| Regis Corporation Acquires Vidal Sassoon Salons and Beauty Academies; Company Assumes Licensing Agreement With Procter & Gamble |
 
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Acquisition Accretive to Full Year Earnings by $0.04 Per Diluted Share; MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Regis Corporation (Nasdaq: RGIS) the global leader in the $135 billion hair care industry, today announced it has acquired 25 Vidal Sassoon salons and 4 Vidal Sassoon beauty academies from Haircare Limited. In addition, the Company has assumed Haircare Limited's licensing agreement with Procter & Gamble to expand the salon group utilizing the Vidal Sassoon brand name in North America, the United Kingdom and Germany. Acquisition Highlights
Today's announcement supports Regis' disciplined growth strategy to build and acquire salon locations with good visibility, strong customer traffic and appropriate trade demographics. For fiscal year 2003, the Company plans to add nearly 1,000 new salon locations through a combination of new salon construction and salon acquisitions. To date, the Company has acquired and built nearly 700 salons for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2003. "We are extremely pleased to announce the acquisition of Vidal Sassoon salons and academies. Vidal Sassoon has been a premier brand in the beauty industry for a number of years. In addition, its academies are world renowned for providing stylists with the best education and training. A key component of our success is our stylists, and if you have the best trained and educated stylists you have the best salons," commented Paul D. Finkelstein, President and Chief Executive Officer of Regis Corporation. "Our long-term objective will be to continue the traditions of the existing salons and academies while rapidly growing the salon group primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom." Including this transaction, Regis Corporation has completed 247 acquisitions adding 6,747 salons representing $1.9 billion of system-wide sales in the past 108 months. Today's acquisition will increase annualized revenue by $49 million. As a result, the Company has increased its outlook for fiscal 2003 revenue and diluted earnings per share to be $1.68 to $1.73 billion, and $1.83 to $1.86, respectively. The Company's previously reported outlook for fiscal 2003 was revenue of $1.65 to $1.70 billion, and diluted earnings per share of $1.82 to $1.85. Regis Corporation is the largest owner, operator, franchisor and acquirer of hair and retail product salons in the world. Regis has six primary salon concepts, each of which targets a distinct and growing customer base. Regis Corporation operates over 9,300 salons located in the United States, Canada, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Poland, Puerto Rico and Brazil. The six concepts include Regis Salons, Strip Center Salons (primarily Supercuts and Cost Cutters), MasterCuts, Trade Secret, SmartStyle Family Hair Salons, and International (primarily Jean Louis David and Vidal Sassoon). Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Regis Corporation has over 43,000 employees worldwide. The company's common stock is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol RGIS. For more information about the company, visit our website at https://www.regiscorp.com/. This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including statements concerning anticipated future events and expectations that are not historical facts. These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements in this document reflect management's best judgment at the time they are made, but all such statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in or implied by the statements herein. Such forward- looking statements are often identified herein by use of words including, but not limited to, "may," "believe," "project," "expect," "estimate," "anticipate," and "plan." In addition, the following factors could affect the Company's actual results and cause such results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements. These factors include competition within the personal hair care industry, which remains strong, both domestically and internationally, and price sensitivity; changes in economic condition; changes in consumer tastes and fashion trends; labor and benefit costs; legal claim; risk inherent to international development (including currency fluctuations); the continued ability of the Company and its franchisees to obtain suitable locations and financing for new salon development; governmental initiatives such as minimum wage rates, taxes and possible franchise legislation; the ability of the Company to successfully identify and acquire salons that support its growth objectives; or other factors not listed above. The ability of the Company to meet its expected revenue growth is dependent on salon acquisitions, new salon construction and same-store sales increases, all of which are affected by many of the aforementioned risks. Additional information concerning potential factors that could affect future financial results is set forth in Exhibit 99 to the Company's Form 10-K and included in Form S-3 Registration Statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 4, 2002. SOURCE Regis Corporation Contact: |