Rent-A-Center, Inc. Reports First Quarter 2007 Results

Business Wire, April 30, 2007

Since March 31, 2007, the Company has opened one new rent-to-own store location, acquired seven stores and consolidated one store into an existing location. The Company has added financial services to 27 existing rent-to-own store locations since March 31, 2007.

Rent-A-Center will host a conference call to discuss the first quarter results, guidance and other operational matters on Tuesday morning, May 1, 2007, at 10:45 a.m. EST. For a live webcast of the call, visit http://investor.rentacenter.com. Certain financial and other statistical information that will be discussed during the conference call will also be provided on the same website.

Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquartered in Plano, Texas, currently operates approximately 3,385 company-owned stores nationwide and in Canada and Puerto Rico. The stores generally offer high-quality, durable goods such as major consumer electronics, appliances, computers and furniture and accessories under flexible rental purchase agreements that generally allow the customer to obtain ownership of the merchandise at the conclusion of an agreed upon rental period. ColorTyme, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, is a national franchiser of approximately 274 rent-to-own stores operating under the trade name of "ColorTyme."

The following statements are based on current expectations. These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially. These statements do not include the potential impact of any repurchases of common stock the Company may make, the $51.3 million pre-tax litigation expense in the first quarter of 2007 associated with the prospective settlement in the Perez case, or the potential impact of acquisitions or dispositions that may be completed after April 30, 2007.

SECOND QUARTER 2007 GUIDANCE:

Revenues

* The Company expects total revenues to be in the range of $719 million to $734 million.

* Store rental and fee revenues are expected to be between $655 million and $667 million.

* Total store revenues are expected to be in the range of $709 million to $724 million.

* Same store sales are expected to be in the 0.5% to 2.0% range.

* The Company expects to open 5 - 10 new rent-to-own store locations.

* The Company expects to add financial services to 40 - 60 rent-to-own store locations.

Expenses

* The Company expects cost of rental and fees to be between 21.6% and 22.0% of store rental and fee revenue and cost of merchandise sold to be between 70% and 75% of store merchandise sales.

* Store salaries and other expenses are expected to be in the range of 57.2% to 58.7% of total store revenue.

* General and administrative expenses are expected to be between 4.0% and 4.2% of total revenue.

* Net interest expense is expected to be approximately $22 million, depreciation of property assets to be approximately $17 million and amortization of intangibles is expected to be approximately $3.9 million.

* The effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 37% of pre-tax income.

* Diluted earnings per share are estimated to be in the range of $0.57 to $0.63.