ATLANTA, Feb. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Aaron Rents, Inc. (NYSE: RNT), the
nation's leader in the rental, rental purchase and specialty retailing of
residential and office furniture, consumer electronics and home appliances,
today announced the cash acquisition of nine rental stores in Louisiana and
Texas. These stores will become part of the fast-growing Aaron's Rental
Purchase division.
"This is an important strategic acquisition that complements our already
large base of Aaron's stores in this highly desirable market," said R. Charles
Loudermilk, Sr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aaron Rents. "With
this acquisition we will now have a total of over 118 stores in the states of
Texas and Louisiana."
The stores acquired are located in Beaumont and Groves, Texas and New
Iberia, Lake Charles, Opelousas, Jennings, Eunice, and Lafayette, Louisiana.
There are two stores in the Lafayette area.
"The addition of these nine stores further accelerates our growth plan for
2001, building upon our acquisition of 10 stores in Puerto Rico last September
and the purchase of over 25 real estate leases of former Heilig-Meyers stores
in December," Mr. Loudermilk said.
"With these acquisitions and continued internal growth, we will add
approximately 40 new Company-operated stores in 2001, compared to the 30
stores we had originally planned to add this year," Mr. Loudermilk said. "In
addition we expect to open over 40 new franchised rental purchase stores this
year, following our record rate of more than 20 percent growth in total rental
purchase store count last year. With these acquisitions and the strong growth
of our franchise program, we continue to be quite optimistic about the future
progress of Aaron Rents."
Aaron Rents, Inc., based in Atlanta, currently has more than 570 Company-
operated and franchised stores in 42 states and Puerto Rico for the rental and
sale of residential and office furniture, accessories, consumer electronics
and household appliances. The Company also manufactures furniture, bedding
and accessories at 10 facilities in four states.
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Forward-looking statements in this news release are based on current |
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expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results |
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may vary materially from the expectations due to such factors as changes in |
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general economic conditions, competition, pricing, customer demand and other |
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issues. |
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"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1993: Statements in this news release regarding Aaron Rents, Inc.'s
business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that
involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ
from those contained in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of
such risks and uncertainties, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual
Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 1999, which discussion is incorporated herein
by this reference.
SOURCE Aaron Rents, Inc.
CONTACT: Gilbert L. Danielson , Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer