Record High Pawn Loans Outstanding Driving Strong Earnings Momentum

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- EZCORP, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW), a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America, today announced results for its third quarter ended June 30, 2022.

Unless otherwise noted, all amounts in this release are in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and comparisons shown are to the same period in the prior year.

THIRD QUARTER HIGHLIGHTS

• Pawn loans outstanding (PLO) up 30% to a record-high of $204.2 million.
• Total revenue increased 24%, and gross profit1 increased 20%.
• Merchandise sales gross margin was at the high end of our target range at 38%.
• Net income was $12.2 million, an increase of $14.8 million.
• Diluted earnings per share of $0.17 was up significantly from a loss of $0.05. On an adjusted basis2, diluted earnings per share was $0.16, compared to a loss of $0.03 in the prior-year quarter.
• Return on earning assets (ROEA) remains strong at 165%.

CEO COMMENTARY AND OUTLOOK

Chief Executive Officer Lachie Given stated, “We have delivered another outstanding quarter of financial results. PLO, the most significant driver of revenue and earnings, hit a record high, surpassing pre-COVID levels on a total and same-store basis. This has driven significant increases in pawn service charges (PSC), and as we continue to drive strong sales margins and gain cost efficiencies across the business, we have delivered very substantial earnings improvement for the quarter."

"With persistent macro issues fueling inflation, we are proud to offer our customers a unique and essential service to address their short-term cash needs. We are also a neighborhood recycling business that extends the useful life of millions of items every year, and are working to expand our customer base of environmentally-conscious consumers across the U.S. and Latin America.

"During the third quarter, we opened eight de novo stores in Latin America and acquired three stores in the Dallas, Texas area. Our EZ+ Rewards program continues to grow across all of our regions, and we now have over 1.4 million enrolled customers. Furthering our commitment to investing in our people, we introduced Career Week for our 6,800 employees to reinforce our new Career Framework and Career Path opportunities.

"The improvement in our financial results is the outcome of our team’s focus and commitment to People, Pawn, and Passion, and on providing the best possible experience for our customers. I am extremely proud of our entire team for delivering such exceptional operating and financial results for our shareholders.”

CONSOLIDATED RESULTS

• Diluted earnings per share were $0.17 for the third quarter, up from a loss of $0.05. On an adjusted basis, diluted earnings per share were $0.16, up from a loss of $0.03.
• Income before taxes improved to $13.1 million from a loss of $0.8 million, while adjusted EBITDA increased 100% to $25.1 million.
• PLO increased 30% to $204.2 million, up $47.0 million. On a same-store basis3, PLO increased 30% to its highest level due to increased loan demand reflecting a recovery above pre-COVID levels.
• Total revenues increased 24%, and gross profit increased 20%, reflecting improved pawn service charge (PSC) revenue and merchandise sales.
• PSC increased 33% due to an increase in the average PLO balance during the quarter.
• Merchandise sales gross margin was at the high end of our target range at 38%, reflecting our commitment to improving the core business by decreasing aged general merchandise (now less than 1% of total general merchandise inventory) and focusing on selling inventory in the first 90 days.
• Net inventory increased 44% reflecting a return towards normalized inventory levels. Inventory turnover remained strong at 2.8x for the quarter, down from 3.1x.
• Store expenses increased 9%, due to increased store count and labor costs in line with increased store activity. On a same-store basis, store expenses increased 5%.
• General and administrative expenses increased 28%, primarily due to a litigation accrual and increased performance-based incentive compensation.
• Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter was $222.3 million, down 22% year-over-year. The decrease is primarily due to the increase in PLO and inventory.

SEGMENT RESULTS

U.S. Pawn

• PLO continued to increase, ending the quarter at $159.7 million, up 36% (36% on a same store basis).
• Total revenue was up 22% and gross profit increased 18%, reflecting increasing PSC.
• PSC increased 35% as a result of higher average PLO.
• Merchandise sales gross margin decreased to 41% from 46% as expected. Aged general merchandise inventory improved to 0.4% from 1.2% of total general merchandise inventory.
• Net inventory increased 47%. Inventory turnover decreased to 2.5x from 2.8x due to increased inventory levels in the current quarter and stimulus impacts in the prior year.
• Store expenses increased 6% primarily due to store count and labor increases in line with store activity.
• Segment contribution increased 64% to $29.8 million.
• Segment store count increased by three acquired stores during the quarter.

Latin America Pawn

• PLO improved to $44.5 million or 11% (13% on constant currency basis). On a same store basis, PLO increased 9% (10% on a constant currency basis).
• Total revenue was up 31% (same on a constant currency basis), while gross profit increased 26% (same on a constant currency basis).
• PSC increased to $21.0 million or 28% (same on a constant currency basis) as a result of higher average PLO for the quarter.
• Merchandise sales gross margin decreased from 35% to 29%, reflecting a return to more normalized margins.
• Net inventory increased 34% (35% on a constant currency basis). Inventory turnover remains strong at 3.7x, down from 4.0x.
• Store expenses increased 21% (same on a constant currency basis) primarily due to year-over-year store count and growth in labor in line with increased store activity. Same-store expenses increased 4% (6% on a constant currency basis).
• Segment contribution increased to $6.1 million or 71% (48% on a constant currency basis), compared to $3.6 million.
• Segment store count increased by eight de novo stores opened during the quarter.

FORM 10-Q

EZCORP’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2022 has been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The report is available in the Investor Relations section of the Company’s website at http://investors.ezcorp.com.

CONFERENCE CALL

EZCORP will host a conference call on Thursday, August 4, 2022, at 7:00 am Central Time to discuss Third Quarter Fiscal 2022 results. Analysts and institutional investors may participate on the conference call by dialing (844) 200-6205, Conference ID: 464794, or internationally by dialing (929) 526-1599. The conference call will be webcast simultaneously to the public through this link: http://investors.ezcorp.com/. A replay of the conference call will be available online at http://investors.ezcorp.com/ shortly after the end of the call.

ABOUT EZCORP

Formed in 1989, EZCORP has grown into a leading provider of pawn transactions in the United States and Latin America. We also sell merchandise, primarily collateral forfeited from pawn lending operations and pre-owned and recycled merchandise purchased from customers. We are dedicated to satisfying the short-term cash needs of consumers who are both cash and credit constrained, focusing on an industry-leading customer experience. EZCORP is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol EZPW and is a member of the Russell 2000 Index, S&P 1000 Index and Nasdaq Composite Index.

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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the company’s strategy, initiatives and expected performance. These statements are based on the Company’s current expectations as to the outcome and timing of future events. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, including all statements regarding the company's strategy, initiatives and future performance, that address activities or results that the company plans, expects, believes, projects, estimates or anticipates, will, should or may occur in the future, including future financial or operating results, are forward-looking statements. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements due to a number of uncertainties and other factors, including operating risks, liquidity risks, legislative or regulatory developments, market factors, current or future litigation and risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. For a discussion of these and other factors affecting the Company’s business and prospects, see the Company’s annual, quarterly and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results over time.

Note: Percentages are calculated from the underlying numbers in thousands and, as a result, may not agree to the percentages calculated from numbers in millions.
1”We have relabeled "net revenues" to "gross profit" throughout our filings, which we believe will improve comparability across industries and companies. This change is effective for this and future filings.
2”Adjusted” basis, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes certain items. “Constant currency” basis, which is a non-GAAP measure, excludes the impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations. “Free cash flow,” which is a non-GAAP measure, includes certain adjustments to cash flow from operating activities. For additional information about these calculations, as well as a reconciliation to the most comparable GAAP financial measures, see “Non-GAAP Financial Information” at the end of this release.
3”Same Store” basis, which is a financial measure, includes stores open the entirety of the comparable periods.

Non-GAAP Financial Information (Unaudited)

In addition to the financial information prepared in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States ("GAAP"), we provide certain other non-GAAP financial information on a constant currency ("constant currency") and adjusted basis. We use constant currency results to evaluate our Latin America Pawn operations, which are denominated primarily in Mexican pesos, Guatemalan quetzales and other Latin American currencies. We believe that presentation of constant currency and adjusted results is meaningful and useful in understanding the activities and business metrics of our operations and reflect an additional way of viewing aspects of our business that, when viewed with GAAP results, provide a more complete understanding of factors and trends affecting our business. We provide non-GAAP financial information for informational purposes and to enhance understanding of our GAAP consolidated financial statements. We use this non-GAAP financial information primarily to evaluate and compare operating results across accounting periods.

Readers should consider the information in addition to, but not instead of or superior to, our financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. This non-GAAP financial information may be determined or calculated differently by other companies, limiting the usefulness of those measures for comparative purposes.

Constant currency results reported herein are calculated by translating consolidated balance sheet and consolidated statement of operations items denominated in local currency to U.S. dollars using the exchange rate from the prior-year comparable period, as opposed to the current period, in order to exclude the effects of foreign currency rate fluctuations. We used the end-of-period rate for balance sheet items and the average closing daily exchange rate on a monthly basis during the appropriate period for statement of operations items. The end-of-period and approximate average exchange rates for each applicable currency as compared to U.S. dollars as of and for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021 were as follows:

Our statement of operations constant currency results reflect the monthly exchange rate fluctuations and so are not directly calculable from the above rates. Constant currency results, where presented, also exclude the foreign currency gain or loss.

Miscellaneous Non-GAAP Financial Measures