.06 $ 0.66
==========================================
30
31 Weighted average shares - assuming dilution 13,646 13,542
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EZCORP, INC.
HIGHLIGHTS OF CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (UNAUDITED)
(in thousands, except per share data and store counts)
- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AS OF MARCH 31,
2006 2005
----------------------------
1 Assets:
2 Current assets:
3 Cash and cash equivalents $ 26,041 $ 1,405
4 Pawn loans 39,044 40,081
5 Payday loans, net 1,507 7,711
6 Pawn service charges receivable, net 6,598 7,720
7 Payday loan service charges receivable, net 250 1,573
8 Credit service fees receivable, net 2,663 --
9 Inventory, net 30,764 26,967
10 Deferred tax asset 10,629 9,711
11 Prepaid expenses and other assets 4,014 5,418
----------------------------
12 Total current assets 121,510 100,586
13 Investment in unconsolidated affiliate 17,614 17,094
14 Property and equipment, net 27,124 26,132
15 Deferred tax asset, non-current 4,012 4,946
16 Other assets, net 3,471 3,914
----------------------------
17 Total assets $173,731 $152,672
============================
18 Liabilities and stockholders' equity:
19 Current liabilities:
20 Accounts payable and other accrued expenses $ 16,576 $ 13,359
21 Customer layaway deposits 2,147 1,848
22 Federal income taxes payable 1,035 271
----------------------------
23 Total current liabilities 19,758 15,478
24
25 Long-term debt -- 6,825
26 Deferred gains and other long-term liabilities 3,430 3,778
----------------------------
Total long-term liabilities 3,430 10,603
27
28 Total stockholders' equity 150,543 126,591
----------------------------
29 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $173,731 $152,672
============================
30
31 Pawn loan balance per ending pawn store $ 139 $ 143
32 Inventory per ending pawn store $ 109 $ 96
33 Book value per share $ 11.41 $ 10.19
34 Tangible book value per share 11.21 9.99
35 Pawn store count - end of period 281 280
36 Mono-line payday loan store count - end of period 263 192
37 Shares outstanding - end of period 13,190 12,428
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