EZCORP REPORTS REVENUES OF $269 MILLION AND EARNINGS PER SHARE OF $0.42

• Total loan balances, net of reserves, were $58 million at quarter-end, a 20% increase over the same quarter last year. This increase was driven by solid growth at the company's 494 storefronts as well as the addition of its online channel acquired late in the first quarter of fiscal 2013. At quarter-end, the online loan balance was $3 million, 5% of the segment's total consumer loan balance. Loan balances in Texas cities affected by restrictive local ordinances declined 41% year-over-year.
  
• Loan fees were $49 million, up 10%. The gap in growth between loan balances and fees year-over-year is the result of lower yields driven by a competitive marketplace and regulatory impact. The company expects to continue to grow loan balances aggressively against declining yields.
  
• Bad debt as a percentage of fees was 32%, up 700 basis points. Approximately half of this increase reflects the impact of regulatory changes at the local and federal level. These changes will continue to negatively impact the profitability of the business. The remaining roughly 350 basis point decline was driven primarily by new store growth, most of which came outside of Texas, and the penetration of the company's online channel. The company expects both of these impacts to moderate over the next several quarters as the new stores naturally mature and online bad debt continues its quarter-over-quarter improvement.
  
• The company also expects improved expense leverage within the business as it realizes the effects of cost savings initiatives launched in fiscal 2013. Improvements in underwriting and loan management systems and service and collection center consolidation are well underway and should be materially completed by the end of fiscal 2014.
  

Latin America

Payroll Withholding Lending —

• Total loan balances at the end of the quarter were $114 million, up 42%, driven primarily by significant growth in loan originations in existing contracts. The company also added or renewed 18 contracts in the quarter. Grupo Finmart now has 52 active contracts providing access to over 4 million customers.
  
• Net revenues were $32 million in the quarter, with bad debt as a percentage of fees of 10%, compared to a bad debt benefit of 9% in the prior year due to a large aged debt sale. Bad debt is expected to decline over the next several quarters to approximately 5% to 8% of loan fees.

Pawn —

• Pawn loan balances were $13 million, down 6%, with pawn service fees down 2% as Empeno Facil focused on better quality lending. Yield on the loan balance improved 1,200 basis points from 193% to 205%. General merchandise now accounts for 92% of the total loan portfolio compared to 89% a year ago.
  
• Merchandise sales increased 12% compared to last year with margins of 37%, down 500 basis points driven by aggressive pricing in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The company expects margins to continue to be pressured for the remainder of the year.

Other International

Online Lending —

• Cash Genie, the company's U.K. online lending business, showed improved performance in the quarter compared to the fourth quarter of last year. In the quarter the company narrowed its operating loss to under $2 million, a 51% improvement from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. New loans made during the quarter increased 28% and the number of loans increased 25% over the immediately preceding quarter. Expense reduction initiatives in the U.K. have reduced costs by 18% quarter-over-quarter. The company expects these trends to continue for the remainder of the year.

Strategic Affiliates —

• The company's income from affiliates was down sharply, 75% year-over-year, driven primarily by profit decline at its non-controlled affiliate Albemarle & Bond. On January 27, 2014, Albemarle & Bond announced the termination of their formal sales process, and stated that there may be limited value attributable to the ordinary shares. As a result, EZCORP may be required to write off the remaining $7.9 million of its investment in the second quarter.

CEO Commentary

"The first quarter of fiscal 2014 represents a clear demarcation for us at EZCORP. We spent much of the last two years investing in new businesses and channels to diversify our business as we focus on serving our evolving customer. This diversification was also intended to seize emerging opportunities as well as insulate us from market shocks. We made those investments and in the third quarter of last year we exited certain legacy business models. Today we are solely focused on executing within the businesses and channels we have," said Mr. Rothamel.

"In the first quarter, our U.S. and Canada storefronts in pawn and financial services delivered 82% of our consolidated segment contribution while our Latin America operations delivered 14%. Our immature online lending channels and our strategic affiliate Albemarle & Bond were a drag to our segment contribution and net income.

"We expect year-over-year financial comparisons in the second quarter to be challenging as our U.S. pawn and financial services businesses continue to anniversary gold volume declines and regulatory changes respectively. Our online businesses will continue their quarter-over-quarter improvement, but will not cross into profitability until the third quarter. We expect year-over-year growth in Latin America and also expect to see expense leverage improvements as our expense control initiatives, begun in fiscal 2013, take hold.

"By the third quarter, we expect to see significant improvements in our year-over-year comparisons and the fourth quarter will show significant growth to the same quarter last year, as all of our operating segments and channels contribute to earnings.

"That run rate should then carry us to fiscal 2015 when we expect to deliver growth in all of our businesses with the online selling and lending channels growing fastest, followed by our Latin America businesses and our U.S. storefronts," added Rothamel.

The company provides supplemental information on its website. For additional content, please see "Investor Resources & Supplemental Information" at http://investors.ezcorp.com/.

About EZCORP

EZCORP, Inc. is a leader in delivering easy cash solutions to our customers across channels, products, services and markets. With approximately 7,600 teammates and approximately 1,400 locations and branches, we give our customers multiple ways to access instant cash, including pawn loans and consumer loans in the United States, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom. We offer these products through four primary channels: in-store, online, at the worksite and through our mobile platform. At our pawn and buy/sell stores and online, we also sell merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from pawn lending operations and used merchandise purchased from customers.

EZCORP owns controlling interests in Prestaciones Finmart, S.A.P.I. de C.V., SOFOM, E.N.R. (doing business under the names "Crediamigo" and "Adex"), a leading provider of payroll deduction loans in Mexico; and in Renueva Commercial, S.A.P.I. de C.V., an operator of buy/sell stores in Mexico under the name "TUYO." The company also has a significant investment in Cash Converters International Limited (CCV.ASX), which franchises and operates a worldwide network of over 700 stores that provide personal financial services and sell pre-owned merchandise, and an investment in Albemarle & Bond Holdings PLC, a U.K. pawnbroking business.

For the latest information on EZCORP, please visit our website at: http://investors.ezcorp.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of uncertainties and other factors, including fluctuations in gold prices or the desire of our customers to pawn or sell their gold items, changes in the regulatory environment, changing market conditions in the overall economy and the industry, and consumer demand for the company's services and merchandise. For a discussion of these and other factors affecting the company's business and prospects, see the company's annual, quarterly and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Contact:

Mark Trinske
Vice President, Investor Relations and Communications
EZCORP, Inc.
(512) 314-2220
Investor_Relations@ezcorp.com
http://investors.ezcorp.com/

EZCORP, Inc. Highlights of Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (in thousands, except per share data)
	Three Months Ended December 31,
	2013			2012
Revenues:
Merchandise sales	$	105,587		$	94,604
Jewelry scrapping sales	27,703			44,709
Pawn service charges	64,133			65,400
Consumer loan fees and interest	66,329			63,134
Other revenues	5,605			4,814
Total revenues	269,357			272,661
Merchandise cost of goods sold	63,588			54,945
Jewelry scrapping cost of goods sold	20,020			31,305
Consumer loan bad debt	18,432			13,521
Net revenues	167,317			172,890
Operating expenses:
Operations	112,769			103,285
Administrative	15,745			13,671
Depreciation	7,466			6,560
Amortization	1,940			714
(Gain) loss on sale or disposal of assets	(6,290)			29
Total operating expenses	131,630			124,259
Operating income	35,687			48,631
Interest expense, net	4,332			3,637
Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliates	(1,271)			(5,038)
Other income	(168) Werbung Mehr Nachrichten zur Ezcorp Inc. Aktie kostenlos abonnieren E-Mail-Adresse Bitte überprüfe deine die E-Mail-Adresse. Benachrichtigungen von ARIVA.DE (Mit der Bestellung akzeptierst du die Datenschutzhinweise) -1 Vielen Dank, dass du dich für unseren Newsletter angemeldet hast. Du erhältst in Kürze eine E-Mail mit einem Aktivierungslink. Hinweis: ARIVA.DE veröffentlicht in dieser Rubrik Analysen, Kolumnen und Nachrichten aus verschiedenen Quellen. Die ARIVA.DE AG ist nicht verantwortlich für Inhalte, die erkennbar von Dritten in den „News“-Bereich dieser Webseite eingestellt worden sind, und macht sich diese nicht zu Eigen. Diese Inhalte sind insbesondere durch eine entsprechende „von“-Kennzeichnung unterhalb der Artikelüberschrift und/oder durch den Link „Um den vollständigen Artikel zu lesen, klicken Sie bitte hier.“ erkennbar; verantwortlich für diese Inhalte ist allein der genannte Dritte. Andere Nutzer interessierten sich auch für folgende News 26.07.24 - ARIVA.DE Redaktion Microsoft-Aktie mit leichten Kursgewinnen (392,0610 €) 26.07.24 - ARIVA.DE Redaktion Rheinmetall-Aktie gewinnt 3,69 Prozent (488,80 €) 26.07.24 - ARIVA.DE Redaktion Kurs von Tesla steigt etwas (207,70 €)