Aaron Rents profits jump 26.7% in 4Q, 32.7% for yr.
By Furniture Today Staff -- Furniture Today, March 1, 2004
ATLANTA — ATLANTA — Rent-to-own major Aaron Rents reported a 26.7% jump in fourth-quarter profits and a 32.7% increase for the year, fueled by its Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership division.
Net earnings for the fourth quarter grew to $10.3 million from $8.1 million the year before, on a 19.6% jump in revenues to $209.4 million. For the year, Aaron's profits climbed to $36.4 million from $27.4 million on a 19.7% increase in revenues to $766.8 million.
Systemwide revenues, including gross revenues from Aaron's franchised stores, rose 18% to $1 billion for the year. For the quarter, same-store revenues grew 10.6% for company-owned stores and 11.5% for the franchise units.
At year's end, Aaron had 847 stores systemwide, including 500 company-owned and 287 Sales & Lease Ownership stores, as well as 60 rent-to-rent stores, the latter an increasingly smaller segment of Aaron's business.
It opened a net 133 stores last year, including about 40 company-owned stores, 50 new franchise locations and others resulting from acquisitions and conversions. This year, Aaron expects to open another 140 stores, about half company owned.
"New franchisees as well as existing franchisees are knocking on the door daily for more turf, and competing with company stores to see who can get what market tied up the quickest," said Ken Butler, president of the Sales & Lease Ownership division.
Through January, Aaron had agreements lined up for 262 franchise stores, he said, adding the company already is the largest-volume franchise system in the industry and will surpass Rent-A-Center's ColorTyme network in store count this year.
The company's Sight & Sound stores, acquired in 2002 and now retail and RTO hybrids, hurt earnings by 2 cents per share in the fourth quarter and 12 cents for the years. But the remaining 11 stores won't significantly reduce earnings this year, the company said.
Aaron expects first-quarter revenues to be more than $220 million, and over $900 million for 2004, excluding revenues of the franchised stores.
| Aaron Rents | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Earnings per share are fully diluted. | |||
| Quarter ended 12/31 | 2003 | 2002 | Change |
| (a) Includes non-rental revenues of $59.5 million in the 2003 quarter, $57.4 million in the 2002 quarter, $213 million in the 2003 year and $181.5 million in the 2002 year. (b) Revenues minus cost of sales, operating expenses and depreciation of rental merchandise. |
|||
| Revenues (a) | $209,390,000 | $175,025,000 | 19.6% |
| Operating income (b) | 17,557,000 | 14,255,000 | 23.2% |
| Net income | 10,266,000 | 8,102,000 | 26.7% |
| Earnings per share | 0.31 | 0.25 | 24.0% |
| Year ended 12/31 | 2003 | 2002 | Change |
| Revenues (a) | $766,797,000 | $640,688,000 | 19.7% |
| Operating income (b) | 63,625,000 | 48,419,000 | 31.4% |
| Net income | 36,426,000 | 27,440,000 | 32.7% |
| Earnings per share | 1.10 | 0.86 | 27.9% |
Aaron's 2Q net earnings up
07/27/2009Ken Butler named COO at Aaron Rents
08/12/2008Aaron profit up 6.1% in 4Q
02/26/2006
