THE WOODLANDS, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Conn's, Inc. (NASDAQ:CONN), a specialty retailer of furniture and mattresses, home appliances, consumer electronics and home office products, and provider of consumer credit, today reported $103.7 million in total retail net sales for the month ended March 31, 2015, a 3.4% increase compared to the same prior year period.

The following table presents the Company's percentage change in same store sales for the month ended March 31, 2015, compared to the same prior-year period, and the 60-plus day delinquency rate as of March 31, 2015:

		Month Ended
		March 31, 2015
Same store sales % change (as compared to the same prior-year period):
Furniture and mattress		(9.9	)%
Home appliance		—
Consumer electronic		(4.7	)
Home office		(16.2	)
Other		(32.5	)
Product sales		(7.4	)
Repair service agreement commissions		(2.6	)
Total net sales		(6.8	)%
		As of March 31, 2015
60-plus day delinquency rate		8.7	%

Theodore M. Wright, Conn's chairman and chief executive officer, commented, "Greater than 60-day delinquency was 8.7% as of March 31, 2105 compared to 8.2% as of March 31, 2014, with a sequential decrease of 50 basis points from February 28, 2015."

"Same store sales for the month decreased 6.8% against an increase of 18.1% in March last year. During the month, we were negatively impacted by the prolonged port labor disruption. Reduced inventory availability contributed to a decrease in same store sales of 10.8% for the furniture category. Mattresses, which are sourced domestically, had an increase in same store sales of 0.9%. Inventory availability should improve, but shortages will persist through at least April."

"We continue to experience headwinds from tighter underwriting implemented during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2015 compared to the same period a year ago, with an estimated impact of approximately 4-5% to same store sales in the month. The impact of tighter underwriting to our Arizona and New Mexico stores is less significant than previous periods."

"The decline in consumer electronic same store sales was driven by a decrease in the television category of 2.8%. Same store unit sales increased in the home appliance category, offset by lower average selling prices. Same store unit sales in home office were down, partially offset by higher average selling prices."

All of the above amounts are preliminary estimates and are subject to change upon completion of the Company's financial statement closing process. The Company has provided monthly same store sales, portfolio balance and 60-plus day delinquency rate data for all monthly periods since and including February 2012 on its investor relations website, at ir.conns.com.

We expect to release April sales and delinquency data on May 7, 2015.

About Conn's, Inc.

Conn's is a specialty retailer currently operating approximately 90 retail locations in Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas. The Company's primary product categories include:

• Furniture and mattress, including furniture and related accessories for the living room, dining room and bedroom, as well as both traditional and specialty mattresses;
• Home appliance, including refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, dishwashers and ranges;
• Consumer electronics, including LCD, LED, 3-D and Ultra HD televisions, Blu-ray players, home theater and portable audio equipment; and
• Home office, including computers, printers and accessories.

Additionally, Conn's offers a variety of products on a seasonal basis. Unlike many of its competitors, Conn's provides flexible in-house credit options for its customers in addition to third-party financing programs and third-party rent-to-own payment plans.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements include information concerning the Company's future financial performance, business strategy, plans, goals and objectives. Statements containing the words "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "project," "should," or the negative of such terms or other similar expressions are generally forward-looking in nature and not historical facts. Although we believe that the expectations, opinions, projections, and comments reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such statements will prove to be correct, and actual results may differ materially. A wide variety of potential risks, uncertainties, and other factors could materially affect the Company's ability to achieve the results either expressed or implied by the Company's forward-looking statements including, but not limited to: general economic conditions impacting the Company's customers or potential customers; the Company's ability to execute a sale of its loan portfolio or another strategic transaction on favorable terms; The Company's ability to continue existing customer financing programs or to offer new customer financing programs; changes in the delinquency status of the Company's credit portfolio; unfavorable developments in ongoing litigation; increased regulatory oversight; higher than anticipated net charge-offs in the credit portfolio; the success of the Company's planned opening of new stores and the updating of existing stores; technological and market developments and sales trends for the Company's major product offerings; the Company's ability to protect against cyber-attacks or data security breaches and to protect the integrity and security of individually identifiable data of the Company's customers and employees; the Company's ability to fund its operations, capital expenditures, debt repayment and expansion from cash flows from operations, borrowings from the Company's revolving credit facility, and proceeds from accessing debt or equity markets; and the other risks detailed in the Company's most recent SEC reports, including but not limited to, the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and the Company's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K. 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 is not obligated to publicly release any revisions or update to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this press release or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

CONN-G

S.M. Berger & Company
Andrew Berger, 216-464-6400

Source: Conn's, Inc.

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