EZPW EZCORP Inc

AUSTIN, Texas, April 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: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 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. 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 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 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 27 Total long-term liabilities 3,430 10,603 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 DATASOURCE: EZCORP, Inc. CONTACT: Dan Tonissen of EZCORP, Inc., +1-512-314-2289 Web site: http://www.ezcorp.com/ http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=33261

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