Easyhome leasing revenue falls in 4Q and full 2022 year

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario – Easyhome, this country’s largest furniture, appliance and consumer electronics rent-to-own retailer saw revenue from its core leasing business fall not only for the fourth quarter but for the entire fiscal year, its parent company recently reported. However, overall revenue and earnings for GoEasy hit new record highs, thanks to its consumer loans segment.

For the three months ending December 31, 2022, overall revenue for the publicly held GoEasy climbed 16.6% to $273.3 million, compared to $234.4 million for the same period a year earlier.

Its consumer lending arm, Easyfinancial, had revenue of $235.9 million, a 20.3% jump from the $196.0 million generated in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Meanwhile, Easyhome revenue totaled $37.4 million, down 2.5% from the previous period’s $38.4 million.

Net earnings were $28.6 million or $1.71 per share, compared to $50.0 million or $2.90 per share for the 2021 period – a drop of 41% on a per share basis.

The company attributed the decrease in net income mainly to a one-time write-off of an intangible asset and fair value losses on investments, compared to fair value gains on investments in the three-month period ended December 31, 2021.

For the year ending December 31, 2022, overall revenue set a record high of $1.02 billion, up 23.3% from the $826.7 million tallied for the prior year.

Easyfinancial contributed $869.5 million, up 28.6% from the $676.4 million in 2021. Indeed, in the report to shareholders, company management boasted Canadian consumers had taken out loans valued at $2.79 billion by the end of the year across a range of products including home equity loans, automotive loans and unsecured lending.

Total Easyhome revenue for the year was $149.8 million, a 0.4% slip from the prior year’s $150.4 million.

Net earnings were $140.2 million or $8.42 per diluted share, down from $244.9 million or $14.62 per diluted share – a 42.4% fall on a per share basis.

While Easyhome’s revenue for 2022 was  essentially flat when compared to 2021, its revenue generated by its core merchandise leasing business shrank 8..8% in the fourth quarter to $25.2 million. Other revenue came from other sources including commissions paid by third parties and by its own consumer lending service, which grew 22.2% on a year-over-year basis.

For the full 2022-year, core merchandise leasing revenue fell 8.0% to $103.4 million from $112.4 million.

Merchandising leasing accounted for 14.7% of GoEasy’s overall sales mix in 2022, down from 18.7% the year before.

The company also reported it has some 73,895 lease agreements with consumers at the end of 2022, down 7.4% from the 79,776 agreements a year ago. However, the average monthly payment per agreement advanced from $102.70 to $106.47 – a gain of 3.7%.

The product mix remain relatively unchanged from year to year, with furniture accounting for 41.2% of outstanding lease agreements, followed up electronics at 33.4%, appliances at 14.2% and computers at 11.2%.

As of December 31, 2022, Easyhome operated 154 stores across the country, including 34 franchise locations. During the year, the retailer closed four corporate stores.

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