ATLANTA, Dec. 22 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Aaron Rents, Inc. (NYSE: RNT),
the nation's leader in the sales and lease ownership, specialty retailing and
rental of residential and office furniture, consumer electronics and home
appliances and accessories, today announced that business trends continue to
be quite positive and that it was raising its 2009 earnings guidance.
"Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership results continue to be strong with
growing same store revenues and customer counts," said Robert C. Loudermilk,
Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aaron Rents. "Unlike many other
specialty retailers, our business has been thriving in this economic
environment. We give customers the ability to obtain necessary home
furnishings through non-credit based lease plans not available to them at
traditional retail outlets."
As previously announced, during the fourth quarter the Company acquired
substantially all of the assets of Rosey Rentals, L.P., its second largest
franchisee with 35 stores in six states. In addition, during the quarter the
Company has purchased the accounts of 18 stores from several competitors, as
well as buying one store and selling 11 stores to other operators. The
Company also has merged 20 of its RIMCO stores into existing Aaron's Sales &
Lease Ownership stores and is re-evaluating the wheels and rims concept.
After the opening of new stores and these store re-alignments, the Company is
now expecting to have approximately 1,045 Company-operated stores and 500
franchised stores open by the end of 2008.
"We expect same store revenues for the fourth quarter to increase 5% to 7%
compared to the fourth quarter of 2007," Mr. Loudermilk continued. "Our
earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2008 is unchanged,
with diluted earnings per share for the year expected to be in the range of
$1.60 to $1.65, excluding gains from fourth quarter store sales and any gain
or loss on the previous announced sale of the Aaron's Corporate Furnishings
division."
"We are altering our 2009 square footage growth plans somewhat, and expect
to increase overall store growth next year approximately 5% to 9% over the
store base at the end of 2008. This will be net store growth after opening a
combination of Company-operated and franchised stores, less any opportunistic
merging or disposition of stores. This rate of growth should allow us to
improve margins as well as fund our expansion without the need to seek
additional sources of capital. Due to the current strength of our business
and our outlook for next year, we are increasing our earnings guidance for
2009 from previously expecting to achieve diluted earnings per share in the
range of $1.65 to $1.80 to now expecting $1.70 to $1.85 per share."
Aaron Rents will announce its fourth quarter earnings on Monday, February
16, 2009 and will hold a conference call to discuss the financial results on
Tuesday, February 17, 2009, at 10:30 am Eastern Time. The public is invited to
listen to the conference call by webcast accessible through the Company's
website, www.aaronrents.com, in the "Investor Relations" section. The webcast
will be archived for playback at that same site.
Aaron Rents, Inc., based in Atlanta, currently has more than 1,535
Company-operated and franchised stores in 48 states and Canada. The Company's
MacTavish Furniture Industries division manufactured approximately $73 million
at cost of furniture and bedding at 12 facilities in five states in 2007. The
entire production of MacTavish is for shipment to Aaron Rents stores.
"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 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, 2007. Statements
in this release that are "forward-looking" include without limitation Aaron
Rents' projected revenues, earnings, and store openings for future periods.
SOURCE: Aaron Rents, Inc. -
12/22/2008
CONTACT: Gilbert L. Danielson,
Executive Vice President, Chief Financial
Officer of
Aaron Rents, Inc.,
+1-404-231-0011
Web site: http://www.aaronrents.com
(RNT)
CO: Aaron Rents, Inc.