His entrepreneurial spirit and dedication to customer service are some of  the factors which helped Rich Barton make the decision to open his own rent-to-own business.

After being in the rent-to-own industry for 20 years, Rich discovered The Premier Companies through industry publications and networking with rent-to-own store owners in Connecticut. He researched other franchise opportunities and quickly learned that The Premier Companies was the perfect fit for him.

“I saw tremendous benefit in the support system that The Premier Companies provide with training, operations, accounting, marketing, and their own human resources service, PRPMG,” said Rich.

Torrington is a conservative community. What works here isn’t necessarily going to work in every market across the country. “Premier is flexible in that regards. It is not a one glove fits all system,” continued Rich.  The Premier Companies has an open line of communication.  Rich enjoys the fact that dealers are able to share ideas with each other and that they meet twice each year at the National Convention and at the Dealer Retreat.

Rich felt it was time to return to his entrepreneurial roots by opening his own store and to get back to the basics and away from non productive corporate policies and procedures.

“Opening my store is a great opportunity to get back to the grass roots of customer service – talking to people and getting to know them. Treat them the way they should be treated, and to not look at them as just another number or quota to reach,” said Rich.

Rich resides in Hartford County, Connecticut with his wife, Amy and their three children.
 

Aaron’s Chairman R. Charles Loudermilk Sr., who founded the rent-to-own furniture chain in 1955, said he is considering selling his shares and would support a sale of the company at the right price.

There have been queries from interested buyers and such overtures have been increasing in recent months, Loudermilk, who is 84 years old and holds 6.5 percent of outstanding shares, said yesterday in an interview as reported by Bloomberg.

Aaron’s “is not interviewing investment banks,” Chief Financial Officer Gilbert Danielson said in a statement in response to a query.

Loudermilk founded Aaron’s in 1955, and it now has more than 1,800 company-operated and franchised stores in the U.S. and Canada.

Aaron’s reported adjusted fourth-quarter earnings yesterday of 43 cents a share, which matched the average of six analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Full-year net income was $113.8 million on revenue of $2.02 billion. The company forecast 2012 revenue of $2.15 billion and reaffirmed its guidance for earnings of $1.88 to $2.04 a share.

For the fourth quarter of 2011, revenues increased 8% to $523.5 million compared to $484.4 million for the fourth quarter in 2010. Net earnings decreased 1% to $30.5 million versus $30.8 million last year.  Diluted earnings per share were $.40 compared to $.38 a year ago, a 5% increase.

For the year ended December 31, 2011, revenues increased 8% to $2.024 billion compared to $1.877 billion for 2010.  Net earnings decreased 4% to $113.8 million versus $118.4 million a year ago.  Diluted earnings per share were down 1% to $1.43 for 2011 compared to $1.44 in 2010. 

During the fourth quarter of 2011 the Company recorded a $3.5 million, or $.03 per diluted share, charge to earnings for separation costs primarily related to the accelerated vesting of restricted stock units and stock options previously granted to its former Chief Executive Officer.

Diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter and 2011 year excluding this charge would have been $.43 and $1.46, respectively.  Additionally, as previously reported, the Company recorded a lawsuit-related charge in the second quarter of 2011 of $36.5 million.  On January 13, 2012, the court ruled not to sustain the verdict previously reported, although it did not indicate what action it would take, including whether it would order a new trial or reduce the jury’s damages award.  We are awaiting additional developments in the lawsuit, which could affect the litigation expense accrual.

Excluding the fourth quarter separation-related charge and the second quarter lawsuit-related charge, net earnings for 2011 would have been $138.6 million, up 17% over the same period in 2010, and diluted earnings per share excluding the two charges would have been $1.75, a 22% increase over the same period in 2010.

"Excluding the aforementioned $.03 diluted per share charge, our results for the fourth quarter and year were within our guidance," said Ronald W. Allen, interim President and Chief Executive Officer of Aaron’s.  "We had good revenue and customer growth during the quarter, and believe the results were outstanding in these challenging economic times.  Our market remains large, and the high-quality, affordable basic home furnishings we provide fulfills the desires and needs of our customers."

"We continued to expand our HomeSmart weekly rental business during the quarter and had 71 HomeSmart stores open at the end of the year.  Revenues of the HomeSmart stores grew to $8.6 million for the fourth quarter and $15.4 million for the year; however, the start-up expenses associated with opening these stores negatively affected earnings during the quarter by $.03 per diluted share and $.06 per diluted share for the year.  We continue to be very optimistic about the future prospects for HomeSmart, but as previously stated, do not plan to open a significant number of additional HomeSmart stores until the earnings and return on investment potential of this concept are thoroughly evaluated," Mr. Allen added.

Same store revenues (revenues earned in Company-operated stores open for the entirety of both periods) increased 3.7% during the fourth quarter of 2011 compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.  Same store revenues also increased 2.1% for Company-operated stores open for over two years at the end of 2011.  The Company had 1,015,000 customers at the end of the year, an 11% increase over the number at the end of 2010.  The customer count on a same store basis for Company-operated stores was up 6.4% in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

During the year the Company generated $307 million of cash flow from operations and had $176.3 million of cash on hand at the end of December 2011. 

The Company repurchased 5,075,675 shares of its Common Stock in 2011 representing a total cash outlay of $127.2 million.  The Company has authorization to acquire an additional 5,281,344 shares of Common Stock.

Kettering University students make plans to talk with representatives of companies they would like to work during the Kettering job fair. Overall, Pew found that 41% believe young adults, rather than the middle-aged or older, are having the toughest time because of the economy.

Kettering University students make plans to talk with representatives of companies they would like to work during the Kettering job fair. Overall, Pew found that 41% believe young adults, rather than the middle-aged or older, are having the toughest time because of the economy.

Kettering University students make plans to talk with representatives of companies they would like to work during the Kettering job fair. Overall, Pew found that 41% believe young adults, rather than the middle-aged or older, are having the toughest time because of the economy.

Pew’s survey spells out just how much 18- to 34-year-olds have had to adjust. Almost half have taken a job just to pay the bills; almost a quarter have worked without pay to get experience; and more than a third went back to school because they couldn’t find employment.

But the job front is just the beginning. The survey also finds that the poor economy is leaving a mark on young people’s personal lives that is changing their futures. Almost one-third say they’ve delayed marriage or a baby because of the weak economy, and almost a quarter moved back home with their parents.

The Pew survey also found that just 30% of those ages 18-34 who have a job consider it a career. Among all ages surveyed, most believe young adults today have a harder time than their parents did:

•82% say it’s harder to find a job.

•75% say it’s harder to save for the future.

•71% say it’s harder to pay for college.

•69% say it’s harder to buy a home.

College bound rental industry family members were awarded $30,000 from the APRO Education Foundation last year. Recipients earned half of their scholarships immediately with the second half pending on their academic performance in the fall semester.

About the winners:

Tyler Heck, Clinton, NY
Union College: Schenectady, NY
APRO Sponsor: Greg Heck, Great Rentals, Utica, NY

$2,000 Scholarship Winner

Heck spent his life working at his father’s Great Rentals rent-to-own stores in Utica and Rome, NY. He has seen firsthand the power of rent-to-own to give American consumers “the opportunity to make the unaffordable affordable”. He maintains a 3.95 GPA while starting for the Division III College Baseball team.

Robert Sonnenfelt, Valmeyer, IL
St. Louis University: St. Louis, MO
APRO Sponsor: Paul Sonnenfelt, Aaron’s, Afton, MO.

$1,500 Scholarship Winner

Sonnenfelt is a sophomore at St. Louis University pursuing a degree in Political Science. He spent his High School years as a member of the Model United Nations, varsity soccer and the National Honor Society. He continues his political involvement at SLU as an active member of the College Republicans and the Student Conduct Board.

PAM was formed to address the urgent need of operators and franchisees in the rent-to-own market to track, geo-locate, disable, restore, and update computing devices of all types, including smart phones, tablets, net books, laptops, and desktops running a variety of operating systems including Windows, Linux, Mac OSX, Android, and iOS.

The application features point & click administration of assets, and the backup and restore functionality reduces time spent on support and redeployment of assets.

The initial product launch by Product Asset Management is scheduled for February 26, 2012. PAM will also be providing software demonstrations in booth #1703 at the 2012 annual TRIB Group Convention in Orlando, Florida Feb. 27-29, 2012.

The joint venture brings together the initial application development by Asset Protection Products, with the power of distribution and support provided by High Touch.

"We took the development of the product as far as we could as a start-up," said Sal Moccia, Managing Member of Asset Protection Products. "We need the experience of the leader in the RTO Software industry to take this to the next level," he added.

“We are pleased to partner with APP and continue the development and support of a quality product. PC Intelligence is a meaningful broad software application to protect valuable assets, not only in the RTO market but other markets as well," said Wayne Chambers, Chief Executive Officer of High Touch, Inc.

High Touch Technologies is an employee-owned company that provides technology solutions to small and mid-size businesses. Based in Wichita, Kan., with offices in Dallas, Denver, Kansas City and Corpus Christi, High Touch serves business clients with hardware and software services, website and Internet services, and network security solutions.

For more High Touch information, visit www.hightouchinc.com.
 

There will be opening remarks and then questions and answers with Chairman Charlie Loudermilk, interim President/CEO Ron Allen, COO Ken Butler, and Executive Vice President/CFO Gil Danielson.

Dial 1-800-357-0498 a few minutes before the scheduled time of 10:00 a.m. EST and provide the following conference ID number: 23831.  For international participants the number is 1-850-429-1388.

If you cannot join in on February 10th, a replay will be available that day until Saturday, March 3rd.  For a replay, dial 1-866-415-9491 and enter the conference ID number 23831 or access the replay in the investor relations section on our website at www.aaronsinc.com.

Serta is pleased to announce the launch of the Nickelodeon mattress collection designed for kids to the Rent to Own Industry. All Serta mattresses sold in America are Made in America in Serta plants across the U.S., Puerto Rico and Hawaii.

Nickelodeon and Serta have teamed up to create mattresses that will make going to bed fun for kids while providing advanced comfort and support features, designed especially for growing bodies and active minds.

This exciting new Nickelodeon Mattress Collection for Kids is available in both twin and full bed sizes.  Serta offers both traditional innerspring mattresses and Memory Foam mattresses, with the quality you expect from bedding brand leader, Serta. 

Choose a kids mattress with a fun, colorful cover featuring the likenesses of Nickelodeon’s most popular cartoon characters- Dora the Explorer, Go, Diego, Go! and SpongeBob SquarePants. Now kids will want to fall asleep – and stay asleep – in his or her own bed every night thanks to these beloved characters.

"We are excited to be able to offer the Nickelodeon Collection to our Serta Rent to Own dealers," said Serta’s Jamee Thompson. "The Nickelodeon Collection has been a success with Serta’s national retailers and we expect it to be a big hit with Rent to Own."

Contact Jamee Thompson at 405/348-2825 for more details.
 

Chain adds new VP-level position as part of aggressive growth plan
 
Michael Landry has joined the ColorTyme organization as vice president of franchise sales. During the 2012 ColorTyme National Convention last week, CEO Cathy Skula announced an aggressive new growth plan and the company’s search to fill a brand new VP-level position, strategic to the plan’s execution.

“I am happy to say that the search is over. Mr. Landry has the perfect background and track record for this new position,” said Skula. ”He shares our vision for growth and has the necessary experience to make it happen. We are happy to welcome him to the ColorTyme family.”
 
Formerly the director of franchise development for CiCi’s Pizza and also having served Planet Beach Franchising in the same capacity, Landry brings over six years of franchise sales development to his new role at ColorTyme.
 
“With ColorTyme’s new lower franchise and royalty fees, combined with Rent-A-Center’s financial commitment to this growth plan, we have a winning formula for growth,” said Landry. “It’s an exciting proposition, and I am honored and challenged by my new position with ColorTyme.”
 
The oldest rent-to-own chain in America, ColorTyme has an aggressive short and long-term growth plan. For more information on owning a ColorTyme franchise, visit http://franchise.colortyme.com.

The acquisitions help High Touch further expand its regional presence and its services.

In 2011, High Touch bought Attain Technologies LLC in Denver. That followed a 2010 purchase of Kansas City-based IT Pros Corp, according to the Wichita Business Journal.

High Touch now has offices in Wichita, Kansas City, Denver, Dallas and Corpus Christi, Texas.

High Touch President Wayne Chambers says by buying UniComData and Dallas Data Center, High Touch is able to offer more data-center management services, such as off-site server storage. The deal, he says, also gives High Touch a larger presence in the Dallas market to serve an existing client base as well as reach new customers among small- and medium-sized businesses.

High Touch also plans to incorporate more web-development services with its purchase of NewBase.

With the deals, High Touch has added 21 employees. The company now has 185 full-time employees and 20 to 25 contractors.

Chambers says High Touch is in the process of fully assimilating employees from the acquired businesses into its operations. UniComData owner Tim Freeze becomes the division vice president for High touch’s Dallas operations with the close of the purchase.

In UniComData, High Touch gets an established company that has been in business in the Dallas area for 22 years and has three data centers there.

Freeze says he saw opportunities to provide complementary services by aligning with High Touch.

High Touch’s purchases are not the only recent example of a technology company expanding its services through acquisition.

On Tuesday, Cybertron International Inc. in Wichita purchased another local company, The Bill Guy Technology Solutions, to expand its managed-services division, CybertronIT.

Bill Guy owner Bill Ramsey, who is now a part owner of Cybertron and its chief technology officer, says technology companies use mergers and acquisitions to quickly expand their presence, often nationally, rather than growing organically.

He says joining with Cybertron allowed him to substantially expand his company’s book of business with national clients, something that could have otherwise taken years to do.