Release Details

PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2004--Rent-A-Center, Inc. (the "Company") (Nasdaq/NNM:RCII), the leading rent-to-own operator in the U.S., today announced it is lowering diluted earnings per share guidance for the third quarter ending September 30, 2004 and fiscal year 2004. The Company now expects diluted earnings per share of $0.47 to $0.48 for the third quarter ending September 30, 2004 and $2.30 to $2.33 for fiscal year 2004.

"We are adjusting our guidance due to slower consumer demand in light of our belief that our target market has been particularly hard hit by higher fuel prices," commented Mark E. Speese, the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "While we remain confident in our proven business model and believe that this is a short-term situation, we are taking steps to reduce the impact of the higher fuel costs by fine-tuning our marketing and promotional initiatives," Mr. Speese added. "We have tested many new advertising initiatives and the learning from those tests is being implemented in the fourth quarter. Furthermore, we will be testing a number of in-store variables to improve the effectiveness of our pricing, sales pitch and advertising."

The Company continues to generate significant cash flow from operations, and will continue to invest in new store development and acquisitions and enhance shareholder value through its on-going share repurchase program. To date, during the third quarter, the Company has purchased a total of 1.6 million shares of its common stock for approximately $45.6 million, and has purchased more than 4 million shares for nearly $120 million year-to-date. "Our primary objective is to build long-term shareholder value. We continue to believe in the long-term growth opportunities in this industry," added Mr. Speese, "and we have the necessary resources to capitalize on these opportunities."

Rent-A-Center will host a conference call to discuss the revised guidance and other business updates on Thursday morning, September 9, 2004 at 9:00 a.m. EDT. For a live webcast of the call, visit http://investor.rentacenter.com.

Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas currently operates 2,863 company-owned stores nationwide and in Canada and Puerto Rico. The stores generally offer high-quality, durable goods such as home electronics, appliances, computers, and furniture and accessories to consumers under flexible rental purchase agreements that generally allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed-upon rental period. ColorTyme, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national franchisor of 311 rent-to-own stores, 299 of which operate under the trade name of "ColorTyme," and the remaining 12 of which operate under the "Rent-A-Center" name.

This press release and the guidance above contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "intend," "could," "estimate," "should," "anticipate," or "believe," or the negative thereof or variations thereon or similar terminology. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements will prove to be correct, the Company can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to have been correct. The actual future performance of the Company could differ materially from such statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to: uncertainties regarding the ability to open new stores; the Company's ability to acquire additional rent-to-own stores on favorable terms; the Company's ability to enhance the performance of these acquired stores; the Company's ability to control store level costs; the results of the Company's litigation; the passage of legislation adversely affecting the rent-to-own industry; interest rates; the Company's ability to collect on its rental purchase agreements; changes in the Company's effective tax rate; changes in the Company's stock price and the number of shares of common stock that the Company may or may not repurchase; changes in fuel prices ; and the other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC filings, including but not limited to, its annual report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2003 and its quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the three month periods ended March 31, 2004 and June 30, 2004. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Company is not obligated to publicly release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect the events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONTACT: Rent-A-Center, Inc.
David E. Carpenter, 972-801-1214
dcarpenter@racenter.com

SOURCE: Rent-A-Center, Inc.