ARLINGTON, Texas (June 18, 2015) -- First Cash Financial Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: FCFS) today announced that it has acquired the assets of a 25-store chain of large format pawnshops with 24 locations in North Carolina and one in Virginia. In addition, the Company announced the recent acquisition of two additional pawn stores located in Kentucky in a separate asset purchase transaction.
Rick Wessel, chief executive officer of First Cash, stated, “We are pleased to announce the completion of these recent acquisitions which add 27 large format pawn locations and expand our store base into North Carolina as a new operating market for the Company. The additional stores in Virginia and Kentucky will complement and expand our existing presence in those states. All of the recently acquired operations align well with our overall U.S. presence, where we have focused on acquiring accretive operations in growing markets. Year to-date, we have now acquired 29 U.S. locations in four states and expect the acquired stores, all of which have significant retail operations and make pawn loans on a wide array of general merchandise collateral, to become accretive to earnings by the end of 2015."
“First Cash continues to grow in both Mexico and the U.S. through a combination of new store openings and strategic acquisitions. Our primary focus for growth continues to be in Mexico, where two-thirds of our stores are located, and where we expect to open at least 60 to 70 de novo stores annually. We believe this market can support 1,000 to 1,200 First Cash locations and we remain focused and committed to growth in this geographic area."
"On a consolidated basis, we have added 52 total stores year-to-date and over the past twelve months we have added 133 net new large format pawn locations, including 80 stores in Mexico and 53 stores in the U.S. This represents more than 17% growth in the number of large format pawn stores over just the past year. With 1,045 total stores in 14 U.S. states and 29 states in Mexico, First Cash has the most locations in the industry."
The combined purchase price of the 29 stores acquired this year is approximately $31.8 million, net of cash acquired. These all-cash transactions were funded with operating cash flows and available funds drawn on the Company’s $160 million bank line of credit. The most recent 25-store acquisition closed on June 16, 2015.
