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Contact:
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Gilbert
L. Danielson
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Executive
Vice President
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Chief
Financial Officer
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Aaron’s,
Inc. to Close
Office
Furniture Division;
Will
Record Charges
From
Shutdown;
Reduces
Earnings Guidance
ATLANTA, June 29, 2010 – Aaron’s, Inc.
(NYSE: AAN), the nation’s leader in the sales and lease ownership and specialty
retailing of furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories,
today announced it is ceasing the operations of its Aaron’s Office Furniture
division and reducing its 2010 earnings guidance.
During
the second quarter the Company closed all but four of its Aaron’s Office
Furniture stores and plans to have the remaining stores closed by September 30,
2010. It is anticipated that the Company’s pre-tax earnings will be
negatively impacted by up to $9.5 million, or approximately $.07 per diluted
share, relating to the closure of the division. The Company
anticipates recording over 70% of this amount as a charge to operating expenses
in the second quarter of 2010 and most of the remainder is estimated to be
incurred and recorded by the end of 2010. These charges will include
the write-down and cost to dispose of office furniture, estimated future lease
liabilities for closed stores, the write-off of leaseholds, severance pay, and
other associated costs of closing the stores and winding down the
division.
The
Aaron’s Office Furniture division had revenues in 2009 of $16.5 million and a
pre-tax loss of $7.8 million. For the first quarter of 2010 revenues were $3.9
million with a pre-tax loss of $1.4 million, and it is expected revenues will be
less in the second quarter with comparable losses.
“When we
sold our legacy residential rent-to-rent business in 2008 we decided to keep the
13 Aaron’s Office Furniture stores,” stated Robert C. Loudermilk, Jr., President
and Chief Executive Officer of Aaron’s. “At the time we believed
there were still opportunities in the leasing and selling of office
furniture. However, the office furniture business is highly cyclical,
and with the economic conditions of the last several years the stores have
experienced declining revenue and have not been profitable. With no
growth or profitability in sight, rather than spending more effort attempting to
build this business and incur additional losses, we concluded we should exit the
office furniture market and concentrate our future efforts on our sales and
lease ownership stores.”
Outlook
Based
upon preliminary results so far in the second quarter, it is anticipated that
same store revenue and customer growth in the Aaron’s Sales & Lease
Ownership division will be a little less than expected, and although overall
revenue targets are not expected to materially change, the Company is adjusting
its earnings forecast to primarily reflect lower store revenue
growth. Including the above mentioned $9.5 million of charges
relating to closing the office furniture division, the Company is reducing its
earnings guidance for the second quarter to a range of $.29 to $.33 per diluted
share from the previous guidance of $.37 to $.41 per diluted share, and for the
year to $1.36 per diluted share to $1.48 per diluted share from the previous
guidance of $1.48 per diluted share to $1.60 per diluted share.
“Our
Aaron’s Sales & Lease Ownership business continues to grow and gain
customers, but we believe many customers are cautious as the current economic
conditions are having an effect of them,” Mr. Loudermilk
continued. “Traffic in the stores has remained good and we still look
forward to having an outstanding year.”
Conference
Call
Aaron’s
will hold a conference call to discuss its quarterly financial results on
Monday, July 26, 2010, at 5:00 pm Eastern Time. The public is invited to listen
to the conference call by webcast accessible through the Company’s website,
www.aaronsinc.com, in
the “Investor Relations” section. The webcast will be archived for
playback at that same site.
Aaron’s,
Inc., based in Atlanta, currently has more than 1,725 Company-operated and
franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. The Company’s MacTavish
Furniture Industries division manufactured approximately $72 million at cost of
furniture and bedding at 11 facilities in five states in 2009. The
majority of production of MacTavish is for shipment to Aaron’s
stores.
“Safe
Harbor” Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Statements in this news release regarding Aaron’s, Inc.’s business that are not
historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and
uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and
uncertainties include factors such as changes in general economic conditions,
competition, pricing, customer demand and other issues, and the risks and
uncertainties discussed under “Risk Factors” in the Company’s Annual Report on
Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2009. Statements in
this release that are “forward-looking” include without limitation Aaron’s
projected revenues, earnings, and store openings for future
periods.