Rent-A-Center, Inc., the nation’s largest rent-to-own operator, today announced that it has filed an investor presentation with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with the Company’s 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on June 8, 2017. The Rent-A-Center Board unanimously recommends stockholders vote the WHITE proxy card “FOR” the Company’s highly-qualified and experienced director nominees: Mark E. Speese, Jeffery M. Jackson and Leonard H. Roberts. The presentation and other materials regarding the Board’s recommendation for the 2017 Annual Meeting of Stockholders can be found at http://investor.rentacenter.com. Highlights of the presentation include:
Company Underscores Strength and Experience of Board of Directors. Urges Stockholders to Protect Their Investment by Voting “FOR” Each of Rent-A-Center’s Highly Qualified Director Nominees on the white Proxy Card today
- Rent-A-Center is Executing on a New Strategic Plan to Restore Long-Term Growth, Drive Improved Profitability and Maximize Value for All Stockholders
- Key pillars of the plan, which focuses on all aspects of Rent-A-Center’s business, include:
- Strengthening the Core U.S. business;
- Optimizing and growing the Acceptance Now (“ANow”) business; and
- Leveraging technology investments to expand distribution channels and integrate retail and online offerings.
- The Board and management team are expeditiously executing the strategic plan in order to restore growth and improve profitability for the benefit of all stockholders.
- Key pillars of the plan, which focuses on all aspects of Rent-A-Center’s business, include:
- The Strategic Plan Offers a Clear Path to Value Creation
- As further testament to the Board and management team’s confidence in Rent-A-Center’s strategic plan, the Company has set the following objectives:
- Revenue growth in the mid-single digits by 2019;
- EBITDA margin of 9.5% to 10.5% by 2019;
- Free cash flow between $110 million and $130 million by 2019; and
- EPS of $2.00 to $2.25 by 2019.
- As further testament to the Board and management team’s confidence in Rent-A-Center’s strategic plan, the Company has set the following objectives:
- Progress on the Turnaround is Already Evident in Recent Quarterly Results
- The Board and management team’s decisive actions are already delivering improvements, as underscored by the Company’s 2017 first quarter results:
- Core U.S. same store sales improved sequentially by 140 bps;
- ANow same stores sales improved sequentially by 120 bps;
- Core U.S. held for rent inventory declined 9.5 percent sequentially;
- Consolidated adjusted EBITDA increased by $23.4 million sequentially;
- Diluted EPS, excluding special items, improved by $0.27 sequentially; and
- Debt was reduced by approximately $72 million.
- The Board and management team’s decisive actions are already delivering improvements, as underscored by the Company’s 2017 first quarter results:
- Rent-A-Center’s Nominees Offer a Diverse Mix of Skills and Expertise and are Best Positioned to Oversee Continued Progress at Rent-A-Center
- The Rent-A-Center Board is currently composed of seven highly-qualified directors, a majority of whom are independent.
- All three of Rent-A-Center’s highly-qualified director nominees bring significant relevant experience and offer a diverse mix of skills and expertise critical to overseeing the nation’s leading rent-to-own retailer, particularly while executing an operational turnaround.
- The Rent-A-Center Board is currently composed of seven highly-qualified directors, a majority of whom are independent.
- Engaged Capital, LLC (“Engaged Capital”), an Activist Hedge, is Solely Focused on a Short-Sighted, Self-Serving Sale of the Company at the Expense of Other Rent-A-Center Stockholders
- Engaged Capital’s nominees lack the necessary skills and relevant experience to shape the Company’s strategy.
- Engaged Capital has demonstrated no understanding of Rent-A-Center’s business or industry and has offered no operating plan.
- Engaged Capital’s only proposal is to pursue an opportunistic, self-serving sale process at a time when Rent-A-Center’s shares are trading at multi-year lows and the Company is undergoing a significant operational transformation. Selling the Company today would deprive stockholders of the significant potential value creation achievable under the current strategic plan.
Support the Important Progress Underway at Rent-A-Center: Vote the WHITE Proxy Card Today
The Rent-A-Center Board unanimously urges stockholders to vote the WHITE proxy card today “FOR ALL” of Rent-A-Center’s three director nominees: Mark E. Speese, Leonard H. Roberts and Jeffery M. Jackson. Rent-A-Center stockholders are reminded that their vote is important, no matter how many or how few shares they own and that the latest submitted proxy card will revoke any previously submitted proxy card.
