For Immediate Release
ARLINGTON, Texas (October 28, 2014) --First Cash Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ Stock Market: "FCFS") today announced that it is acquiring a chain of 15 large format pawn stores located in the states of Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee and South Carolina. With this acquisition, the Company now operates over 1,000 total store locations in 13 U.S. states and 29 states in Mexico.
Rick Wessel, chief executive officer of First Cash, stated, "This is an exciting day for First Cash as we announce this acquisition to expand our existing presence in Kentucky, Missouri and South Carolina. The acquisition also extends our operations into Tennessee as a new market for the Company. We expect the acquired stores, all of which make pawn loans on a wide may of general merchandise collateral and have significant retail operations, to mesh well with First Cash•s operating strategy and to become accretive to earnings in 2015."
"In addition, we are achieving a significant milestone as First Cash now has over 1,000 total locations in the U.S. and Mexico. From a small beginning over 25 years ago with four stores in Texas, First Cash now has the most stores of any full-service pawn operator in all of the Americas. We believe our success is the result of our long-standing focus on core pawn operations, driving retail traffic and the hard work of our dedicated and professional employees."
Year-to-date, including the acquisition, the Company has added 109 locations during 2014 through a combination of de novo store openings and acquisitions. For the full year, the Company now expects to add approximately 115 total locations.
The purchase price for the all-cash asset acquisition of the 15-store chain is approximately $25.3 million, subject to certain working capital adjustments. The Company has completed the purchase for 13 of the locations and expects to complete the acquisition of the other two locations by year end, subject to pending licensing and regulatory approvals. Including the impact of transaction costs and integration expenses, the Company expects limited earnings accretion from these acquisitions in 2014.
