ATLANTA, April 22, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Aaron Rents, Inc. (NYSE:RNT), the nation's leader in the rental, sales and lease ownership, specialty retailing and rental of residential and office furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, today announced the successful completion of its Annual Managers' Meeting, which culminated with a celebration of the 50 years of leadership provided by Founder and CEO R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. and provided conference attendees with the roadmap to accomplish the goal of growing at the same rate over the next five years as it took the Company the previous fifty years to achieve.
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"We recognize that we are coming off a banner year for Aaron's," said Ken Butler, President of Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership. "We continue to achieve record revenues and earnings, with strong growth in both our Company and our franchise operations. We are extremely proud of our successes to date, and we are very thankful for the opportunity to celebrate 50 years under the impeccable guidance of our Founder, Charlie Loudermilk."
Mr. Butler continued, "While our stores have become known as the place where 'Dreams Come True' for our customers, we are excited to roll out an initiative that will make a dream of our Founder's become a reality. Our goal is to add as many stores in the next five years as it took us the previous fifty years to open. We were able to successfully double our store count in the past five years, and we have the systems, controls and procedures in place to double in size again."
1,700 Aaron's associates participated in the 3-day Annual Managers' Meeting held in New Orleans. The Company brought in several speakers to motivate the attendees, including the well-known Jack Williams of Apollo Leadership. According to Michael Hickey, Vice President of Management Development for Aaron's Sales & Lease Ownership, "All of our speakers were chosen to bring home the message of the conference that while we already know Aaron's is a very good Company, we still have work to do to become a great Company. And every person who attended the meeting left with the knowledge that the decisions they make every day impact how quickly we will move from being good to great."
Few in attendance doubted the greatness of Aaron's founder and current CEO R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. after witnessing a video retrospective of the man who started their Company in 1955 with just $500 and an inventory of 300 folding chairs for rent. Several dignitaries in business, government and the arts paid tribute to Mr. Loudermilk for his vision over the years and for being one of the few entrepreneurs to remain CEO of a publicly-traded company for 50 years.
The presentation underscored how the Aaron's culture, as crafted by Mr. Loudermilk, has impacted the Company's success. "We guarantee quality for our customers, and they have responded by supporting us for 50 years long and 1,000 stores strong," said Mr. Loudermilk. "We provide value to our shareholders by controlling costs without compromising the quality our customers expect. That is how we believe we will be able to continue to aggressively grow the Aaron's concept through the next five years and beyond."
A special highlight of the Meeting was the presentation to Mr. Loudermilk of a 1955 Chevrolet automobile, in honor of the year he founded Aaron's. The vintage car was presented to the Aaron's CEO by NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip, a Company spokesperson.
Aaron's stores offer customers access to high quality furniture, appliances, electronics and computers for sale or as a lease-ownership arrangement. Customers have the option of buying their merchandise for an attractive cash price, or opting to lease their merchandise for even greater flexibility. With a lease option, customers make modest monthly payments and have the immediate use of the items they need without waiting for credit checks or other delays. Plus, Aaron's will take care of delivery, set-up, repairs and more for the duration of a customer's lease.
Aaron Rents, Inc. is a leader in the sale and lease ownership of residential furniture, consumer electronics and home appliances, now with 1,065 Company-operated and franchised stores in 45 states, Canada and Puerto Rico. The Company also manufactures an exclusive line of furniture, bedding and accessories at 10 facilities in four states.
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"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Statements in this news release regarding Aaron Rents, Inc.'s business which are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include factors such as changes in general economic conditions, competition, pricing, customer demand and other issues, and the risks and uncertainties discussed under "Certain Factors Affecting Forward Looking Statements" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 2004, which discussion is incorporated herein by this reference. Statements in this release that are "forward-looking" include without limitation Aaron Rents' projected revenues, earnings and store openings.
