UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):
April 22, 2003
RENT-A-CENTER, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
Delaware 0-25370 45-0491516
(State or Other Jurisdiction (Commission (IRS Employer
of Incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
5700 Tennyson Parkway
Third Floor
Plano, Texas 75024
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
(972) 801-1100
(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)
No Change
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
Item 7. Financial Statements, Pro Forma Financial Information and Exhibits.
(a) Financial Statements of Businesses Acquired.
Not applicable.
(b) Pro Forma Financial Information.
Not applicable.
(c) Exhibits
99.1 Press release, dated April 22, 2003.
Item 9. Regulation FD Disclosure and Item 12. Results of Operations and
Financial Condition.
In a press release, dated April 22, 2003, the Registrant announced that it
expected to exceed the high end of its previously announced first quarter 2003
guidance of $1.37 per diluted share by approximately $0.04 to $0.05. A copy of
this press release is attached as Exhibit 99.1 to this Form 8-K.
The information under this caption is furnished under Item 9 in place of
Item 12 of Form 8-K in accordance with interim guidance provided by the
Securities and Exchange Commission in Release No. 33-8216 issued March 27, 2003.
All of the information in this Form 8-K and the accompanying exhibit shall not
be deemed to be "filed" for the purposes of Section 18 of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and shall not be incorporated by reference in
any filing under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
RENT-A-CENTER, INC.
Date: April 28, 2003 By: /s/ Mitchell E. Fadel
--------------------------------------
Mitchell E. Fadel
President and Chief Operating Officer
Exhibit Index
Exhibit No. Description of Exhibit
----------- ----------------------
99.1 Press Release, dated April 22, 2003
Exhibit 99.1
Rent-A-Center, Inc. Expects to Exceed
High End of Current Earnings Guidance
PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 22, 2003--Rent-A-Center, Inc.
(the "Company") (NASDAQ/NNM:RCII), the largest rent-to-own operator in
the country, announced today that it expects to exceed the high end of
its previously announced first quarter 2003 guidance of $1.37 per
diluted share by approximately $0.04 to $0.05.
"Our increased guidance is primarily a result of higher than
anticipated same store sales of 6.2%, largely driven by increased
merchandise sales due to income tax refunds that exceeded our
expectations," commented Mr. Mark E. Speese, the Company's Chairman
and Chief Executive Officer. "Furthermore, the rent-to-own market
continues to have significant potential for new store development and
continues to present acquisition opportunities due to industry
fragmentation," Mr. Speese added. "In fact, we opened 20 new store
locations in the first quarter of 2003 and acquired one new store in
addition to the 295 stores acquired from Rent-Way in February 2003."
Mr. Speese continued, "All of the Rent-Way stores have been fully
integrated into our system, 176 have been merged with existing
Rent-A-Center locations and 119 we kept as new store fronts."
Rent-A-Center will host a conference call to discuss the first
quarter financial results and other business updates on Tuesday
morning, April 29, 2003, at 10:45 a.m. EST. For a live webcast of the
call, visit http://investor.rentacenter.com. The web cast will be
archived for a period of two weeks.
Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas currently
operates 2,547 company-owned stores in 50 states, Washington D.C. 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 319 rent-to-own stores, 307 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, including the stores acquired in the Rent-Way acquisition; the
Company's ability to control store level costs; the Company's ability
to realize benefits from its margin enhancement initiatives; 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; the
Company's ability to effectively hedge interest rates on its
outstanding debt; 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; the final reconciliation
of the Company's books and records for the first quarter of 2003; 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
for the year ended December 31, 2002. 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., Plano
David E. Carpenter, 972/801-1214
dcarpenter@racenter.com
or
Robert D. Davis, 972/801-1204
rdavis@racenter.com
or
Mitchell E. Fadel, 972/801-1114
mfadel@racenter.com
or
Mark E. Speese, 972/801-1199
mspeese@racenter.com