PROG Holdings Reports Fourth Quarter 2023 Results; Initiates Quarterly Cash Dividend

• Consolidated revenues of $577.4 million; Earnings before taxes of $28.5 million
• Adjusted EBITDA of $61.0 million
• Diluted EPS of $0.41; Non-GAAP Diluted EPS of $0.72
• Progressive Leasing GMV of $547.6 million, up 1.2% year-over-year
• Company initiates quarterly cash dividend, announces $500 million share repurchase authorization

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG), the fintech holding company for Progressive Leasing, Vive Financial, Four Technologies, and Build, today announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2023, and the initiation of a quarterly cash dividend for shareholders, as well as a $500 million share repurchase authorization.

"We were pleased to finish 2023 with financial results that matched or exceeded our outlook, as strong customer behavior and conversion rates during the holiday period drove a year-over-year increase in quarterly GMV, due in part to marketing and other initiatives we put in place with our retail partners," said PROG Holdings President and CEO Steve Michaels. "Our portfolio remains healthy, and we continue to effectively manage its performance while maintaining cost discipline in the face of challenging retail conditions, enabling us to deliver strong results for both the fourth quarter and the full year. Our focus remains on our three-pillared strategy to grow, enhance, and expand, while our active management of our portfolio and SG&A spend allows us to invest in key growth initiatives, positioning us for future success."

"Additionally, our Board of Directors has approved payment of a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share of Company common stock in the first quarter of 2024 alongside a new $500 million share repurchase authorization," Michaels continued. "We believe our cash-efficient model will allow us to reinvest in the business while pursuing a balanced capital return strategy for our shareholders."

Consolidated Results

Consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter of 2023 were $577.4 million, a decrease of 5.7% from the same period in 2022, driven by a lower gross leased asset balance entering the quarter.

Consolidated net earnings for the quarter were $18.6 million, compared with $36.1 million in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter decreased 18.1% to $61.0 million, or 10.6% of revenues, compared with $74.4 million, or 12.2% of revenues for the same period in 2022. The year-over-year decline in adjusted EBITDA was driven primarily by a decline in revenue and deleveraging of SG&A, partially offset by customer payment performance.

Diluted earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2023 were $0.41, compared with $0.73 in the year ago period. On a non-GAAP basis, diluted earnings per share were $0.72 in the fourth quarter of 2023, compared with $0.84 for the same period in 2022. The Company's weighted average shares outstanding assuming dilution in the fourth quarter was 8.3% lower year-over-year.

Progressive Leasing Results

Progressive Leasing's fourth quarter GMV increased 1.2% year over year to $547.6 million, primarily driven by better-than-expected customer demand for leasable items during the holidays. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs for the quarter was 7.0%, within the Company's 6%-8% targeted annual range.

Capital Returns

PROG Holdings ended the fourth quarter of 2023 with cash of $155.4 million and gross debt of $600 million. The Company repurchased $31.3 million of its stock in the quarter at an average price of $28.35 per share. PROG Holdings’ Board has authorized a total of $500 million of share repurchases under the Company’s existing share repurchase program, as well as a quarterly cash dividend of $0.12 per share of the Company's common stock, payable on March 28, 2024 to shareholders of record at the close of business on March 14, 2024. While the Company expects to continue paying a quarterly cash dividend going forward, the future payment of dividends will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on many factors, including our earnings, financial condition, and other considerations that our Board of Directors deems relevant.

2024 Outlook

PROG Holdings is issuing full year and Q1 2024 outlook for revenues, consolidated net earnings, segment earnings before taxes, adjusted EBITDA, diluted GAAP EPS, and diluted non-GAAP EPS. This outlook assumes a difficult operating environment with continued soft demand for consumer durable goods, no material changes in the Company's decisioning posture, an effective tax rate for non-GAAP EPS of approximately 29%, no material increases in the unemployment rate for our consumer, and no impact from additional share repurchases.

Conference Call and Webcast

The Company has scheduled a live webcast and conference call for Wednesday, February 21, 2024, at 8:30 A.M. ET to discuss its financial results for the fourth quarter of 2023. To access the live webcast, visit the Events and Presentations page of the Company’s Investor Relations website, https://investor.progholdings.com/.

About PROG Holdings, Inc.

PROG Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:PRG) is a fintech holding company headquartered in Salt Lake City, UT, that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. The Company owns Progressive Leasing, a leading provider of e-commerce, app-based, and in-store point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions, Vive Financial, an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products, Four Technologies, a provider of Buy Now, Pay Later payment options through its platform, Four, and Build, provider of personal credit building products. More information on PROG Holdings and its companies can be found at https://investor.progholdings.com/.

Forward Looking Statements:

Statements in this news release regarding our business that 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. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, such as "continue", "allow", "believe", "payable", "expects", "outlook", "will", "assumes" and similar forward-looking terminology. These risks and uncertainties include factors such as (i) continued volatility and challenges in the macro environment and, in particular, the unfavorable effects on our business of significant inflation, elevated interest rates, and fears of a recession, and the impact of those headwinds on: (a) consumer confidence and customer demand for the merchandise that our POS partners sell, in particular consumer durables; (b) our customers’ disposable income and their ability to make the lease and loan payments they owe the Company; (c) the availability of consumer credit; and (d) our overall financial performance and outlook; (ii) our businesses being subject to extensive laws and regulations, including laws and regulations unique to the industries in which our businesses operate, that may subject them to government investigations and significant monetary penalties and compliance-related burdens, as well as an increased focus by federal, state and local regulators on the industries within which our businesses operate, including with respect to consumer protection, customer privacy, third party and employee fraud and information security; (iii) deteriorating macroeconomic conditions resulting in the algorithms and other proprietary decisioning tools used in approving Progressive Leasing and Vive customers for leases and loans no longer being indicative of their ability to perform, which may limit the ability of those businesses to avoid lease and loan charge-offs or may result in their reserves being insufficient to cover actual losses; (iv) the impact of the cybersecurity incident experienced by Progressive Leasing in September 2023 and expenses incurred in connection with responding to the matter, including the litigation filed in response to that incident, or any regulatory proceedings that may result from the incident; (v) a large percentage of the Company’s revenues being concentrated with several of Progressive Leasing’s key POS partners; (vi) the risks that Progressive Leasing will be unable to attract new POS partners or retain and grow its business with its existing POS partners; (vii) Vive’s and Four’s business models differing significantly from Progressive Leasing’s, which creates specific and unique risks for each of the Vive and Four businesses, including Vive’s reliance on a limited number of bank partners to issue its credit products and each of Vive’s and Four’s exposure to the unique regulatory risks associated with the laws and regulations that apply to each of their businesses; (viii) our ability to continue to protect confidential, proprietary, or sensitive information, including the personal and confidential information of our customers, which may be adversely affected by cyber-attacks, employee or other internal misconduct, computer viruses, electronic break-ins or "hacking", or similar disruptions, any one of which could have a material adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition, and prospects; (ix) our cost reduction initiatives may not be adequate or may have unintended consequences that could be disruptive to our businesses, including with respect to our global workforce strategy; (x) the risk that our capital allocation strategy, including our current stock repurchase and dividend programs, as well as any future debt repurchase program, will not be effective at enhancing shareholder value and may have an adverse impact on our cash reserves; (xi) the loss of the services of our key executives or our inability to attract and retain key talent, particularly with respect to our information technology function, may have a material adverse impact on our operations; (xii) increased competition from traditional and virtual lease-to-own competitors and also from competitors of our Vive segment; (xiii) the transactions offered by our Progressive Leasing, Vive and/or Four businesses may be negatively characterized by government officials, consumer advocacy groups or the media; (xiv) real or perceived software or system errors, failures, bugs, defects or outages, including those that may be caused by third-party vendors, may adversely affect Progressive Leasing, Vive or Four; and (xv) the other risks and uncertainties discussed under "Risk Factors" in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on February 21, 2024. Statements in this press release that are "forward-looking" include without limitation statements about: (i) the benefits expected from our stock repurchase program and from our payment of a quarterly cash dividend, and our expectations regarding paying such a dividend going forward; (ii) the health of our lease portfolio and our ability to effectively manage that portfolio performance and SG&A spending; (iii) our ability to invest in our business, including in our key growth initiatives; (iv) our expectations regarding our cash efficiency and our capital return strategy; and (v) our outlook for the first quarter and full year 2024. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances after the date of this press release.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information:

Non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA are supplemental measures of our performance that are not calculated in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the full year 2024 and first quarter 2024 outlook exclude intangible amortization expense, restructuring expenses, and accrued interest on an uncertain tax position related to Progressive Leasing's $175 million settlement with the FTC in 2020. Non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023 exclude intangible amortization expense, restructuring expenses, costs related to the cybersecurity incident, regulatory insurance recoveries, and accrued interest on an uncertain tax position related to Progressive Leasing's $175 million settlement with the FTC in 2020. Non-GAAP net earnings and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, exclude intangible amortization expense, restructuring expenses, impairment of goodwill and accrued interest on an uncertain tax position related to Progressive Leasing's $175 million settlement with the FTC in 2020. The amount for the after-tax non-GAAP adjustment, which is tax effected using our statutory tax rate, can be found in the reconciliation of net earnings and earnings per share assuming dilution to non-GAAP net earnings and earnings per share assuming dilution table in this press release.

The Adjusted EBITDA figures presented in this press release are calculated as the Company’s earnings before interest expense, net, depreciation on property and equipment, amortization of intangible assets and income taxes. Adjusted EBITDA for the full year 2024 and first quarter 2024 outlook exclude stock-based compensation expense and restructuring expenses. Adjusted EBITDA for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2023, exclude stock-based compensation expense, restructuring expenses, costs related to the cybersecurity incident and regulatory insurance recoveries. Adjusted EBITDA for the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2022, exclude stock-based compensation expense, restructuring expenses and impairment of goodwill. The amounts for these pre-tax non-GAAP adjustments can be found in the segment EBITDA tables in this press release.

Management believes that non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA provide relevant and useful information, and are widely used by analysts, investors and competitors in our industry as well as by our management in assessing both consolidated and business unit performance.

Non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings, and adjusted EBITDA provide management and investors with an understanding of the results from the primary operations of our business by excluding the effects of certain items that generally arose from larger, one-time transactions that are not reflective of the ordinary earnings activity of our operations or transactions that have variability and volatility of the amount. We believe the exclusion of stock-based compensation expense provides for a better comparison of our operating results with our peer companies as the calculations of stock-based compensation vary from period to period and company to company due to different valuation methodologies, subjective assumptions and the variety of award types. This measure may be useful to an investor in evaluating the underlying operating performance of our business.

Adjusted EBITDA also provides management and investors with an understanding of one aspect of earnings before the impact of investing and financing charges and income taxes. These measures may be useful to an investor in evaluating our operating performance because the measures:

• Are widely used by investors to measure a company’s operating performance without regard to items excluded from the calculation of such measure, which can vary substantially from company to company depending upon accounting methods, book value of assets, capital structure and the method by which assets were acquired, among other factors.
• Are used by rating agencies, lenders and other parties to evaluate our creditworthiness.
• Are used by our management for various purposes, including as a measure of performance of our operating entities and as a basis for strategic planning and forecasting.

Non-GAAP financial measures, however, should not be used as a substitute for, or considered superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP, such as the Company’s GAAP basis net earnings and diluted earnings per share and the GAAP revenues and earnings before income taxes of the Company’s segments, which are also presented in the press release. Further, we caution investors that amounts presented in accordance with our definitions of non-GAAP net earnings, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, and adjusted EBITDA may not be comparable to similar measures disclosed by other companies, because not all companies and analysts calculate these measures in the same manner.

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