Rent-A-Center Concludes Strategic Review; Updates 2018 Outlook - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Household goods leasing company Rent-A-Center, Inc. (RCII) said its Board of Directors has concluded its review of strategic and financial alternatives to enhance stockholder value, including a possible sale of the company.

The Board, in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, has determined that the continued execution of Rent-A-Center's previously announced strategic plan is in the best interest of the company and its stockholders.

While the company actively explored a possible sale, the Board unanimously determined that it did not receive any acquisition proposals meeting either of its objectives for a sale of the company.

Mitch Fadel, Chief Executive Officer of Rent-A-Center, said, "Through the execution of our strategic plan, we continue to make significant progress to strengthen our financial profile and improve our results. Our cost reduction initiatives are significantly ahead of schedule and we expect to generate over $100 million in annual run-rate savings and realize approximately $70 million in savings in 2018."

This compares to the company's previous expectations of $65 million to $85 million in annual savings and $43 million to $57 million realized in 2018 announced in February, and $75 million to $95 million in annual savings and $50 to $63 million realized in 2018 which was updated in April.

Rent-A-Center today provided the following updated guidance for 2018. For the second quarter, the company forecasts consolidated revenue of $640 million to $660 million and adjusted earnings in a range of $0.20 to $0.30 per share.

On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $0.05 per share for the quarter on revenues of $639.31 million. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

For fiscal 2018, the company projects revenues of $2.640 billion to $2.690 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.65 to $0.90 per share. The Street expects earnings of $0.06 per share for the year on revenues of $2.6 billion.