AMERCO Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2005 Financial Results

June 22, 2005 Download

AMERCO (Nasdaq: UHAL), parent of U-Haul International, Inc., North America’s largest “do-it-yourself” moving and storage operator, today reported a net loss available to common shareholders for its fourth quarter ending March 31, 2005 of $32.8 million, or $1.57 per share, compared with a net loss of $56.2 million, or $2.70 per share in the same period last year. Last year’s fourth quarter included nonrecurring restructuring charges of $1.01 per share. Net earnings available to common shareholders for the full year were $76.5 million, or $3.68 per share, including nonrecurring litigation proceeds of $1.56 per share, compared with a net loss of $15.8 million, or a loss per share of $.76 for the same period last year. Last year’s results included nonrecurring restructuring charges of $1.31 per share.

According to Joe Shoen, chairman of AMERCO, “we are investing strongly in our truck rental fleet to further strengthen our “do-it-yourself” moving and storage business. Since March, we have put 3,500 of our largest rental trucks into service to support the upcoming and seasonally strong summer moving months. We will continue to put 360 of these new trucks in service each week through the middle of August. This investment increases the number of rentable truck days available to meet customer demand and is expected to reduce future spending on truck repair costs.”

“On June 8, 2005, we refinanced the Company’s exit debt. This action increased our borrowing capacity by more than $45 million and is expected to lower our annual interest expense, at current borrowing levels, by approximately $25 million before taxes. This early extinguishment of our exit debt will result in a nonrecurring pre-tax charge of approximately $34 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2006,” added Shoen.

“We made steady progress throughout fiscal 2005 and we have many exciting developments that we believe will positively affect performance in fiscal 2006 and beyond. Moving equipment rental revenues grew 4.1% during fiscal 2005 to the highest level in our history. Our self-storage occupancy rate and revenue have improved year-over-year,” concluded Shoen.