EZPW EZCORP Inc

AUSTIN, Texas, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ:EZPW) announced today results for its fiscal fourth quarter and 2006 fiscal year, which ended September 30, 2006. For the quarter ended September, net income increased to $9,168,000 ($0.64 per share) from $3,705,000 ($0.27 per share) for the 2005 fiscal fourth quarter. Total revenues for the quarter increased 19% to $87,355,000 compared to $73,183,000 for the prior year period. For the twelve month period ended September, net income increased 98% to $29,259,000 ($2.08 per share) from $14,752,000 ($1.09 per share) for fiscal 2005. Total revenues for the fiscal year increased 24% to $315,852,000 from $254,159,000 for fiscal 2005. The results for the current period include a net benefit of approximately $0.04 per share from three non-recurring items. The prior year results include an unfavorable impact of approximately $0.04 per share due to losses associated with hurricanes Katrina and Rita and expenses directly related to the Company's conversion of 181 Texas EZMONEY locations to a credit services organization. Commenting on these results, President and Chief Executive Officer, Joe Rotunda, stated, "We are pleased and excited with the strong results we have delivered for the quarter and year. The fourth quarter was our seventeenth consecutive quarter of year-over-year earnings growth. Increases in our signature loan contribution, or signature loan fees less bad debt and direct transaction expense, led the improvement with growth of 95% or $7.7 million. Our pawn operation also made a significant contribution with pawn net revenues up $5.4 million or 17%." Rotunda continued, "I am pleased to announce that we opened forty-six EZMONEY locations during the fourth quarter, making this fiscal year the third consecutive year of opening more than 100 stores. In addition, we just opened our first pawn store in Mexico and plan to have two more open before the end of January." Rotunda concluded, "Looking forward to fiscal 2007, we expect to generate earnings per share in the range of $2.40 to $2.45. For our first fiscal 2007 quarter, we expect to generate earnings per share of $0.58 to $0.60. In fiscal 2007, we plan to continue expansion of our store base by opening approximately 100 new EZMONEY stores and several additional Mexico locations." On November 3, 2006, the Company's Board of Directors declared a three- for-one stock split of its two classes of common stock to shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 27, 2006. Shares resulting from the stock split are expected to be distributed on or about December 11, 2006. All share and per share figures disclosed in this announcement are presented before the stock split. EZCORP is primarily a lender or provider of credit services to individuals who do not have cash resources or access to credit to meet their short-term cash needs. In 280 EZPAWN locations open on September 30, 2006, 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 334 EZMONEY locations open on September 30, 2006 and 82 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 unit growth 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 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 November 9, 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=36178 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 September 30, 2006 2005 1 Revenues: 2 Merchandise sales $30,022 $27,538 3 Jewelry scrapping sales 16,804 13,295 4 Pawn service charges 18,337 16,201 5 Payday loan service charges 1,787 2,605 6 Credit service fees 20,104 13,246 7 Other 301 298 8 Total revenues 87,355 73,183 9 Cost of goods sold: 10 Cost of merchandise sales 18,044 16,162 11 Cost of jewelry scrapping sales 11,133 10,281 12 Total cost of goods sold 29,177 26,443 13 Net revenues 58,178 46,740 14 15 Operations expense 29,487 25,492 16 Payday loan bad debt and direct transaction expenses 768 1,291 17 Credit service bad debt and direct transaction expenses 5,223 6,395 18 Administrative expense 7,402 5,898 19 Depreciation and amortization 2,208 2,088 20 Operating income 13,090 5,576 21 22 Interest expense (income), net (192) 359 23 Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliate (688) (572) 24 Loss on sale/disposal of assets 55 --- 25 Income before income taxes 13,915 5,789 26 Income tax expense 4,747 2,084 27 Net income $9,168 $3,705 28 29 Net income per share, diluted $0.64 $0.27 30 31 Weighted average shares, diluted 14,303 13,740 EZCORP, Inc. Highlights of Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) (in thousands, except per share data) Year Ended September 30, 2006 2005 1 Revenues: 2 Merchandise sales $134,326 $118,951 3 Jewelry scrapping sales 43,098 29,459 4 Pawn service charges 65,325 62,274 5 Payday loan service charges 5,389 28,954 6 Credit service fees 66,451 13,246 7 Other 1,263 1,275 8 Total revenues 315,852 254,159 9 Cost of goods sold: 10 Cost of merchandise sales 78,459 68,680 11 Cost of jewelry scrapping sales 28,414 21,998 12 Total cost of goods sold 106,873 90,678 13 Net revenues 208,979 163,481 14 15 Operations expense 111,110 95,876 16 Payday loan bad debt and direct transaction expenses 2,525 7,808 17 Credit service bad debt and direct transaction expenses 16,000 6,395 18 Administrative expense 27,749 23,067 19 Depreciation and amortization 8,610 8,104 20 Operating income 42,985 22,231 21 22 Interest expense (income), net (79) 1,275 23 Equity in net income of unconsolidated affiliate (2,433) (2,173) 24 (Gain) loss on sale/disposal of assets (7) 79 25 Income before income taxes 45,504 23,050 26 Income tax expense 16,245 8,298 27 Net income $29,259 $14,752 28 29 Net income per share, diluted $2.08 $1.09 30 31 Weighted average shares, diluted 14,088 13,574 EZCORP, Inc. Highlights of Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) (in thousands, except per share data and store counts) As of September 30, 2006 2005 1 Assets: 2 Current assets: 3 Cash and cash equivalents $29,939 $4,168 4 Pawn loans 50,304 52,864 5 Payday loans, net 2,443 1,634 6 Pawn service charges receivable, net 8,234 9,492 7 Payday loan service charges receivable, net 426 272 8 Credit service fees receivable, net 3,954 3,007 9 Inventory, net 35,616 30,293 10 Deferred tax asset 7,150 10,534 11 Federal income taxes receivable 35 --- 12 Prepaid expenses and other assets 3,907 1,998 13 Total current assets 142,008 114,262 14 Investment in unconsolidated affiliate 18,920 17,348 15 Property and equipment, net 29,447 26,964 16 Deferred tax asset, non-current 3,749 4,012 17 Other assets, net 3,379 2,862 18 Total assets $197,503 $165,448 19 Liabilities and stockholders' equity: 20 Current liabilities: 21 Accounts payable and other accrued expenses $22,579 $18,988 22 Customer layaway deposits 1,890 1,672 23 Federal income taxes payable --- 648 24 Total current liabilities 24,469 21,308 25 26 Long-term debt --- 7,000 27 Deferred gains and other long- term liabilities 3,249 3,597 28 Total long-term liabilities 3,249 10,597 29 Total stockholders' equity 169,785 133,543 30 Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $197,503 $165,448 31 32 Pawn loan balance per ending pawn store $180 $189 33 Inventory per ending pawn store $127 $108 34 Book value per share $12.58 $10.39 35 Tangible book value per share $12.37 $10.21 36 Pawn store count - end of period 280 280 37 Mono-line payday loan store count - end of period 334 234 38 Shares outstanding - end of period 13,495 12,859 http://www.videonewswire.com/event.asp?id=36178DATASOURCE: EZCORP, Inc. CONTACT: Dan Tonissen of EZCORP, Inc., +1-512-314-2289 Web site: http://www.ezcorp.com/

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