ATLANTA, April 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aaron Rents, Inc. (NYSE: RNT),
the nation's leader in the rental, sales and lease ownership, and specialty
retailing of residential and office furniture, consumer electronics and home
appliances and accessories, today announced that revenues and earnings were on
plan for the first quarter of 2003.
"Our earnings for the first quarter are expected to be in the range of, or
to slightly exceed, our previous guidance of $.38 to $.40 per diluted share,"
said R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Aaron
Rents, Inc. "The first quarter results are the result of the growth in
revenues and earnings in our Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership stores. We
continue to expect to earn between $1.55 and $1.65 per diluted share for the
full year of 2003."
The Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership division increased its store count
during the first quarter by 20 stores, 13 Company-operated stores and eight
franchised stores, bringing the total of stores open at March 31 to 665. At
the end of March the Company also had 70 rent-to-rent stores open.
"Although our sales and lease ownership business is exceeding
expectations, the retail sales performance of our Sight & Sound stores remains
disappointing. During the second quarter we will convert a number of our
Sight & Sound stores to traditional Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership stores, or
close them and transfer the store's lease volume to an existing Aaron's
store," Mr. Loudermilk added. "We still believe that offering the lease
transaction in a traditional retail store has excellent potential and we are
encouraged by the lease volume we have been building in the Sight & Sound
stores. The retail sales environment, however, has been very difficult and we
feel we can more effectively conduct this experiment with a lesser number of
stores."
The Company will announce its first quarter results for 2003 on April 28.
Aaron Rents, Inc., based in Atlanta, currently has 735 Company-operated
and franchised stores across the United 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.
Note: Forward-looking statements in this news release are based on
current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual
results may vary materially from the expectations due to such factors as
changes in general economic conditions, competition, pricing, customer demand
and other issues.
"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act
of 1995: 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 and which could cause actual results to differ
from those contained in the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of
such risks and uncertainties see "Certain Factors Affecting Forward Looking
Statements" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2002, which
discussion is incorporated herein by this reference.
SOURCE Aaron Rents, Inc.
/CONTACT: Gilbert L. Danielson, Executive Vice President and Chief
Financial Officer of Aaron Rents, Inc., +1-404-231-0011
/First Call Analyst: /
/Web site: http://www.aaronrents.com /
(RNT)
CO: Aaron Rents, Inc.
ST: Georgia
IN: REA
SU: ERP TNM