Rent-A-Center's profits surge 25%
Revenues decline 5.3% in third quarter
Larry Thomas -- Furniture Today, October 27, 2009
PLANO, Texas — Rent-A-Center, the largest U.S. rent-to-own chain, said third-quarter profits were more than 25% ahead of last year's third quarter despite a 5.3% decline in revenues.
The company said rigorous cost controls and the closing of several underperforming stores helped boost profits. In addition, last year's third quarter included more than $3.7 million in one-time charges.
"I am pleased with our results for the third quarter, where we met our revenue guidance and exceeded our net earnings per diluted share through our continued focus on managing our costs," said Mark Speese, chairman and CEO. "Both our customer count and our deliveries per store outperformed the comparable period for each month during the quarter."
Revenues for the quarter totaled $671.3 million, down from $708.8 million in the third quarter of 2008. Same-store revenues fell 6.1%.
Net income totaled $36.8 million or 55 cents per share. In the comparable period last year, it was $29.4 million or 44 cents per share.
Rent-A-Center ended the quarter with 3,004 stores. During the quarter, 13 stores were opened and one acquired store remained open. Nine stores were closed and 22 others were merged with existing stores.
For the first nine months of 2009, revenues slipped 4.8% from the comparable period in 2008, to $2.08 billion.
Nine-month net income was $124.2 million or $1.86 per share. That's up from $103.5 million or $1.54 per share in the first nine months of last year.
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