PROG Holdings, Inc. (PRG)
SIC breadcrumb: Services > Business Services > SIC 7359 Services-Equipment Rental & Leasing, NEC
SEC company page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1808834. Latest filing source: 0001808834-26-000012.
Informational only - descriptive public-record data, not investment advice.
Business
Read PRG's verbatim Item 1 Business section from its latest 10-K: Business.
Risk Factors
Read PRG's verbatim Item 1A Risk Factors from its latest 10-K: Risk Factors.
Selected Fundamentals
| Metric | Value | Unit | FY | Filed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 2,409,223,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-18 |
| Net income | 146,788,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-18 |
| Assets | 1,610,408,000 | USD | 2025 | 2026-02-18 |
Financials
Annual standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-02-18. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001808834.json. Derived margins, ratios, and free cash flow are computed from the extracted annual SEC facts.
| Metric | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 2,036,299,000 | 2,163,179,000 | 2,484,595,000 | 2,677,920,000 | 2,597,826,000 | 2,339,352,000 | 2,399,081,000 | 2,409,223,000 | |
| Net income | 196,210,000 | 31,472,000 | -61,465,000 | 243,557,000 | 98,709,000 | 138,838,000 | 197,249,000 | 146,788,000 | |
| Operating income | 156,799,000 | 27,613,000 | 271,763,000 | 333,527,000 | 185,645,000 | 218,708,000 | 194,725,000 | 206,773,000 | |
| Diluted EPS | 2.78 | 0.47 | -0.90 | 3.67 | 1.90 | 2.98 | 4.53 | 3.59 | |
| Operating cash flow | 356,498,000 | 317,185,000 | 455,964,000 | 245,961,000 | 242,479,000 | 204,236,000 | 138,525,000 | 334,962,000 | |
| Capital expenditures | 78,845,000 | 92,963,000 | 64,345,000 | 9,555,000 | 9,674,000 | 9,616,000 | 8,316,000 | 10,042,000 | |
| Dividends paid | 6,243,000 | 9,437,000 | 13,778,000 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | 20,393,000 | 20,767,000 | |
| Share buybacks | 168,735,000 | 69,255,000 | 0.00 | 142,358,000 | 223,598,000 | 139,573,000 | 138,651,000 | 51,775,000 | |
| Assets | 3,297,800,000 | 1,317,404,000 | 1,621,761,000 | 1,491,909,000 | 1,491,255,000 | 1,513,767,000 | 1,610,408,000 | ||
| Liabilities | 1,560,541,000 | 331,268,000 | 942,353,000 | 921,448,000 | 899,924,000 | 863,486,000 | 863,991,000 | ||
| Stockholders' equity | 1,728,004,000 | 1,760,708,000 | 1,737,259,000 | 986,136,000 | 679,408,000 | 570,461,000 | 591,331,000 | 650,281,000 | 746,417,000 |
| Cash and cash equivalents | 57,755,000 | 36,645,000 | 170,159,000 | 131,880,000 | 155,416,000 | 90,920,000 | 308,774,000 | ||
| Free cash flow | 277,653,000 | 224,222,000 | 391,619,000 | 236,406,000 | 232,805,000 | 194,620,000 | 130,209,000 | 324,920,000 |
Ratios
| Metric | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Net margin | 9.64% | 1.45% | -2.47% | 9.10% | 3.80% | 5.93% | 8.22% | 6.09% | |
| Operating margin | 7.70% | 1.28% | 10.94% | 12.45% | 7.15% | 9.35% | 8.12% | 8.58% | |
| Return on equity | 11.14% | 1.81% | -6.23% | 35.85% | 17.30% | 23.48% | 30.33% | 19.67% | |
| Return on assets | 0.95% | -4.67% | 15.02% | 6.62% | 9.31% | 13.03% | 9.11% | ||
| Liabilities / equity | 0.90 | 0.34 | 1.39 | 1.62 | 1.52 | 1.33 | 1.16 |
Industry Peer Context
Net margin peer context
Operating margin peer context
ROE peer context
ROA peer context
Financial Bridges
Free cash flow = operating cash flow - capital expenditures
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts FY 2025. Operating cash flow: accession 0001808834-26-000012; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities | Capital expenditures: accession 0001808834-26-000012; concept PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment | Free cash flow: accession 0001808834-26-000012; concept NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment; source concepts us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment
Financial Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: Revenues. Source concepts: us-gaap:Revenues.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: OperatingIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: PaymentsOfDividendsCommonStock. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsOfDividendsCommonStock.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock. Source concepts: us-gaap:PaymentsForRepurchaseOfCommonStock.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: Assets. Source concepts: us-gaap:Assets.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: Liabilities. Source concepts: us-gaap:Liabilities.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: StockholdersEquity. Source concepts: us-gaap:StockholdersEquity.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue. Source concepts: us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2025 ended 2025-12-31; accession 0001808834-26-000012; filed 2026-02-18. Concept: NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities - PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities; us-gaap:PaymentsToAcquirePropertyPlantAndEquipment.
Quarterly
Quarterly standardized facts from SEC companyfacts as of latest extracted filing date 2026-04-29. Source: https://data.sec.gov/api/xbrl/companyfacts/CIK0001808834.json.
| Quarter | End Date | Revenue | Net Income | Diluted EPS | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-Q2 | 2022-06-30 | 0.37 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2022-Q3 | 2022-09-30 | 0.32 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q1 | 2023-03-31 | 1.00 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-03-31 | 48,033,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q2 | 2023-06-30 | 592,846,000 | 0.79 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-06-30 | 37,218,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2023-Q3 | 2023-09-30 | 582,877,000 | 0.76 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2023-Q4 | 2023-12-31 | 577,401,000 | 18,575,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2024-Q1 | 2024-03-31 | 641,870,000 | 21,966,000 | 0.49 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-03-31 | 21,966,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2024-Q2 | 2024-06-30 | 592,161,000 | 0.77 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-06-30 | 33,774,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2024-Q3 | 2024-09-30 | 606,145,000 | 1.94 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2024-Q4 | 2024-12-31 | 623,320,000 | 57,547,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2025-Q1 | 2025-03-31 | 684,088,000 | 34,718,000 | 0.83 | reported discrete quarter |
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-03-31 | 34,718,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2025-Q2 | 2025-06-30 | 604,663,000 | 0.95 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-06-30 | 38,483,000 | reported discrete quarter | ||
| 2025-Q3 | 2025-09-30 | 595,108,000 | 0.82 | reported discrete quarter | |
| 2025-Q4 | 2025-12-31 | 525,364,000 | 40,466,000 | derived Q4 = FY annual - nine-month YTD | |
| 2026-Q1 | 2026-03-31 | 742,674,000 | 36,054,000 | 0.89 | reported discrete quarter |
Quarterly Charts
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001808834-26-000066; filed 2026-04-29. Concept: Revenues. Source concepts: us-gaap:Revenues.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001808834-26-000066; filed 2026-04-29. Concept: NetIncomeLoss. Source concepts: us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss.
Figure provenance: SEC companyfacts. Latest point: FY 2026 ended 2026-03-31; accession 0001808834-26-000066; filed 2026-04-29. Concept: EarningsPerShareDiluted. Source concepts: us-gaap:EarningsPerShareDiluted.
Macro Cross-References
- CPIAUCSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average
- UNRATE - Unemployment Rate
- FEDFUNDS - Federal Funds Effective Rate
- CES0500000003 - Average Hourly Earnings of All Employees, Total Private
- DFEDTARU - Federal Funds Target Range - Upper Limit
- DFEDTARL - Federal Funds Target Range - Lower Limit
- DGS3MO - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 3-Month Constant Maturity
- DGS2 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 2-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS10 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 10-Year Constant Maturity
- DGS30 - Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity
- T10Y2Y - 10-Year Treasury Constant Maturity Minus 2-Year Treasury Constant Maturity
- CPILFESL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items Less Food and Energy
- CPIUFDSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Food
- CPIENGSL - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Energy
- CUSR0000SAH1 - Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Shelter
- PCEPI - Personal Consumption Expenditures: Chain-type Price Index
- PCEPILFE - Personal Consumption Expenditures Excluding Food and Energy: Chain-type Price Index
- PPIACO - Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities
- T10YIE - 10-Year Breakeven Inflation Rate
- U6RATE - Total Unemployed, Plus All Marginally Attached Workers Plus Total Employed Part Time for Economic Reasons
- PAYEMS - All Employees, Total Nonfarm
- CIVPART - Labor Force Participation Rate
- EMRATIO - Employment-Population Ratio
- UNEMPLOY - Unemployed
- CE16OV - Employment Level
- ICSA - Initial Claims
- JTSJOL - Job Openings: Total Nonfarm
- JTSQUR - Quits: Total Nonfarm
- GDPC1 - Real Gross Domestic Product
- A191RL1Q225SBEA - Real Gross Domestic Product: Percent Change from Preceding Period
- INDPRO - Industrial Production: Total Index
- TCU - Capacity Utilization: Total Index
- HOUST - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Started: Total Units
- PERMIT - New Privately-Owned Housing Units Authorized in Permit-Issuing Places: Total Units
- RSAFS - Advance Retail Sales: Retail Trade
- PCE - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- DSPIC96 - Real Disposable Personal Income
- PSAVERT - Personal Saving Rate
- M2SL - M2
- BOPGSTB - U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services: Balance
- MSPUS - Median Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States
- HSN1F - New One Family Houses Sold: United States
- RHORUSQ156N - Homeownership Rate in the United States
- TTLCONS - Total Construction Spending: Total Construction in the United States
- RRVRUSQ156N - Rental Vacancy Rate in the United States
- TOTALSL - Total Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- REVOLSL - Revolving Consumer Credit Owned and Securitized
- DRCCLACBS - Delinquency Rate on Credit Card Loans, All Commercial Banks
- GDP - Gross Domestic Product
- GPDI - Gross Private Domestic Investment
- GCE - Government Consumption Expenditures and Gross Investment
- PCEC - Personal Consumption Expenditures
- NETEXP - Net Exports of Goods and Services
- GFDEBTN - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt
- GFDEGDQ188S - Federal Debt: Total Public Debt as Percent of Gross Domestic Product
- FYFSD - Federal Surplus or Deficit
- FGRECPT - Federal Government Current Receipts
- FGEXPND - Federal Government: Current Expenditures
- MANEMP - All Employees, Manufacturing
- USCONS - All Employees, Construction
- USTRADE - All Employees, Retail Trade
- USFIRE - All Employees, Financial Activities
- USGOVT - All Employees, Government
- AWHAETP - Average Weekly Hours of All Employees, Total Private
- DGORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Durable Goods
- NEWORDER - Manufacturers' New Orders: Nondefense Capital Goods Excluding Aircraft
- BUSINV - Total Business Inventories
- EXPGS - Exports of Goods and Services
- IMPGS - Imports of Goods and Services
- IR - Import Price Index (End Use): All Commodities
- PPIFIS - Producer Price Index by Commodity: Final Demand
Latest quarter (10-Q)
Latest 10-Q source: 0001808834-26-000066.
ITEM 2. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information: Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this Form 10-Q are forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management’s current expectations and plans, which involve risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "delivering," "driving," "advancing," "expectation," "target," "uncertainty," "outlook," "assumes" and similar expressions. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the filing date of this Quarterly Report and which involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. These risks and uncertainties include factors that could cause our actual results and financial condition to differ materially from those expressed or implied in our forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, those discussed in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025 (the "2025 Annual Report") and in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2026. Except as required by law, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances after the filing date of this Quarterly Report.
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the condensed consolidated financial statements as of and for the three months ended March 31, 2026 and 2025, including the notes to those statements, appearing elsewhere in this report. We also suggest that management's discussion and analysis appearing in this report be read in conjunction with the management's discussion and analysis and consolidated financial statements included in our 2025 Annual Report.
Business Overview
PROG Holdings, Inc. ("we," "our," "us," the "Company," or "PROG Holdings") is a financial technology holding company that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. PROG Holdings has three reportable segments as of March 31, 2026: (i) Progressive Leasing, an in-store, app-based, and e-commerce point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions provider; (ii) Purchasing Power, a voluntary employee benefit program provider, allowing employees to purchase brand-name products and services from Purchasing Power and then pay for those purchases through either automatic payroll deductions or allotments; and (iii) Four Technologies, Inc. ("Four"), which offers Buy Now, Pay Later ("BNPL") payment options to consumers through the Four platform.
Vive Financial ("Vive"), an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products, had been an operating segment prior to October 20, 2025. On that date, the Company sold substantially all of Vive's loan receivables portfolio and began the process of discontinuing its remaining operations. Vive is reported as discontinued operations in our condensed consolidated financial statements for all periods presented. All of Vive's revenues and expenses, other than allocated corporate overhead, are excluded from the results of continuing operations.
Our Progressive Leasing segment provides consumers with lease-purchase solutions through its point-of-sale partner locations and e-commerce website partners (collectively, "POS partners"), as well as through its direct-to-consumer app, PROG Marketplace. It does so by purchasing merchandise from the POS partners desired by customers and, in turn, leasing that merchandise to the customers through a cancellable lease-to-own transaction. Progressive Leasing has no stores of its own, but rather offers lease-purchase solutions to the customers of traditional and e-commerce retailers.
Our Purchasing Power segment is a voluntary employee benefit program that allows employees of participating employer-clients to purchase brand-name products and services and pay for those purchases over time through payroll deductions or allotments. Products available through the platform include consumer electronics, home goods, furniture, appliances, and other merchandise, as well as certain services. Millions of employees nationwide have access to Purchasing Power's purchasing solutions. We acquired Purchasing Power on January 2, 2026, and its results are included in our condensed consolidated financial statements beginning on the acquisition date.
Four allows shoppers to pay for merchandise through four interest-free installments. Four's proprietary platform capabilities and its base of customers and retailers expand and diversify PROG Holdings' ecosystem of financial technology offerings by introducing another payment solution to its customers. Shoppers use Four to purchase furniture, clothing, electronics, health and beauty products, footwear, jewelry, and other consumer goods from retailers across the United States. The average ticket size of a Four transaction is significantly smaller than a transaction with Progressive Leasing or Purchasing Power.
PROG Holdings also owns MoneyApp, a mobile application that offers customers interest-free cash advances. MoneyApp is not a reportable segment in 2026 as its financial results are not expected to be significant to the Company's condensed consolidated financial results. MoneyApp's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
41
Acquisition of Purchasing Power
On January 2, 2026, we completed the acquisition of Purchasing Power for $424.2 million in cash. In addition, Purchasing Power had approximately $338.6 million of non-recourse funding debt that remained in place following the closing of the acquisition. The results of Purchasing Power are included in our condensed consolidated financial statements beginning on the acquisition date. Results for periods prior to the acquisition date are not included in this MD&A. See Note 2 of the condensed consolidated financial statements for additional information.
Macroeconomic and Business Environment
We believe the increased cost of living and recent rise in fuel costs has continued to have a disproportionate negative effect on our customers' disposable income, negatively affecting demand for many products offered by our businesses, as well as in customer payment performance. We believe the significant increase in inflation resulting from the war in Iran and related geopolitical disruption has further pressured our customers' budgets and unfavorably impacted consumer confidence within our customer base, resulting in a decrease in demand for the types of larger-ticket, durable consumer goods offered by many of our retail partners and by our Purchasing Power business.
Progressive Leasing
Progressive Leasing entered 2026 with a smaller lease portfolio, as measured by its gross leased asset balance, compared to 2025, which resulted in a decrease in lease revenues when compared to the first quarter of 2025. The Company continues to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment due to the factors described above. In addition, American Signature, Inc., one of Progressive Leasing's POS partners, filed for bankruptcy in November 2025, which will result in the permanent closure of many of its stores in 2026, which has had and will continue to have an unfavorable impact on Progressive Leasing's GMV, revenue, and earnings from continuing operations before income tax in 2026.
Customer payment delinquencies were elevated at the end of 2024 and during the first quarter of 2025, which prompted us to tighten our decisioning posture to maintain a healthy lease portfolio during the quarter ended March 31, 2025. That tighter decisioning posture remained in place during the full first quarter of 2026. While that action benefited our lease portfolio performance and helped us achieve a provision for lease merchandise write-offs of 7.3% of lease revenues in the first quarter of 2026, it also had an unfavorable impact on Progressive Leasing's GMV during the periods subsequent to the change.
Purchasing Power
We believe customer demand for the larger-ticket products and services sold by Purchasing Power also has been adversely impacted by the macroeconomic headwinds affecting Progressive Leasing's performance. However, we expect that Purchasing Power's recent focus on improving eligible employee-customer penetration, and its addition of several new employer-clients, will help offset the impacts of such decreases in demand.
While customer payment delinquencies and write-offs for Purchasing Power are generally lower than those of Progressive Leasing due to Purchasing Power's payroll deduction and allotment repayment model, the recent federal government workforce disruptions, including DOGE workforce reductions and multiple government shutdowns, have resulted in elevated delinquencies and write-offs with Purchasing Power's current and former federal government employee-customers. We continue to monitor these conditions, as well as any potential additional layoffs impacting Purchasing Power's customers, as prolonged fiscal uncertainty at the federal government level or such layoffs could pose additional risk to Purchasing Power's receivables performance.
Four
Due to the average ticket size of a BNPL transaction with Four being significantly lower than a transaction with Progressive Leasing and Purchasing Power, we believe demand for products purchased through the use of Four is not as impacted by the macroeconomic headwinds discussed above to the same degree as demand for larger-ticket products.
42
Highlights
The following summarizes significant financial highlights from the three months ended March 31, 2026:
•We reported consolidated revenues of $742.7 million, which was an 11.1% increase compared to the $668.4 million we reported for the first quarter of 2025. The increase in consolidated revenues was primarily due to the $107.1 million of total revenues contributed by Purchasing Power, which we acquired on January 2, 2026. Additionally, revenues at Four increased by $20.5 million due to continued growth in BNPL transactions at Four. These increases were offset by a $54.7 million decrease in revenue at Progressive Leasing, which was driven primarily by a smaller gross leased asset balance throughout the first quarter of 2026 when compared to the same period in the prior year.
•GMV from Four increased by $160.1 million, due to an increase in Four loan originations in the first quarter of 2026 compared to the first quarter of 2025, as a result of the continued growth in that business. GMV decreased by $9.0 million for Progressive Leasing in the first quarter of 2026, compared to the same period in the prior year. The decrease in GMV for Progressive Leasing was due to several factors, including the tightening of our decisioning posture, which was reflected for the full first quarter in 2026 compared to only a portion of the first quarter in 2025. We believe the reduction in GMV was also driven by inflationary pressures, elevated cost of living and fuel costs, and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook, all of which have negatively impacted consumer confidence and demand for our lease-to-own offering. GMV relating to Purchasing Power was included for the first time, as the acquisition was completed on January 2, 2026.
•Earnings from continuing operations before income taxes increased to $47.6 million compared to $47.3 million in the same period in 2025. The increase was primarily driven by increased earnings at Four and Progressive Leasing, partially offset by higher interest expense and transaction expenses relating to the acquisition of Purchasing Power during the quarter.
43
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume. We believe GMV is a key per
[Excerpt truncated for page length; source filing is linked above.]
Latest 10-K MD&A
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of PROG Holdings, Inc. and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Throughout the MD&A we refer to various notes to our consolidated financial statements which appear in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The following discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" of this Form 10-K.
Business Overview
PROG Holdings, Inc. ("we," "our," "us," the "Company," or "PROG Holdings") is a financial technology holding company that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. As of December 31, 2025, PROG Holdings has two reportable segments: (i) Progressive Leasing, an in-store, app-based, and e-commerce point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions provider; and (ii) Four Technologies, Inc. ("Four"), which offers Buy Now, Pay Later ("BNPL") payment options to consumers through the Four platform. Vive Financial ("Vive"), an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products, had been an operating segment prior to October 20, 2025. On that date, the Company sold substantially all of Vive's loan receivables portfolio and began the process of discontinuing its remaining operations. Vive is presented as discontinued operations in the Company's consolidated financial statements.
Our Progressive Leasing segment provides consumers with lease-purchase solutions through its point-of-sale partner locations and e-commerce website partners (collectively, "POS partners"). It does so by purchasing merchandise from the POS partners desired by customers and, in turn, leasing that merchandise to the customers through a cancellable lease-to-own transaction. Progressive Leasing has no stores of its own, but rather offers lease-purchase solutions to the customers of traditional and e-commerce retailers. The Progressive Leasing segment comprised approximately 96% of our consolidated revenues from continuing operations for the year ended December 31, 2025.
Four allows shoppers to pay for merchandise through four interest-free installments. Four's proprietary platform capabilities and its base of customers and retailers expand PROG Holdings' ecosystem of financial technology offerings by introducing a payment solution that further diversifies the Company's consumer financial technology offerings. Shoppers use Four to purchase furniture, clothing, electronics, health and beauty products, footwear, jewelry, and other consumer goods from retailers across the United States. The average ticket size of a Four transaction is significantly smaller than a transaction with Progressive Leasing.
PROG Holdings also owns MoneyApp, a mobile application that offers customers interest-free cash advances. MoneyApp is not a reportable segment in 2025 as its financial results are not significant to the Company's consolidated financial results. MoneyApp's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
Sale of Receivables and Presentation of Vive as Discontinued Operations
On October 20, 2025, we completed the sale of substantially all of the assets of Vive, consisting of the majority of its loans receivable portfolio, along with the related customer and merchant relationships. This transaction resulted in $143.9 million of net cash consideration. Subsequent to the sale, the operations of Vive began to wind down. The transaction resulted in a strategic shift that will have a significant effect on our operations and financial results. Accordingly, Vive is now reported as discontinued operations in our consolidated financial statements for all periods presented. All of Vive's revenues and expenses, other than allocated corporate overhead, are excluded from the results of continuing operations.
Acquisition of Purchasing Power
On January 2, 2026, we completed the acquisition of Purchasing Power for $420.0 million in cash. In addition, Purchasing Power had approximately $338.6 million of non-recourse funding debt that remained in place following the closing of the acquisition. Purchasing Power is a voluntary employee benefit program provider allowing employees to purchase brand-name products and services from Purchasing Power and then pay for those purchases through either automatic payroll deductions or allotments. Millions of employees nationwide have access to Purchasing Power's innovative purchasing options and financial wellness offerings. This MD&A does not include, reflect, or give effect to the acquisition of Purchasing Power. See Note 16 in our consolidated financial statements included in this Form 10-K for additional information.
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Macroeconomic and Business Environment
The Company continues to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment. Progressive Leasing experienced a smaller lease portfolio for most of 2025 compared to 2024, as measured by its gross leased asset balance, driven primarily by the closure in 2025 of most of the store locations of Big Lots, Inc., following its bankruptcy in late 2024, and the tightening of our decisioning posture in early 2025. While inflation moderated in 2025 compared to 2024, many of our customers' budgets remained pressured due to pricing levels, particularly for housing, food, and other nondiscretionary items, which remained elevated relative to pre-2020 levels. We believe the increased cost of living has continued to have a disproportionate negative effect on our customers' disposable income, negatively affecting demand for many leasable products, and customer payment performance. While the negative impact on customer payment performance was partially offset by our tightening of lease decisioning in the beginning of 2025, which benefitted our lease portfolio performance and helped us achieve a provision for lease merchandise write-offs within our annual targeted range, we believe these economic headwinds are likely to continue at least through the first half of 2026. We believe these economic pressures have unfavorably impacted consumer confidence within our customer base, resulting in a decrease in demand for the types of merchandise offered by many of our key national and regional POS partners. American Signature, Inc., one of Progressive Leasing's larger POS partners, filed for bankruptcy in November 2025, which will result in the permanent closure of many of its stores in 2026. The loss of Big Lots store locations in 2025 had an unfavorable impact on Progressive Leasing's GMV, revenue, and earnings from continuing operations before income tax in 2025, and we expect that the loss of the American Signature store locations will have an unfavorable, but less significant impact on Progressive Leasing in 2026.
In anticipation of these challenges, we have continued to align the cost structure of our business with our near-term revenue outlook by executing on a number of cost reduction initiatives to drive efficiencies and right-size variable costs, while attempting to minimize the negative impact on growth-related initiatives.
Customer lease payment delinquencies were elevated at the end of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, which prompted us to tighten our lease decisioning posture in early 2025 to maintain a healthy lease portfolio. That action benefited our lease portfolio performance and helped us achieve provision for lease merchandise write-offs of 7.5% for the year ended December 31, 2025 despite significant macroeconomic challenges. The tightening of our decisioning also had an unfavorable impact on Progressive Leasing's GMV and revenue during the periods subsequent to the change.
Because the average ticket size of a BNPL transaction with Four is significantly lower than a transaction with Progressive Leasing, we believe demand for the merchandise financed through Four is not impacted by the macroeconomic headwinds discussed above to the same degree as demand for larger-ticket leasable goods.
Cybersecurity Incident
During the third quarter of 2023, Progressive Leasing experienced a cybersecurity incident affecting certain data and IT systems of Progressive Leasing. Promptly after detecting the incident, the Company engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and took immediate steps to respond to, remediate and investigate the incident. Law enforcement was also notified. Based on the Company's investigation, the Company determined that the data involved in the incident contained a substantial amount of personally identifiable information, including social security numbers, of Progressive Leasing's customers and other individuals. With the assistance of cybersecurity experts, the Company located the Progressive Leasing customers and other individuals whose information was impacted and notified them, consistent with state and federal requirements. The Company also took a number of additional measures to demonstrate its continued support and commitment to data privacy and protection.
As a result of the cybersecurity incident, Progressive Leasing was named a defendant in multiple lawsuits which alleged, among other things, various damages arising out of the incident. All of those lawsuits were consolidated into a single action in the United States District Court for the District of Utah (the "District Court"). On June 30, 2025, the parties reached an agreement, subject to District Court approval, to resolve all of the alleged claims in the litigation in exchange for a settlement payment of $3.3 million. That settlement was approved by the District Court on February 6, 2026. The full amount of the settlement will be paid by the Company's cybersecurity insurance. As of December 31, 2025, the settlement amount is included in accounts payable and accrued expenses, along with a corresponding insurance recovery receivable included in prepaid expenses and other assets on the Company's consolidated balance sheets. The Company did not incur any significant expenses relating to the cybersecurity incident in the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024.
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Highlights
The following summarizes significant highlights from the year ended December 31, 2025:
•We reported consolidated revenues of $2.4 billion in 2025, an increase of 0.4% compared to 2024. The increase in revenues was primarily due to a significant increase in GMV at Four in 2025 compared to the prior year, offset by a decrease in GMV at Progressive Leasing.
•GMV from Four increased by $435.0 million, or 144.2%, in 2025 compared to 2024, primarily due to Four's continued growth as consumers continue to adopt and utilize BNPL transactions at higher rates. GMV decreased by $166.4 million for Progressive Leasing in 2025, compared to 2024. The decrease in GMV for Progressive Leasing was due to a combination of the effects of the bankruptcy of Big Lots and the tightening of our decisioning posture in early 2025, both of which led to a lower gross leased asset balance through much of 2025. We believe the reduction in GMV was also driven by an elevated cost of living and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook, all of which have negatively impacted consumer confidence and demand for our lease-to-own offering.
•Earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) increased to $174.5 million compared to $163.4 million in 2024. The increase was driven by higher revenues as a result of the growth of our Four segment, a decrease in provisions for lease merchandise write-offs as a result of the smaller overall lease portfolio size in 2025, and a $6.7 million gain on the sale of charged-off receivables at Progressive Leasing in 2025. These increases in earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) were partially offset by higher processing fees due to Four's growth and higher professional fees related to our technology enhancement efforts and the acquisition of Purchasing Power.
•Earnings from discontinued operations, net of income tax, amounted to $22.4 million in 2025 and related to the sale of substantially all of Vive's assets. The earnings from discontinued operations were primarily due to the $28.5 million gain recognized on the sale of substantially all of Vive's loans receivable portfolio to Fortiva in October 2025 and the sale of a portfolio of previously charged-off receivables which were not included in the sale to Fortiva for $8.5 million of cash.
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume. We believe GMV is a key performance indicator of our Progressive Leasing and Four segments, as it provides the total value of new leases and loans written into our portfolio over a specified time period. GMV does not represent revenues earned by the Company, but rather is a leading indicator we use in forecasting revenues the Company may earn. Progressive Leasing's GMV is defined as the retail price of merchandise acquired by Progressive Leasing, which it then expects to lease to its customers. GMV for Four is defined as gross originations.
The following table presents our GMV for the Company for the years presented:
| For the Year Ended December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 1,760,781 | $ | 1,927,164 | $ | 1,796,647 | ||||
| Four | 736,547 | 301,568 | 101,099 | |||||||
| Total GMV from Continuing Operations | $ | 2,497,328 | $ | 2,228,732 | $ | 1,897,746 |
The increase in GMV from Four is due primarily to the continued growth in originations as consumers continue to adopt and utilize BNPL transactions at higher rates, and due to our enhanced marketing initiatives at Four. The decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV was primarily due to a combination of the closing of Big Lots' store locations in 2025 following its bankruptcy as noted above and the tightening of our decisioning posture, both of which led to a lower gross leased asset balance through most of 2025 when compared to 2024. We believe the reduction in GMV was also driven by an elevated cost of living and an uncertain macroeconomic outlook, all of which have negatively impacted consumer confidence and disposable income for our customer base, and demand for our lease-to-own offering, which resulted in a decrease in lease conversion when compared to 2024. These decreases were offset by an increase in GMV from our e-commerce channels, including Progressive Leasing's direct to consumer offerings. E-commerce channels generated 23.3% of Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2025 compared to 17.0% in 2024. We expect to see further growth in GMV from Progressive Leasing's e-commerce channels in 2026.
Active Customer Count. Our active customer count represents the total number of customers that have an active lease agreement with Progressive Leasing, or an active loan with Four or our other strategic operations. Active customer counts include customers that may have an active lease or loan agreement with more than one segment. The following table presents our active customer count from continuing operations for each segment and Other:
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| As of December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Customer Count from Continuing Operations: | |||||||
| Progressive Leasing | 838 | 934 | 893 | ||||
| Four | 486 | 157 | 80 | ||||
| Other | 52 | 51 | 21 |
The number of customers for Progressive Leasing was lower in 2025, compared to the prior year, due to lower lease approvals primarily as a result of the bankruptcy of Big Lots and the tightening of our decisioning posture. The increase in the number of customers for Four was the result of continued growth in originations in that segment.
Key Components of Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
In this MD&A section, we review our consolidated results. For the year ended December 31, 2025 and the comparable prior year periods, some of the key revenue, cost and expense items that affected earnings before income taxes were as follows:
Revenues. We separate our total revenues into two components: (i) lease revenues and fees and (ii) other revenues. Lease revenues and fees include all revenues derived from lease agreements from our Progressive Leasing segment. Lease revenues are recorded net of a provision for uncollectible renewal payments. Other revenues represents transaction income, subscription revenues, and annual and other fees earned relating to loans in our Four segment and our other strategic businesses.
Depreciation of Lease Merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise reflects the expense associated with depreciating merchandise leased to customers by Progressive Leasing.
Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs represents the estimated merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management and adjustments for changes in estimates for the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs.
Operating Expenses. Operating expenses include personnel costs, stock-based compensation expense, occupancy costs, advertising, decisioning expense, professional services expense, sales acquisition expense, computer software expense, bank charges and processing fees, the provision for loan losses, fixed asset depreciation expense, intangible asset amortization, and restructuring expense, among other expenses.
Gain on Sale of Receivables. During the year ended December 31, 2025, Progressive Leasing began a program of selling portfolios of its charged-off lease receivables to third parties. The first sale under this program was completed in November 2025. We expect further sales of portfolios to recur on an ongoing basis in 2026 and beyond.
Interest Expense, Net. Interest expense, net consists of interest incurred on the Company's Senior Notes and senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility"). Interest expense is presented net of interest income earned on the Company's deposits in cash and cash equivalents.
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Results of Operations
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2025 and 2024
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2025 vs. 2024 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,322,754 | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | (43,735) | (1.8) | % | ||||||||
| Other Revenues | 86,469 | 32,592 | 53,877 | 165.3 | ||||||||||||
| 2,409,223 | 2,399,081 | 10,142 | 0.4 | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,590,240 | 1,621,101 | (30,861) | (1.9) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 173,115 | 178,338 | (5,223) | (2.9) | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 445,747 | 404,917 | 40,830 | 10.1 | ||||||||||||
| 2,209,102 | 2,204,356 | 4,746 | 0.2 | |||||||||||||
| Gain on Sale of Receivables | 6,652 | — | 6,652 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 206,773 | 194,725 | 12,048 | 6.2 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (32,254) | (31,289) | (965) | (3.1) | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT) | 174,519 | 163,436 | 11,083 | 6.8 | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT) | 50,167 | (33,875) | 84,042 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS | 124,352 | 197,311 | (72,959) | (37.0) | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS, NET OF TAX | 22,436 | (62) | 22,498 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 146,788 | $ | 197,249 | $ | (50,461) | (25.6) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2025 | Year Ended December 31, 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Four | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Four | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,322,754 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,322,754 | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,366,489 | ||||||||
| Other Revenues | — | 73,722 | 12,747 | 86,469 | — | 27,351 | 5,241 | 32,592 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,322,754 | $ | 73,722 | $ | 12,747 | $ | 2,409,223 | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 27,351 | $ | 5,241 | $ | 2,399,081 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily the result of the 8.6% decrease in GMV for 2025 as compared to the prior year, which was largely attributable to the closure of Big Lots' store locations following its bankruptcy in late 2024, a tightening in our decisioning posture in early 2025, and a decrease in consumer confidence, disposable income and demand for leasable durable consumer goods for our customer base, as a result of elevated living costs and economic uncertainty. The increase in Four revenue was primarily driven by a 144.2% increase in Four's GMV as compared to 2024, due to increased loan originations, which resulted from the significant growth in Four's business year over year. Four's revenue also benefitted from an increase in subscription fee revenues in 2025 when compared to the prior year. The average ticket size of a BNPL transaction with Four is significantly lower than a transaction with Progressive Leasing. For this reason, we believe demand for the merchandise financed through Four is not impacted by the macroeconomic headwinds discussed above to the same degree as demand for larger-ticket leasable goods. The increase to Other operations revenue was primarily driven by growth in our MoneyApp business.
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Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2025 vs. 2024 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 153,925 | $ | 157,432 | $ | (3,507) | (2.2) | % | ||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 28,477 | 27,845 | 632 | 2.3 | ||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 3,339 | 4,021 | (682) | (17.0) | ||||||||||
| Advertising | 23,016 | 19,919 | 3,097 | 15.5 | ||||||||||
| Professional Services | 44,372 | 31,171 | 13,201 | 42.4 | ||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 35,430 | 28,322 | 7,108 | 25.1 | ||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 27,207 | 20,895 | 6,312 | 30.2 | ||||||||||
| Bank Charges and Processing Fees | 27,862 | 16,059 | 11,803 | 73.5 | ||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 34,950 | 33,442 | 1,508 | 4.5 | ||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 378,578 | 339,106 | 39,472 | 11.6 | ||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 40,339 | 18,639 | 21,700 | 116.4 | ||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 24,032 | 26,334 | (2,302) | (8.7) | ||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 2,798 | 20,838 | (18,040) | (86.6) | ||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 445,747 | $ | 404,917 | $ | 40,830 | 10.1 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization and write-offs of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
Advertising expense increased $3.1 million compared to 2024, primarily due to the expansion of our direct-to-consumer marketing efforts.
Professional services increased $13.2 million compared to 2024, primarily due to higher technology-related expenses, an increase in contract labor costs for various technology initiatives, increased legal costs, and due diligence costs associated with the acquisition of Purchasing Power.
Sales acquisition expense increased $7.1 million compared to 2024 due primarily to the write-off of $5.0 million of prepaid expenses and receivables relating to the bankruptcy of a retail partner in 2025.
Computer software expense increased $6.3 million compared to 2024. The increase was primarily related to higher software subscriptions and related fees due to a number of technology initiatives including the implementation of an enterprise resource planning ("ERP") system in 2025.
Bank charges and processing fees increased $11.8 million compared to 2024, primarily relating to additional processing fees at Four due to its continued growth and the resulting increase in transaction volumes.
The provision for loan losses increased $21.7 million compared to 2024. The increase was primarily the result of a $19.4 million increase in the provision for loan losses for our Four operations, due to the continued growth of that business. The provision for loan losses at our other strategic initiatives also increased $2.3 million due primarily to the continued growth of the MoneyApp business in 2025 when compared to 2024.
In 2025, restructuring expense included $2.2 million for the impairment of internally developed software from our other strategic operations along with $0.6 million relating to employee severance expenses at Progressive Leasing. In 2024, restructuring expense included $7.8 million associated with the early termination of an independent sales agent agreement for Progressive Leasing, $2.0 million associated with the early termination of a third party vendor agreement within other strategic operations, $6.0 million of operating lease right-of-use asset and other fixed asset impairment charges related to the reduction of Progressive Leasing office space, and $4.9 million of employee severance for Progressive Leasing and Other operations.
Other Items
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise decreased by 1.9% during the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to 2024. The decrease was primarily due to the decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV. As a percentage of
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lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise in 2025 was 68.5%, which remained flat compared to the prior year period.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs decreased by $5.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2025, as compared to 2024. The decrease in the provision was a result of the lower gross leased asset balance during most of the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to 2024. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues remained flat at 7.5% for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to the prior year.
Gain on sale of receivables. In November 2025, Progressive Leasing sold a portfolio of charged-off lease receivables to a third party for $6.7 million in cash, and recognized a gain of $6.7 million as the carrying amount of the charged-off loans had been reduced to zero. There were no similar sales during 2024.
Interest expense, net. Information about interest expense and interest income is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2025 vs. 2024 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net: | ||||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | $ | 39,320 | $ | 38,816 | $ | 504 | 1.3 | % | ||||||
| Interest Income | (7,066) | (7,527) | 461 | 6.1 | ||||||||||
| Total Interest Expense, Net | $ | 32,254 | $ | 31,289 | $ | 965 | 3.1 | % |
Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
Information about our earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2025 vs. 2024 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2025 | 2024 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT): | ||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 188,874 | $ | 184,782 | $ | 4,092 | 2.2 | % | ||||||
| Four | 2,835 | (6,485) | 9,320 | nmf | ||||||||||
| Other | (17,190) | (14,861) | (2,329) | (15.7) | ||||||||||
| Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense (Benefit) | $ | 174,519 | $ | 163,436 | $ | 11,083 | 6.8 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
The loss from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) within Other primarily relates to losses from our other strategic operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) for each reporting segment are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
Income tax expense (benefit) for the year ended December 31, 2025 was an expense of $50.2 million compared to a benefit of $33.9 million in 2024. The effective tax rate was 28.7% for the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to (20.7)% in 2024. The tax benefit in 2024 was due to a $51.4 million non-cash reversal of the uncertain tax position related to Progressive Leasing and a $27.8 million deferred tax benefit related to an election which resulted in the deemed liquidation of a wholly-owned partnership for tax purposes.
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Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 32,901 | 1.4 | % | ||||||
| Other Revenues | 32,592 | 5,764 | 26,828 | nmf | ||||||||||
| 2,399,081 | 2,339,352 | 59,729 | 2.6 | |||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,621,101 | 1,576,303 | 44,798 | 2.8 | ||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 178,338 | 155,250 | 23,088 | 14.9 | ||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 404,917 | 389,091 | 15,826 | 4.1 | ||||||||||
| 2,204,356 | 2,120,644 | 83,712 | 3.9 | |||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 194,725 | 218,708 | (23,983) | (11.0) | ||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (31,289) | (29,406) | (1,883) | (6.4) | ||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 163,436 | 189,302 | (25,866) | (13.7) | ||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT) | (33,875) | 55,412 | (89,287) | nmf | ||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS | 197,311 | 133,890 | 63,421 | 47.4 | ||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS, NET OF TAX | (62) | 4,948 | (5,010) | nmf | ||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 197,249 | $ | 138,838 | $ | 58,411 | 42.1 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2024 | Year Ended December 31, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Four | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Four | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,333,588 | ||||||||
| Other Revenues | — | 27,351 | 5,241 | 32,592 | — | 5,694 | 70 | 5,764 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 27,351 | $ | 5,241 | $ | 2,399,081 | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 5,694 | $ | 70 | $ | 2,339,352 |
The increase in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily the result of the 7.3% increase in GMV for 2024 as compared to the prior year, due to an increase in demand for our lease-to-own offerings and more customers choosing to exercise early buyout options. This increase was partially offset by having a smaller lease portfolio throughout 2024 as compared to 2023. The increase in Four revenue was primarily driven by a 198.3% increase in Four's GMV as compared to 2023. The increase in Other revenue was primarily driven by growth in the Company's other strategic operations.
45
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 157,432 | $ | 170,770 | $ | (13,338) | (7.8) | % | ||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 27,845 | 23,730 | 4,115 | 17.3 | ||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 4,021 | 5,247 | (1,226) | (23.4) | ||||||||||
| Advertising | 19,919 | 17,122 | 2,797 | 16.3 | ||||||||||
| Professional Services | 31,171 | 26,274 | 4,897 | 18.6 | ||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 28,322 | 27,397 | 925 | 3.4 | ||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 20,895 | 19,886 | 1,009 | 5.1 | ||||||||||
| Bank Charges and Processing Fees | 16,059 | 11,288 | 4,771 | 42.3 | ||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 33,442 | 38,897 | (5,455) | (14.0) | ||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 339,106 | 340,611 | (1,505) | (0.4) | ||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 18,639 | 4,660 | 13,979 | nmf | ||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 26,334 | 31,287 | (4,953) | (15.8) | ||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 20,838 | 12,533 | 8,305 | 66.3 | ||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 404,917 | $ | 389,091 | $ | 15,826 | 4.1 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization and write-offs of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
The $13.3 million decrease in personnel costs was attributable to Progressive Leasing's reduction in the number of employees during the second half of 2023 and first quarter of 2024 as part of its restructuring and cost cutting initiatives.
Stock-based compensation increased $4.1 million compared to 2023, consisting of increases of $5.3 million at Progressive Leasing, partially offset by a decrease of $1.2 million at Four. The higher stock-based compensation in 2024 was the result of: (i) an increase in the grant date value of restricted stock units granted in 2024 compared to 2023; and (ii) an increase to the estimated payout of performance stock units granted in 2024 based on the Company's actual results, compared to a lower payout of performance stock units granted in 2023. The lower stock-based compensation at Four in 2024 compared to 2023, was a result of the Company determining in the second quarter of 2024 that performance stock units that had been granted to Four executives in 2021 and 2022 were no longer probable of being earned.
Advertising expense increased $2.8 million compared to 2023, primarily due to increased advertising in the Progressive Leasing segment associated with the expansion of our direct-to-consumer marketing efforts.
Professional services increased $4.9 million compared to 2023, primarily due to higher technology-related costs. Professional services in the prior year were also impacted by the benefit of $0.5 million of regulatory insurance recoveries that were received during the first quarter of 2023.
Bank charges and processing fees increased $4.8 million compared to 2023 primarily relating to additional processing fees at Four due to its continued growth and the resulting increase in transaction volumes.
Other sales, general and administrative expenses decreased by $5.5 million compared to 2023, primarily due to reductions in administrative costs within Progressive Leasing during 2024.
The provision for loan losses increased $14.0 million compared to 2023. The increase was primarily the result of a $9.5 million increase in the provision for loan losses from our Four segment and an increase of $4.5 million from our Other operations, due to the continued growth of our Four business and our other strategic operations.
Depreciation and amortization decreased $5.0 million compared to 2023, primarily due to a decrease of $5.7 million at Progressive Leasing, partially offset by an increase of $0.7 million at Four. The decrease at Progressive Leasing was primarily attributable to a technology asset that was fully amortized during the second quarter of 2024, as well as assets that were impaired as part of the Company's restructuring activities during the first quarter of 2024. The increase at Four was due to an increase in depreciable assets as compared to 2023.
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In 2024, restructuring expense included $7.8 million associated with the early termination of an independent sales agent agreement for Progressive Leasing, $2.0 million associated with the early termination of a third party vendor agreement within other strategic operations, $6.0 million of operating lease right-of-use assets and other fixed asset impairment charges related to the reduction of Progressive Leasing office space, and $4.9 million of employee severance for Progressive Leasing, Four, and Other operations. In 2023, restructuring expense included $9.6 million associated with the early termination of certain independent sales agent agreements and $2.9 million of employee severance within Progressive Leasing.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise increased by 2.8% during the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to 2023. The increase was primarily due to growth in the Company's lease portfolio, resulting from positive customer responses to our strategic initiatives and increasing demand for our lease-to-own offering. As a percentage of lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased to 68.5% from 67.5% in the prior year period, primarily due to a normalized level of early buyouts during 2024 as compared to a lower level of early buyouts during 2023.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs increased by $23.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to 2023. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues increased to 7.5% for the year ended December 31, 2024 from 6.7% in the prior year. The increase in the provision was a result of higher delinquencies and write-offs in 2024 compared to 2023.
Interest expense, net. Information about interest expense and interest income is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | ||||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | $ | 38,816 | $ | 38,694 | $ | 122 | 0.3 | % | ||||||
| Interest Income | (7,527) | (9,288) | 1,761 | 19.0 | ||||||||||
| Total Interest Expense, Net | $ | 31,289 | $ | 29,406 | $ | 1,883 | 6.4 | % |
Interest expense, net increased $1.9 million due to a decrease in interest income earned from a decrease in cash deposits during 2024 compared to 2023.
Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
Information about our earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE (BENEFIT): | ||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 184,782 | $ | 216,271 | $ | (31,489) | (14.6) | % | ||||||
| Four | (6,485) | (14,437) | 7,952 | 55.1 | ||||||||||
| Other | (14,861) | (12,532) | (2,329) | (18.6) | ||||||||||
| Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense (Benefit) | $ | 163,436 | $ | 189,302 | $ | (25,866) | (13.7) | % |
The loss from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) within Other relates primarily to losses from our other strategic operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense (benefit) for each reporting segment are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense (Benefit)
Income tax expense (benefit) was a benefit of $33.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to an expense of $55.4 million in 2023. The effective tax rate was (20.7)% for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to 29.3% in 2023. The income tax benefit and negative effective tax rate in 2024 was primarily due to a $51.4 million non-cash reversal of the uncertain tax position related to Progressive Leasing and a $27.8 million deferred tax benefit related to an election which resulted in the deemed liquidation of a wholly-owned partnership for tax purposes.
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Overview of Financial Position
The major changes in the consolidated balance sheet from December 31, 2024 to December 31, 2025 include:
•Cash and cash equivalents increased $217.9 million to $308.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2025. For additional information, refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section below.
•Lease merchandise, net, decreased $71.2 million due primarily to an 8.6% decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2025 as compared to 2024.
•Loans receivable, net of allowances and unamortized fees, increased $51.5 million due primarily to growth in the loan portfolio of Four compared to December 31, 2024. Four's GMV increased 144.2% in 2025 as compared to 2024.
•Income tax receivable increased $37.3 million primarily due to an increase in the deduction for tax depreciation related to 100% federal bonus depreciation.
•Assets of discontinued operations decreased by $122.9 million primarily due to the sale of substantially all of Vive's loan receivable portfolio in 2025 and the wind-down of its operations. We expect the wind-down of Vive's operations to be complete in 2026.
•Debt, net decreased by $48.7 million due to the repayment of a $50.0 million draw on our Revolving Facility in early January 2025.
•Deferred tax liabilities increased $46.8 million, primarily due to the enactment of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act ("OBBBA"), which permanently extends 100% federal bonus depreciation.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
We expect that our primary capital requirements will consist of:
•Reinvesting in our business, including buying merchandise for the operations of Progressive Leasing, Purchasing Power and Four. Because we believe these businesses will continue to grow over the long-term, we expect that the need for additional merchandise will remain a major capital requirement;
•Making merger and acquisition investment(s) to further broaden our product offerings; and
•Returning excess cash to shareholders through periodically repurchasing stock and/or paying dividends.
Other capital requirements include (i) expenditures related to software development; (ii) expenditures related to our corporate operating activities; (iii) personnel expenditures; (iv) income tax payments; and (v) servicing our outstanding debt obligations.
Our capital requirements have been financed through:
•cash flows from operations;
•private debt offerings;
•bank debt; and
•stock offerings.
As of December 31, 2025, the Company had $308.8 million of cash, $350.0 million of availability under the Revolving Facility, and $600.0 million of gross indebtedness.
Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities was $335.0 million and $138.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The $196.5 million increase in operating cash flows was primarily driven by a $153.9 million decrease in cash used for purchases of lease merchandise as a result of lower GMV at Progressive Leasing. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are outlined above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2025.
Cash provided by operating activities was $138.5 million and $204.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The $65.7 million decrease in operating cash flows was primarily driven by a $129.3 million increase in cash used for purchases of lease merchandise as a result of higher GMV at Progressive Leasing, an increase in the balance of accounts receivable due to the timing of payments received from customers, and an increase in payments made on accounts payable and accrued expenses compared to December 31, 2023. These decreases in cash provided by operating activities were offset primarily by a decrease in cash paid for taxes of $50.6 million when compared to the prior year.
Cash Provided by (Used in) Investing Activities
Cash provided by investing activities was $6.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, compared to $79.2 million of cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2024. The $85.8 million increase in investing cash flows was primarily the result of a $152.4 million increase in cash proceeds from the sale of receivables in 2025. During 2025, we received $143.9 million in net cash consideration from the sale of Vive's primary loan receivable portfolio. We also received $8.5 million in gross cash proceeds related to Vive's sale of a portfolio of charged-off loans receivables to a third-party. These increases in cash from investing activities were offset by increases in outflows for investments in loans receivable of $460.9 million, partially offset by a $396.1 million increase in proceeds from loans receivable. These increases are primarily the result of growth of loan activity at Four and MoneyApp.
Cash used in investing activities was $79.2 million and $38.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The $40.4 million increase in investing cash outflows was primarily the result of a $244.8 million increase in cash outflows for investments in loans receivable, partially offset by a $203.4 million increase in proceeds from loans receivable. These increases are primarily the result of growth of loan activity at Four.
Cash Used in Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities was $128.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2025 compared to $119.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, an increase of $9.4 million. The increase in cash used in financing activities was primarily the result of a $100.0 million change in payments on debt, based on a $50.0 million draw on our revolving credit facility in 2024, which was repaid in January 2025. This increase in cash outflows was offset by a decrease of $86.9 million in cash paid for share repurchases during 2025 when compared to 2024.
Cash used in financing activities was $119.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $141.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, a decrease of $22.8 million. The decrease in cash used in financing activities was primarily the result of a $50.0 million draw on our revolving credit facility. This decrease in cash used was partially offset by a $20.4 million increase in cash paid for dividends, as the Company began paying dividends in 2024.
Share Repurchases
We purchase our stock in the market from time to time as authorized by our Board of Directors. Effective November 3, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a share repurchase program that provided the Company with the ability to repurchase shares up to a maximum amount of $1 billion. On February 21, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors reauthorized the repurchase of Company common stock at an aggregate purchase price of up to $500 million under the Company's existing share repurchase program, with such reauthorized share repurchase program to be extended for a period of three years from February 21, 2024, or until the $500 million aggregate purchase price of Company common stock purchased pursuant to the reauthorized share repurchase program has been met, whichever occurs first. As of December 31, 2025, we had the authority to purchase additional shares up to our remaining authorization limit of $309.6 million.
The Company purchased 1,835,792 shares of its common stock for $51.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2025, 3,480,871 shares for $138.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, and 4,691,274 shares for $139.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2023. These amounts do not include any excise tax that may be assessed on those repurchases.
Dividends
We declared and paid a dividend of $0.13 per share in each quarter of 2025, which resulted in aggregate dividend payments of $20.8 million. We declared and paid a dividend of $0.12 per share in each quarter of 2024, which resulted in aggregate dividend payments of $20.4 million. We paid no dividends during 2023. While we expect to continue paying quarterly cash dividends in future periods, the future payment of dividends, if permitted, will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our capital allocation strategy at that time as well as other factors, including our earnings, financial condition, and other considerations that our Board of Directors deems relevant.
Debt Financing
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a credit agreement with a consortium of lenders providing for a $350.0 million senior revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility"). On November 15, 2024, the Company entered into an amendment to the Revolving Facility, the primary purpose of which was to extend the maturity date of the Revolving Facility from November 24, 2025 to November 15, 2029.
The Revolving Facility includes an uncommitted incremental facility increase option ("Incremental Facilities") which, subject to certain terms and conditions, permits the Company at any time prior to the maturity date to request an increase in extensions of credit available thereunder by an aggregate additional principal amount of up to $300.0 million. As of December 31, 2025, the Company had no outstanding balance and $350.0 million remaining available for borrowings on the Revolving Facility.
On January 2, 2026, the Company entered into an additional amendment to the Revolving Facility (the "Fourth Amendment") pursuant to which the Company borrowed $135.0 million on the existing Revolving Facility and borrowed $125.0 million on a new incremental term loan. The proceeds from these borrowings and cash on hand were used to acquire Purchasing Power. Refer to Note 16 for further information on this transaction.
The Revolving Facility is fully secured and contains certain financial covenants, which, prior to January 2, 2026, included requirements that the Company maintain ratios of (i) total net debt to EBITDA of no more than 2.50:1.00 and (ii) consolidated interest coverage of no less than 3.00:1.00. Upon the acquisition of Purchasing Power, the Fourth Amendment was executed and revised the total net debt to EBITDA quarterly financial maintenance covenant to increase the maximum permitted ratio to 3.25:1.00 during the Company’s 2026 fiscal year, 3.00:1.00 during its 2027 fiscal year and 2.50:1.00 thereafter. The Company will be in default under the Revolving Facility if it fails to comply with these covenants, and all borrowings outstanding may become due immediately. As of December 31, 2025, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants set forth in the Revolving Facility and believes it will continue to be in compliance in the future.
On November 26, 2021, the Company entered into an indenture in connection with its offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2029 (the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued at 100.0% of their par value with a stated fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest accrues on the outstanding balance and is payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company and are guaranteed by certain of the Company's existing and future domestic subsidiaries.
The indenture discussed above contains various other covenants and obligations to which the Company and its subsidiaries are subject while the Senior Notes are outstanding. The covenants in the indenture may limit the extent to which, or the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to, among other things: (i) incur additional debt and guarantee debt; (ii) pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem capital stock; (iii) prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt; (iv) issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; (v) make loans and investments; (vi) sell assets; (vii) incur liens; (viii) enter into transactions with affiliates; (ix) enter into agreements restricting the ability of the Company's subsidiaries to pay dividends; and (x) consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Company's assets. The indenture also contains customary events of default for transactions of this type and amount. The Company was in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2025 and believes that it will continue to be in compliance in the future.
Commitments
Income Taxes. During the year ended December 31, 2025, we made net income tax payments of $45.8 million. During the year ended December 31, 2026, we anticipate receiving estimated cash refunds (net of payments) of $9.6 million for United States federal and state income taxes.
Leases. We lease management and information technology space for corporate functions under operating leases expiring at various times through 2028. Our corporate and segment management office leases contain renewal options for additional periods ranging from two to three years. Approximate future minimum payments for operating leases that have initial or remaining non-cancelable terms in excess of one year as of December 31, 2025 are disclosed in Note 7 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments. At December 31, 2025, future interest payments on the Company's variable-rate debt were based on a rate per annum equal to, at our option, (i) the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") plus a margin within the range of 1.5% to 2.5% for revolving loans, based on total leverage, or (ii) the administrative agent's base rate plus a margin ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%, as specified in the agreement. The Fourth Amendment updates the grid-based pricing applicable to all loans under our Revolving Facility and the unused portion of the revolving commitments, with borrowings bearing interest at an annual rate equal to, at the Company’s option, (i) SOFR plus a margin within the range of 1.5% to 2.8% for all loans, based on total net leverage, or (ii) the administrative agent's base rate plus a margin 1.0% lower than the applicable margin for SOFR loans. The Fourth Amendment also updates the commitment fees payable on unused revolving commitments to a range of 0.25% to 0.50%, as determined based on total net leverage.
Future interest payments related to our Revolving Facility are based on the borrowings outstanding at that time. Future interest payments may be different depending on future borrowing activity and interest rates. The Company had no outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Facility as of December 31, 2025.
As discussed above, on November 26, 2021, the Company issued $600 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes that bear a fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes will mature on November 15, 2029.
The Company has no long-term commitments to purchase merchandise nor does it have significant purchase agreements that specify minimum quantities or set prices that exceed our expected requirements for three months.
Deferred income tax liabilities as of December 31, 2025 were approximately $121.2 million. Deferred income tax liabilities are calculated based on temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their respective book basis, which will result in taxable amounts in future years when the liabilities are settled at their reported financial statement amounts. The results of these calculations do not have a direct connection with the amount of cash taxes to be paid in any future periods. As a result, scheduling deferred income tax liabilities as payments due by period may be misleading, because this scheduling would not necessarily relate to liquidity needs.
Purchasing Power Acquisition. In December 2025, the Company entered into a definitive agreement to acquire all of the outstanding equity interests of P-Squared, LLC, the parent company of Purchasing Power Holdings LLC ("Purchasing Power"). As of December 31, 2025, the agreement was executed and represented a binding contractual commitment, although the acquisition had yet to be closed.
Pursuant to the agreement, the Company was required to fund the purchase price in cash at closing, subject to customary purchase price adjustments, and to deposit a portion of the consideration into an escrow account. These obligations were expected to be satisfied shortly after year end. The acquisition closed on January 2, 2026, and the Company satisfied all related payment obligations at that time. The Company does not have any material contractual obligations related to this transaction as of the date of this filing.
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Critical Accounting Policies
We discuss the most critical accounting policies below. For a discussion of all of the Company's significant accounting policies, see Note 1 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
All of Progressive Leasing's customer agreements are considered operating leases and are recognized in accordance with ASC 842, "Leases." The Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise until all payment obligations are satisfied under the lease ownership agreements. Progressive Leasing recognizes lease revenue on a straight-line basis over the estimated lease term. Initial lease payments made by the customer upon lease execution are initially recognized as deferred revenue and are recognized as lease revenue over the estimated lease term on a straight-line basis. All other customer billings are in arrears and, therefore, lease revenues are earned prior to the lease payment due date and are recorded in the statements of earnings net of related sales taxes as earned. Cash collected in advance of being due or earned and recognized as deferred revenue is presented within customer deposits and advance payments in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Progressive Leasing revenues recorded prior to the payment due date results in unbilled accounts receivable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Our revenue recognition accounting policy matches the lease revenue with the corresponding costs, mainly depreciation expense, associated with lease merchandise.
At December 31, 2025 and 2024, we had deferred revenue representing cash collected in advance of being due or earned totaling $37.4 million and $40.9 million, respectively, and accounts receivable, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical collection rates, of $74.2 million and $80.2 million, respectively. Our accounts receivable allowance is estimated using historical write-off and collection experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease receivables after 120 days. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments is recorded as a reduction of lease revenues and fees in accordance with ASC 842.
Other Revenues are primarily generated from our Four segment, and to a lesser extent, our other strategic operations. The Company recognizes revenue generated from fees, affiliate revenues, subscription income, and interchange revenues charged in connection with its interest-free installment loans originated through Four's BNPL platform and our other strategic operations. Affiliate and other fees represent Four's primary source of revenue and are economically associated with the underlying consumer loans. Accordingly, these fees are accounted for under ASC 310, "Receivables," as an adjustment to the yield of the related loans. Merchant fees are deferred at loan origination and recognized over the contractual term of the related loan. In addition, the Company earns subscription fee revenue from consumers who subscribe to premium features within its mobile application. Subscription fee revenue is accounted for in accordance with ASC 606, "Revenue from Contracts with Customers." Subscription fees are generally billed monthly or annually and represent a single performance obligation to provide continuous access to subscription-based services over the subscription period. Subscription revenue is recognized on a straight-line basis over the applicable subscription term.
Lease Merchandise
The Company's Progressive Leasing segment, at which all merchandise is on lease, depreciates merchandise on a straight-line basis to a 0% salvage value generally over 12 months. We record a provision for lease merchandise write-offs using the allowance method. The allowance for lease merchandise write-offs estimates the merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management as of the end of the accounting period. The Company estimates its allowance for lease merchandise write-offs using historical write-off experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease merchandise after 120 days. As of December 31, 2025 and 2024, the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs was $47.0 million and $51.9 million, respectively. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs was $173.1 million and $178.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
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Provision for Loan Losses and Loan Loss Allowance
Expected lifetime losses on loans receivable are recognized upon loan acquisition, which results in earlier recognition of credit losses and requires the Company to make its best estimate of lifetime losses at the time of acquisition. Four segments its loans receivable by delinquency status and evaluates loans receivable collectively for impairment when similar risk characteristics exist.
The Company calculates the Four allowance for loan losses based on internal historical loss information. ASC 326, "Credit Losses," requires the consideration of reasonable and supportable forecasts of future economic conditions in determining allowances for loan losses. In determining the potential adjustments to the reserve for macroeconomic conditions and forecasted economic data, Four management considers significant current economic trends, market factors, and quarterly forecasts. However, management has concluded that, based on the approximate six-week life of each loan, future macroeconomic conditions and forecasted economic data do not generally have a significant effect on the estimate of the allowance for credit losses on such short-term loans. Management considered forecasted economic conditions, including inflation and unemployment trends and concluded that given the six-week duration and rapid turnover of the portfolio, such factors do not materially affect expected lifetime credit losses. The Company may also consider other qualitative factors in estimating the allowance, as necessary.
The allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level considered appropriate to cover expected lifetime losses of principal and fees on active loans in the loans receivable portfolio, and the appropriateness of the allowance is evaluated at each period end. Four's delinquent loans receivable are those that are past due based on their contractual billing dates. Loans receivable are charged off at the end of the month after the loans receivable become 90 days past due.
The provision for loan losses was $40.3 million and $18.6 million for the years ended December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively. The allowance for loan losses was $17.3 million and $9.2 million as of December 31, 2025 and 2024, respectively.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 to the Company's consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recently issued accounting pronouncements.
MD&A history
Prior-year 10-K MD&A spans are extracted from SEC filings with the same bounded parser used for the latest filing. The latest 10-K appears above; prior years are below.
FY 2024 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001808834-25-000009.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of PROG Holdings, Inc. and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Throughout the MD&A we refer to various notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements which appear in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The following discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" of this Form 10-K.
Business Overview
PROG Holdings, Inc. ("we," "our," "us," the "Company," or "PROG Holdings") is a financial technology holding company that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. PROG Holdings has two reportable segments: (i) Progressive Leasing, an in-store, app-based, and e-commerce point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions provider; and (ii) Vive Financial ("Vive"), an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products.
Our Progressive Leasing segment provides consumers with lease-purchase solutions through its point-of-sale partner locations and e-commerce website partners (collectively, "POS partners"). It does so by purchasing merchandise from the POS partners desired by customers and, in turn, leasing that merchandise to the customers through a cancellable lease-to-own transaction. Progressive Leasing has no stores of its own, but rather offers lease-purchase solutions to the customers of traditional and e-commerce retailers. The Progressive Leasing segment comprised approximately 96% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Our Vive segment primarily serves customers that may not qualify for traditional prime lending offers who desire to purchase goods and services from participating merchants. Vive offers customized programs, with services that include revolving loans through private label and Vive-branded credit cards. Vive's current network of POS partner locations and e-commerce websites includes furniture, mattresses, home exercise equipment, and home improvement retailers, as well as medical and dental service providers. The Vive segment comprised approximately 3% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2024.
Four Technologies, Inc. ("Four"), is a Buy Now, Pay Later ("BNPL") company that allows shoppers to pay for merchandise through four interest-free installments. Four's proprietary platform capabilities and its base of customers and retailers expand PROG Holdings' ecosystem of financial technology offerings by introducing a payment solution that further diversifies the Company's consumer financial technology offerings. Shoppers use Four to purchase furniture, clothing, electronics, health and beauty products, footwear, jewelry, and other consumer goods from retailers across the United States. Four is not a reportable segment for the year ended December 31, 2024 as its financial results are not significant to the Company's consolidated financial results. Four's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
PROG Holdings also owns Build, a credit building financial management tool. Build is not a reportable segment in 2024 as its financial results are not significant to the Company's consolidated financial results. Build's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
Macroeconomic and Business Environment
During 2024, the Company's lease application volume increased due to progress in executing our strategic growth initiatives, including direct-to-consumer and other enhanced marketing initiatives, e-commerce integrations with POS partners, customer experience technology improvements with certain POS partners, and also due to the tightening of the credit supply above Progressive Leasing. We believe these factors contributed to growth in Progressive Leasing's Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") in the year ended December 31, 2024 when compared to the prior year, and will continue to have a favorable impact in 2025. Despite the increase in demand for our lease-to-own offerings, the Company continues to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment. Due to inflationary pressures in recent years, the cost of living remains significantly higher than it was prior to 2020, particularly with respect to housing, food and gas costs. We believe the increased cost of living has had a disproportionate negative effect on the customers we serve and an unfavorable impact on our GMV and financial performance in 2024, and will continue to do so in 2025. We believe the persistent inflationary pressures, the cost of living and elevated interest rates for extended periods have also unfavorably impacted consumer confidence within our customer base, resulting in a decrease in demand for the types of merchandise offered by many of our key national and regional POS partners. For example, Big Lots, Inc., one of Progressive Leasing's ten largest POS partners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in September 2024, resulting in the permanent closure of many of its stores. While we expect to implement a number of initiatives intended to
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offset the GMV loss arising out of Big Lots' bankruptcy, we believe that development will have a negative impact on Progressive Leasing's GMV and financial performance in 2025.
In light of these macroeconomic challenges and to align the cost structure of our business with our near-term revenue outlook, the Company executed on a number of cost reduction initiatives beginning in 2022 and continuing into 2024, to drive efficiencies and right-size variable costs, while attempting to minimize the negative impact on growth-related initiatives.
Customer payment delinquencies at the end of 2024 were elevated compared to the end of 2023, which contributed to the provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues increasing to 7.5% for the year ended December 31, 2024 from 6.7% in the same period in 2023, but still within the Company's targeted annual range of 6% to 8%. Any meaningful increase in the unemployment rate or any further increase in inflation may result in increasing levels of customer payment delinquencies and related write-offs, which would result in an unfavorable impact on our performance.
Cybersecurity Incident
During the third quarter of 2023, Progressive Leasing experienced a cybersecurity incident affecting certain data and IT systems of Progressive Leasing. Promptly after detecting the incident, the Company engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and took immediate steps to respond to, remediate and investigate the incident. Law enforcement was also notified. Based on the Company's investigation, the Company determined that the data involved in the incident contained a substantial amount of personally identifiable information, including social security numbers, of Progressive Leasing's customers and other individuals. With the assistance of cybersecurity experts, the Company located the Progressive Leasing customers and other individuals whose information was impacted and notified them, consistent with state and federal requirements. The Company also took a number of additional measures to demonstrate its continued support and commitment to data privacy and protection.
As a result of this cybersecurity incident, Progressive Leasing has become subject to multiple lawsuits which allege, among other things, the incurrence of various types of damages arising out of the incident. All of these lawsuits have been consolidated into a single action in the United States District Court for the District of Utah (the "District Court"). The plaintiffs filed a consolidated complaint on April 19, 2024. On June 24, 2024, Progressive Leasing filed a motion to dismiss the complaint, which was granted in part and denied in part on January 16, 2025.
Progressive Leasing intends to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit; however, at this time, the Company is unable to determine or predict the outcome of this lawsuit or reasonably provide an estimate or range of the possible losses, if any. The Company also maintains cybersecurity insurance coverage, subject to a $1.0 million retention, to limit the exposure to losses and related costs and expenses, such as those related to the cybersecurity incident and lawsuits stemming therefrom; however, there can be no assurance that such insurance coverage will be adequate to cover all of the costs and expenses related thereto or that the insurers will agree to cover all such losses, costs and expenses.
During the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company incurred $0.3 million and $2.8 million, respectively, for costs related to the cybersecurity incident, net of insurance proceeds. These costs related primarily to third-party legal and consulting services and credit monitoring services for Progressive Leasing's customers and employees that were impacted and are included within professional services expense as a component of operating expenses in the consolidated statements of earnings.
36
Highlights
The following summarizes significant highlights from the year ended December 31, 2024:
•We reported revenues of $2.5 billion in 2024, an increase of 2.3% compared to 2023. The increase in revenues was primarily due to an increase in GMV at Four and Progressive Leasing in 2024 compared to the prior year.
•GMV from our other operations increased by $200.5 million, or 198.3%, primarily due to an increase in loan originations for our Four business in 2024 compared to 2023. GMV increased by $130.5 million for Progressive Leasing in 2024, compared to 2023. The increase in GMV for Progressive Leasing was due to a combination of: (i) positive customer responses to our strategic initiatives, such as direct-to-consumer and other enhanced marketing initiatives, e-commerce integrations with our POS partners and customer experience technology improvements with certain POS partners, and (ii) increasing demand for our lease-to-own offering arising out of a tightening of the credit supply above Progressive Leasing, which resulted in an increase in lease applications when compared to 2023.
•Earnings before income tax (benefit) expense decreased to $163.6 million compared to $196.2 million in 2023. The decrease was primarily driven by higher provisions for lease merchandise write-offs and loan losses, more customers choosing to exercise early buyout options, and increased restructuring expenses in 2024 compared to 2023. These decreases to earnings before income taxes were partially offset by lower personnel costs resulting from our cost reduction initiatives.
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume. We believe GMV is a key performance indicator of our Progressive Leasing and Vive segments, as it provides the total value of new leases and loans written into our portfolio over a specified time period. GMV does not represent revenues earned by the Company, but rather is a leading indicator we use in forecasting revenues the Company may earn. Progressive Leasing's GMV is defined as the retail price of merchandise acquired by Progressive Leasing, which it then expects to lease to its customers. GMV for Vive and Other are defined as gross loan originations.
The following table presents our GMV for the Company for the years presented:
| For the Year Ended December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 1,927,164 | $ | 1,796,647 | $ | 1,976,794 | ||||
| Vive | 141,093 | 143,541 | 178,002 | |||||||
| Other | 301,568 | 101,099 | 60,459 | |||||||
| Total GMV | $ | 2,369,825 | $ | 2,041,287 | $ | 2,215,255 |
The increase in Progressive Leasing's GMV was primarily due to a combination of: (i) positive customer responses to our strategic initiatives, such as direct-to-consumer and other enhanced marketing initiatives, e-commerce integrations with our POS partners and customer experience technology improvements with certain POS partners, and (ii) increasing demand for our lease-to-own offering arising out of a tightening of the credit supply above Progressive Leasing, which resulted in an increase in lease applications when compared to 2023. E-commerce channels generated 17.0% of Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2024 compared to 16.9% in 2023. The increase in GMV from our other operations was primarily due to an increase in loan originations by our Four business. GMV for Vive remained consistent year over year.
Active Customer Count. Our active customer count represents the total number of customers that have an active lease agreement with Progressive Leasing, or an active loan with Vive or our other operations. Active customer counts include customers that may have an active lease or loan agreement with more than one segment. The following table presents our active customer count for each segment and Other:
| As of December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Customer Count: | |||||||
| Progressive Leasing | 934 | 893 | 943 | ||||
| Vive | 90 | 86 | 92 | ||||
| Other | 252 | 113 | 39 |
The number of customers for Progressive Leasing was higher in 2024, compared to the prior year, due to favorable customer responses to our strategic initiatives, including enhanced marketing, e-commerce integrations with POS partners, customer experience technology improvements with certain POS partners, and to a lesser extent, a tightening of the credit supply above Progressive Leasing. The number of customers for Vive has remained essentially flat. The increase in the number of customers for Other was the result of continued growth in our other strategic businesses.
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Key Components of Earnings Before Income Tax (Benefit) Expense
In this MD&A section, we review our consolidated results. For the year ended December 31, 2024 and the comparable prior year periods, some of the key revenue, cost and expense items that affected earnings before income taxes were as follows:
Revenues. We separate our total revenues into two components: (i) lease revenues and fees and (ii) interest and fees on loans receivable. Lease revenues and fees include all revenues derived from lease agreements from our Progressive Leasing segment. Lease revenues are recorded net of a provision for uncollectible renewal payments. Interest and fees on loans receivable represents merchant fees, finance charges and annual and other fees earned on outstanding loans in our Vive segment and, to a lesser extent, from our Four business.
Depreciation of Lease Merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise reflects the expense associated with depreciating merchandise leased to customers by Progressive Leasing.
Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs represents the estimated merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management and adjustments for changes in estimates for the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs.
Operating Expenses. Operating expenses include personnel costs, stock-based compensation expense, occupancy costs, advertising, decisioning expense, professional services expense, sales acquisition expense, computer software expense, bank service charges, the provision for loan losses, fixed asset depreciation expense, intangible asset amortization, and restructuring expense, among other expenses.
Impairment of Goodwill. Impairment of goodwill is the partial write-off of the goodwill balance at the Four reporting unit. Refer to Note 1 of the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the goodwill impairment assessment and resulting impairment charge that occurred in the third quarter of 2022.
Interest Expense, Net. Interest expense, net consists of interest incurred on the Company's Senior Notes and senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility"). Interest expense is presented net of interest income earned on the Company's deposits in cash and cash equivalents.
38
Results of Operations
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2024 and 2023
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 32,901 | 1.4 | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 97,007 | 74,676 | 22,331 | 29.9 | ||||||||||||
| 2,463,496 | 2,408,264 | 55,232 | 2.3 | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,621,101 | 1,576,303 | 44,798 | 2.8 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 178,338 | 155,250 | 23,088 | 14.9 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 469,160 | 451,084 | 18,076 | 4.0 | ||||||||||||
| 2,268,599 | 2,182,637 | 85,962 | 3.9 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 194,897 | 225,627 | (30,730) | (13.6) | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (31,289) | (29,406) | (1,883) | (6.4) | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX (BENEFIT) EXPENSE | 163,608 | 196,221 | (32,613) | (16.6) | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX (BENEFIT) EXPENSE | (33,641) | 57,383 | (91,024) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 197,249 | $ | 138,838 | $ | 58,411 | 42.1 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2024 | Year Ended December 31, 2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,333,588 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 64,415 | 32,592 | 97,007 | — | 68,912 | 5,764 | 74,676 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,366,489 | $ | 64,415 | $ | 32,592 | $ | 2,463,496 | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 68,912 | $ | 5,764 | $ | 2,408,264 |
The increase in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily the result of the 7.3% increase in GMV for 2024 as compared to the prior year, due to an increase in demand for our lease-to-own offerings and more customers choosing to exercise early buyout options. This increase was partially offset by having a smaller lease portfolio at the beginning of 2024 as compared to the beginning of 2023. Vive revenues declined primarily due to a smaller loan portfolio throughout 2024 as compared to 2023, as a result of lower demand for products offered by certain Vive POS partners. The increase to Other revenue was primarily driven by a 198.3% increase in Four's GMV as compared to the same period in 2023, due to increased loan originations.
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Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 172,542 | $ | 187,199 | $ | (14,657) | (7.8) | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 29,179 | 24,920 | 4,259 | 17.1 | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 4,199 | 5,429 | (1,230) | (22.7) | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 20,102 | 17,203 | 2,899 | 16.9 | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 32,277 | 26,882 | 5,395 | 20.1 | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 29,175 | 28,205 | 970 | 3.4 | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 28,057 | 26,673 | 1,384 | 5.2 | ||||||||||||
| Bank Service Charges | 11,042 | 11,246 | (204) | (1.8) | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 36,969 | 38,005 | (1,036) | (2.7) | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 363,542 | 365,762 | (2,220) | (0.6) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 55,950 | 40,757 | 15,193 | 37.3 | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 26,977 | 32,032 | (5,055) | (15.8) | ||||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 22,691 | 12,533 | 10,158 | 81.1 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 469,160 | $ | 451,084 | $ | 18,076 | 4.0 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
The $14.7 million decrease in personnel costs was due to a decrease of $13.3 million at Progressive Leasing attributable to its reduction in the number of employees during the second half of 2023 and first quarter of 2024 as part of its restructuring and cost cutting initiatives. Personnel costs at Vive also decreased by $1.4 million compared to 2023.
Stock-based compensation increased $4.3 million compared to 2023, consisting of increases of $5.3 million at Progressive Leasing and $0.2 million at Vive, partially offset by a decrease of $1.2 million at Four. The higher stock-based compensation in 2024 was the result of: (i) an increase in the grant date value of restricted stock units granted in 2024 compared to 2023; and (ii) an increase to the estimated payout of performance stock units granted in 2024 based on the Company's actual results, compared to a lower payout of performance stock units granted in 2023. The lower stock-based compensation at Four in 2024 compared to 2023, was a result of the Company determining in the second quarter of 2024 that performance stock units that had been granted to Four executives in 2021 and 2022 were no longer probable of being earned.
Advertising expense increased $2.9 million compared to 2023, primarily due to increased advertising in the Progressive Leasing segment associated with the expansion of our direct-to-consumer marketing efforts.
Professional services increased $5.4 million compared to 2023, primarily due to higher technology-related costs. Professional services in the prior year were also impacted by the benefit of $0.5 million of regulatory insurance recoveries that were received during the first quarter of 2023.
The provision for loan losses increased $15.2 million compared to 2023. The increase was primarily the result of a $14.0 million increase in the provision for loan losses for our Other operations, due to the continued growth of our Four business and our other strategic operations. The provision for loan losses at Vive also increased $1.2 million due to higher delinquencies compared to 2023.
Depreciation and amortization decreased $5.1 million compared to 2023, primarily due to a decrease of $5.7 million at Progressive Leasing and $0.1 million at Vive, partially offset by an increase of $0.7 million at Four and other strategic businesses. The decrease at Progressive Leasing was primarily attributable to a technology asset that was fully amortized during the second quarter of 2024, as well as assets that were impaired as part of the Company's restructuring activities during the first quarter of 2024. The increase at Four and other strategic businesses was due to an increase in depreciable assets as compared to 2023.
In 2024, restructuring expense included $7.8 million associated with the early termination of an independent sales agent agreement for Progressive Leasing, $2.0 million associated with the early termination of a third party vendor agreement within other strategic operations, $6.0 million of operating lease right-of-use asset and other fixed asset impairment charges related to
40
the reduction of Progressive Leasing office space, and $6.8 million of employee severance for Progressive Leasing, Vive, and Other operations. In 2023, restructuring expense included $9.6 million associated with the early termination of certain independent sales agent agreements and $2.9 million of employee severance within Progressive Leasing.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise increased by 2.8% during the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to 2023. The increase was primarily due to growth in the Company's lease portfolio, resulting from positive customer responses to our strategic initiatives and increasing demand for our lease-to-own offering. As a percentage of lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased to 68.5% from 67.5% in the prior year period, primarily due to a normalized level of early buyouts during 2024 as compared to a lower level of early buyouts during 2023.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs increased by $23.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, as compared to 2023. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues increased to 7.5% for the year ended December 31, 2024 from 6.7% for the prior year. The increase in the provision was a result of higher delinquencies and write-offs in 2024 compared to 2023. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from a higher cost of living, inflationary pressures, impact of tariffs, and increased interest rates for an extended period, and the potential effects of such developments on Progressive Leasing's POS partners, customers, and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance as of December 31, 2024. Actual lease merchandise write-offs could differ materially from the allowance for those write-offs.
Interest expense, net. Information about interest expense and interest income is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net: | ||||||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | $ | 38,816 | $ | 38,694 | $ | 122 | 0.3 | % | ||||||||
| Interest Income | (7,527) | (9,288) | 1,761 | 19.0 | ||||||||||||
| Total Interest Expense, Net | $ | 31,289 | $ | 29,406 | $ | 1,883 | 6.4 | % |
Interest expense, net increased $1.9 million due to a decrease in interest income earned from a decrease in cash deposits during 2024 compared to 2023.
Earnings Before Income Tax (Benefit) Expense
Information about our earnings before income tax (benefit) expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2024 vs. 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2024 | 2023 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX (BENEFIT) EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 184,782 | $ | 216,271 | $ | (31,489) | (14.6) | % | ||||||||
| Vive | (848) | 4,545 | (5,393) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Other | (20,326) | (24,595) | 4,269 | 17.4 | ||||||||||||
| Earnings Before Income Tax (Benefit) Expense | $ | 163,608 | $ | 196,221 | $ | (32,613) | (16.6) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
The loss before income tax (benefit) expense within Other primarily relates to losses from our other strategic operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings before income tax (benefit) expense for each reporting segment are discussed above.
Income Tax (Benefit) Expense
Income tax (benefit) expense was a benefit of $33.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to an expense of $57.4 million in 2023. The effective tax rate was (20.6)% for the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to 29.2% in 2023. The income tax benefit and negative effective tax rate in 2024 was primarily due to a $51.4 million non-cash reversal of the uncertain tax position related to Progressive Leasing and a $27.6 million deferred tax benefit related to an election which resulted in the deemed liquidation of a wholly-owned partnership for tax purposes.
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Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | (190,197) | (7.5) | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 74,676 | 74,041 | 635 | 0.9 | ||||||||||||
| 2,408,264 | 2,597,826 | (189,562) | (7.3) | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,576,303 | 1,757,730 | (181,427) | (10.3) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 155,250 | 193,926 | (38,676) | (19.9) | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 451,084 | 450,374 | 710 | 0.2 | ||||||||||||
| Impairment of Goodwill | — | 10,151 | (10,151) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,182,637 | 2,412,181 | (229,544) | (9.5) | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 225,627 | 185,645 | 39,982 | 21.5 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (29,406) | (37,401) | 7,995 | 21.4 | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 196,221 | 148,244 | 47,977 | 32.4 | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 57,383 | 49,535 | 7,848 | 15.8 | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 138,838 | $ | 98,709 | $ | 40,129 | 40.7 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2023 | Year Ended December 31, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,523,785 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 68,912 | 5,764 | 74,676 | — | 70,911 | 3,130 | 74,041 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 68,912 | $ | 5,764 | $ | 2,408,264 | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 70,911 | $ | 3,130 | $ | 2,597,826 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily the result of having a smaller lease portfolio at the beginning of and throughout 2023, as compared to the same periods in 2022. The decrease was also a result of a decline in Progressive Leasing's GMV for the year ended 2023, as compared to 2022, resulting from decreased customer demand for many of the products offered by our POS partners and tightened lease decisioning beginning in mid-2022. The decline in revenues was partially offset by improved customer payment activity in 2023, as compared to 2022. Vive revenues declined due to a 19.4% decrease in GMV as compared to 2022, resulting in a smaller loan portfolio throughout 2023. The increase in Other revenue was primarily driven by a 67.2% increase in Four's GMV as compared to the same period in 2022.
42
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 187,199 | $ | 194,195 | $ | (6,996) | (3.6) | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 24,920 | 17,521 | 7,399 | 42.2 | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 5,429 | 6,466 | (1,037) | (16.0) | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 17,203 | 15,762 | 1,441 | 9.1 | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 26,882 | 22,824 | 4,058 | 17.8 | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 28,205 | 28,828 | (623) | (2.2) | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 26,673 | 27,629 | (956) | (3.5) | ||||||||||||
| Bank Service Charges | 11,246 | 12,491 | (1,245) | (10.0) | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 38,005 | 40,574 | (2,569) | (6.3) | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 365,762 | 366,290 | (528) | (0.1) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 40,757 | 41,232 | (475) | (1.2) | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 32,032 | 33,851 | (1,819) | (5.4) | ||||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 12,533 | 9,001 | 3,532 | 39.2 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 451,084 | $ | 450,374 | $ | 710 | 0.2 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
The $7.0 million decrease in personnel costs was due to a decrease of $9.1 million at Progressive Leasing attributable to its reduction in the number of employees during the second half of 2022 as part of its restructuring and cost cutting initiatives. Personnel costs for Four and other strategic businesses also decreased by $0.1 million as compared to 2022. These decreases were partially offset by an increase of $2.2 million at Vive primarily due to increased salaries and wages for new and existing employees.
Stock-based compensation increased $7.4 million compared to 2022, consisting of increases of $4.7 million at Progressive Leasing, $1.9 million at Four and other strategic businesses, and $0.8 million at Vive. The lower stock-based compensation in 2022 was the result of: (i) the Company determining in the second quarter of 2022 that performance stock units that had been granted to Four executives were no longer probable of being earned resulting in lower expense in 2022 compared to 2023; (ii) no stock-based compensation expense being recognized for Progressive Leasing performance stock units granted in 2022 as the performance metrics related to those performance stock units were not met; and (iii) other stock-based forfeitures in 2022 related to the Progressive Leasing restructuring program. During 2023, the estimated payout of performance stock units granted in 2023 exceeded target based on the Company's actual results, further increasing the stock-based compensation expense during 2023 versus 2022.
Professional services expense increased $4.1 million, consisting of $3.2 million at Progressive Leasing, $0.8 million at Four and other strategic businesses and $0.1 million at Vive. The increase at Progressive Leasing was primarily due to costs incurred related to the cybersecurity incident during the third quarter of 2023. The remaining increases were the result of increased expenses for other legal services and contract labor compared to 2022.
Restructuring expense increased $3.5 million due to additional actions taken during the year ended December 31, 2023. In 2023, restructuring costs included $9.6 million associated with the early termination of certain independent sales agent agreements and $2.9 million of employee severance within Progressive Leasing. In 2022, restructuring costs included $5.6 million of employee severance within Progressive Leasing, $3.3 million of operating lease right-of-use asset and other fixed asset impairment charges related to the relocation of the Vive corporate headquarters and a reduction of Progressive Leasing management and information technology office space, and $0.1 million of other restructuring expenses.
43
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise decreased by 10.3% during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 2022. The decrease was primarily due to a reduction in the size of Progressive Leasing's lease portfolio, resulting from tightening of its decisioning in mid-2022 and decreased consumer demand for many of the leasable products offered by Progressive Leasing's retail partners. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise decreased to 67.5% from 69.6% in the prior year period, primarily due to improved customer payment activity and lower early buyouts for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period in 2022.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs decreased by $38.7 million due to a reduction in the size of Progressive Leasing's lease portfolio and improved customer payment activity during the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period in 2022. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues decreased to 6.7% for the year ended December 31, 2023 from 7.7% in the same period in 2022. The decrease in the provision as a percentage of lease revenues was a result of improved customer payment activity and lower write-offs due to the Company tightening its lease decisioning in mid-2022. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from inflation, elevated interest rates for extended periods, the resumption of student loan payments in October 2023, and the potential effects of such developments on Progressive Leasing's customers, and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance as of December 31, 2023. Actual lease merchandise write-offs could differ materially from the allowance for those write-offs.
Impairment of Goodwill. The Company recorded a loss of $10.2 million to partially write off the goodwill balance of the Four reporting unit during the third quarter of 2022.
Interest expense, net. Information about interest expense and interest income is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | ||||||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | $ | 38,694 | $ | 38,675 | $ | 19 | — | % | ||||||||
| Interest Income | (9,288) | (1,274) | (8,014) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Total Interest Expense, Net | $ | 29,406 | $ | 37,401 | $ | (7,995) | (21.4) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Interest expense, net decreased $8.0 million due to interest income earned on the Company's deposits in cash and cash equivalents resulting from an increase in deposits in higher yield accounts.
Earnings Before Income Tax Expense
Information about our earnings before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 216,271 | $ | 174,143 | $ | 42,128 | 24.2 | % | ||||||||
| Vive | 4,545 | 9,195 | (4,650) | (50.6) | ||||||||||||
| Other | (24,595) | (35,094) | 10,499 | 29.9 | ||||||||||||
| Earnings Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 196,221 | $ | 148,244 | $ | 47,977 | 32.4 | % |
The loss before income taxes within Other primarily relates to our Four operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings before income tax expense for each reporting segment are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense increased to $57.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $49.5 million in 2022 primarily due to higher earnings before income tax expense in 2023 as compared to prior year. The effective tax rate was 29.2% for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 33.4% in 2022. The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily driven by the non-deductible goodwill impairment loss for Four of $10.2 million that occurred in 2022, and the increase in the valuation allowance related to certain deferred tax assets that occurred in 2022.
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Overview of Financial Position
The major changes in the consolidated balance sheet from December 31, 2023 to December 31, 2024 include:
•Cash and cash equivalents decreased $59.7 million to $95.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2024. For additional information, refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section below.
•Lease merchandise, net, increased $46.8 million due primarily to a 7.3% increase in Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2024 as compared to 2023.
•Loans receivable, net of allowances and unamortized fees, increased $20.2 million due primarily to growth in the loan portfolio of Four compared to December 31, 2023. Four's GMV increased 198.3% in 2024 as compared to 2023.
•Income tax receivable decreased $22.3 million primarily due to a net decrease in tax payments made during the year ended December 31, 2024.
•Prepaid expenses and other assets increased $27.5 million due primarily to upfront vendor incentives paid to certain Progressive Leasing POS partners in 2024.
•Accounts payable and accrued expenses decreased $58.2 million due primarily to the reversal of the uncertain tax position, including interest, related to Progressive Leasing's $175.0 million settlement with the FTC in 2020.
•Debt, net increased $51.3 million due to a $50.0 million draw on our Revolving Facility in December 2024, and the amortization of deferred financing costs. The $50.0 million draw was subsequently repaid in January 2025.
•Deferred tax assets increased $23.5 million and deferred tax liabilities decreased $30.5 million, due primarily to an election which resulted in the deemed liquidation of a wholly-owned partnership for tax purposes.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
We expect that our primary capital requirements will consist of:
•Reinvesting in our business, including buying merchandise for the operations of Progressive Leasing. Because we believe Progressive Leasing will continue to grow over the long-term, we expect that the need for additional lease merchandise will remain a major capital requirement;
•Making merger and acquisition investment(s) to further broaden our product offerings; and
•Returning excess cash to shareholders through periodically repurchasing stock and/or paying dividends.
Other capital requirements include (i) expenditures related to software development; (ii) expenditures related to our corporate operating activities; (iii) personnel expenditures; (iv) income tax payments; (v) funding of loans receivable for Vive and Four; and (vi) servicing our outstanding debt obligations.
Our capital requirements have been financed through:
•cash flows from operations;
•private debt offerings;
•bank debt; and
•stock offerings.
As of December 31, 2024, the Company had $95.7 million of cash, $300.0 million of availability under the Revolving Facility, and $650.0 million of gross indebtedness.
Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities was $138.5 million and $204.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The $65.7 million decrease in operating cash flows was primarily driven by a $129.3 million increase in cash used for purchases of lease merchandise as a result of higher GMV at Progressive Leasing, an increase in the balance of accounts receivable due to timing of payments received from customers, and an increase in payments made on accounts payable and accrued expenses compared to December 31, 2023. These decreases in cash provided by operating activities were offset primarily by a decrease in cash paid for taxes of $50.6 million when compared to the prior year.
Cash provided by operating activities was $204.2 million and $242.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The $38.3 million decrease in operating cash flows was primarily driven by a $190.2 million decrease in lease revenue resulting from a smaller lease portfolio and a $38.3 million increase in cash paid for income taxes compared to 2022. These decreases were partially offset by a $168.1 million decrease in purchases of lease merchandise, an increase in the balance of accounts payable and accrued expenses compared to December 31, 2022, improved customer payment activity during 2023, and an increase in interest income resulting from an increase in deposits in higher yield accounts. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Cash Used in Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $79.2 million and $38.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The $40.4 million increase in investing cash outflows was primarily the result of a $244.8 million increase in cash outflows for investments in loans receivable, partially offset by a $203.4 million increase in proceeds from loans receivable. These increases are primarily the result of growth of loan activity at Four.
Cash used in investing activities was $38.8 million and $53.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The $14.7 million decrease in investing cash outflows was primarily the result of a $25.3 million increase in proceeds from loans receivable, partially offset by a $11.1 million increase in cash outflows for investments in loans receivable.
Cash Used In Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities was $119.1 million during the year ended December 31, 2024 compared to $141.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, a decrease of $22.8 million. The decrease in cash used in financing activities was primarily the result of a $50.0 million draw on our revolving credit facility. This decrease in cash used was partially offset by a $20.4 million increase in cash paid for dividends, as the Company began paying dividends during 2024.
Cash used in financing activities was $141.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $227.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2022, a decrease of $85.3 million. Cash used in financing activities in 2023 was primarily for the Company's repurchase of $139.6 million of its common stock, compared to $223.6 million of share repurchases in 2022. The Company also used cash for an immaterial amount of debt issuance costs in 2023 compared to $1.6 million in 2022.
Share Repurchases
We purchase our stock in the market from time to time as authorized by our Board of Directors. Effective November 3, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a share repurchase program that provided the Company with the ability to repurchase shares up to a maximum amount of $1 billion. On February 21, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors reauthorized the repurchase of Company common stock at an aggregate purchase price of up to $500 million under the Company's existing share repurchase program, with such reauthorized share repurchase program to be extended for a period of three years from February 21, 2024, or until the $500 million aggregate purchase price of Company common stock purchased pursuant to the reauthorized share repurchase program has been met, whichever occurs first. As of December 31, 2024, we had the authority to purchase additional shares up to our remaining authorization limit of $361.3 million.
The Company purchased 3,480,871 shares of its common stock for $138.7 million during the year ended December 31, 2024, 4,691,274 shares for $139.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, and 8,720,223 shares for $223.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2022. These amounts do not include any excise tax that may be assessed on those repurchases.
Dividends
We declared and paid a dividend of $0.12 per share in each quarter of 2024, which resulted in aggregate dividend payments of $20.4 million. We paid no dividends during 2023 and 2022. While we expect to continue paying quarterly cash dividends in future periods, the future payment of dividends, if permitted, will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our capital allocation strategy at that time as well as other factors, including our earnings, financial condition, and other considerations that our Board of Directors deems relevant.
Debt Financing
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a credit agreement with a consortium of lenders providing for a $350 million senior revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility"). On November 15, 2024, the Company entered into an amendment to the Revolving Facility, the primary purpose of which was to extend the maturity date of the Revolving Facility from November 24, 2025 to November 15, 2029.
The Revolving Facility includes an uncommitted incremental facility increase option ("Incremental Facilities") which, subject to certain terms and conditions, permits the Company at any time prior to the maturity date to request an increase in extensions of credit available thereunder by an aggregate additional principal amount of up to $300 million. As of December 31, 2024, the Company had $50.0 million outstanding and $300 million remaining available for borrowings on the Revolving Facility. The Company repaid the $50.0 million Revolving Facility borrowing in January 2025.
The Revolving Facility is fully secured and contains certain financial covenants, which include requirements that the Company maintain ratios of (i) total net debt to EBITDA of no more than 2.50:1.00 and (ii) consolidated interest coverage of no less than 3.00:1.00. The Company will be in default under the Revolving Facility if it fails to comply with these covenants, and all borrowings outstanding may become due immediately. As of December 31, 2024, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants set forth in the Revolving Facility and believes it will continue to be in compliance in the future.
On November 26, 2021, the Company entered into an indenture in connection with its offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2029 (the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued at 100.0% of their par value with a stated fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest accrues on the outstanding balance and is payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company and are guaranteed by certain of the Company's existing and future domestic subsidiaries.
The indenture discussed above contains various other covenants and obligations to which the Company and its subsidiaries are subject while the Senior Notes are outstanding. The covenants in the indenture may limit the extent to which, or the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to, among other things: (i) incur additional debt and guarantee debt; (ii) pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem capital stock; (iii) prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt; (iv) issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; (v) make loans and investments; (vi) sell assets; (vii) incur liens; (viii) enter into transactions with affiliates; (ix) enter into agreements restricting the ability of the Company's subsidiaries to pay dividends; and (x) consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Company's assets. The indenture also contains customary events of default for transactions of this type and amount. The Company was in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2024 and believes that it will continue to be in compliance in the future.
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Commitments
Income Taxes. During the year ended December 31, 2024, we made net income tax payments of $49.8 million. During the year ended December 31, 2025 we anticipate making estimated cash payments of $67.0 million for United States federal and state income taxes.
Leases. We lease management and information technology space for corporate functions under operating leases expiring at various times through 2028. Our corporate and segment management office leases contain renewal options for additional periods ranging from three to five years. Approximate future minimum payments for operating leases that have initial or remaining non-cancelable terms in excess of one year as of December 31, 2024 are disclosed in Note 6 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments. Future interest payments on the Company's variable-rate debt are based on a rate per annum equal to, at our option, (i) the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") plus a margin within the range of 1.5% to 2.5% for revolving loans, based on total leverage, or (ii) the administrative agent's base rate plus a margin ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%, as specified in the agreement. Future interest payments related to our Revolving Facility are based on the borrowings outstanding at that time. Future interest payments may be different depending on future borrowing activity and interest rates. The Company had $50.0 million of outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Facility as of December 31, 2024.
As discussed above, on November 26, 2021, the Company issued $600 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes that bear a fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes will mature on November 15, 2029.
The Company has no long-term commitments to purchase merchandise nor does it have significant purchase agreements that specify minimum quantities or set prices that exceed our expected requirements for three months.
Deferred income tax liabilities as of December 31, 2024 were approximately $74.3 million. Deferred income tax liabilities are calculated based on temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their respective book basis, which will result in taxable amounts in future years when the liabilities are settled at their reported financial statement amounts. The results of these calculations do not have a direct connection with the amount of cash taxes to be paid in any future periods. As a result, scheduling deferred income tax liabilities as payments due by period may be misleading, because this scheduling would not necessarily relate to liquidity needs.
Unfunded Lending Commitments. The Company, through its Vive business, had unconditionally cancellable unfunded lending commitments totaling approximately $461.1 million and $523.9 million as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, that do not give rise to revenues and cash flows. These unfunded commitments arise in the ordinary course of business from credit card agreements with individual cardholders that give them the ability to borrow, against unused amounts, up to the maximum credit limit assigned to their account. While these unfunded amounts represented the total available unused lines of credit, the Company does not anticipate that all cardholders will utilize their entire available line at any given point in time. Commitments to extend unsecured credit are agreements to lend to a cardholder so long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.
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Critical Accounting Policies
We discuss the most critical accounting policies below. For a discussion of all of the Company's significant accounting policies, see Note 1 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
All of Progressive Leasing's customer agreements are considered operating leases and are recognized in accordance with ASC 842, Leases. The Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise until all payment obligations are satisfied under the lease ownership agreements. Progressive Leasing recognizes lease revenue on a straight-line basis over the estimated lease term. Initial lease payments made by the customer upon lease execution are initially recognized as deferred revenue and are recognized as lease revenue over the estimated lease term on a straight-line basis. All other customer billings are in arrears and, therefore, lease revenues are earned prior to the lease payment due date and are recorded in the statements of earnings net of related sales taxes as earned. Cash collected in advance of being due or earned and recognized as deferred revenue is presented within customer deposits and advance payments in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Progressive Leasing revenues recorded prior to the payment due date results in unbilled accounts receivable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Our revenue recognition accounting policy matches the lease revenue with the corresponding costs, mainly depreciation expense, associated with lease merchandise.
At December 31, 2024 and 2023, we had deferred revenue representing cash collected in advance of being due or earned totaling $40.9 million and $35.7 million, respectively, and accounts receivable, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical collection rates, of $80.2 million and $67.9 million, respectively. Our accounts receivable allowance is estimated using historical write-off and collection experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease receivables after 120 days. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments is recorded as a reduction of lease revenues and fees in accordance with ASC 842.
Vive recognizes interest income based upon the amount of the loans outstanding, which is recognized as interest and fees on loans receivable in the billing period in which they are assessed if collectability is reasonably assured. Vive acquires loans receivable from its third-party bank partners at a discount from the face value of the loan. The discount is comprised mainly of a merchant fee discount, which represents a pre-negotiated, nonrefundable discount that generally ranges from 3.0% to 30.0% of the loan face value. The discount is designed to cover the risk of loss related to the portfolio of cardholder charges and Vive's direct origination costs. The merchant fee discount, net of the origination costs, is amortized on a net basis and is recorded as interest and fee revenue on loans receivable on a straight-line basis over the initial 24-month period that the card is active.
Lease Merchandise
The Company's Progressive Leasing segment, at which all merchandise is on lease, depreciates merchandise on a straight-line basis to a 0% salvage value generally over 12 months. We record a provision for lease merchandise write-offs using the allowance method. The allowance for lease merchandise write-offs estimates the merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management as of the end of the accounting period. The Company estimates its allowance for lease merchandise write-offs using historical write-off experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease merchandise after 120 days. As of December 31, 2024 and 2023, the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs was $51.9 million and $44.2 million, respectively. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs was $178.3 million and $155.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Provision for Loan Losses and Loan Loss Allowance
Expected lifetime losses on loans receivable are recognized upon loan acquisition, which results in earlier recognition of credit losses and requires the Company to make its best estimate of probable lifetime losses at the time of acquisition. The Company segments its Vive loans receivable portfolio into homogenous pools by FICO score and by delinquency status and evaluates loans receivable collectively for impairment when similar risk characteristics exist. Our Vive credit card loans do not have contractually stated maturity dates, which requires the Company to estimate an average life of loan by analyzing historical payment trends to determine an expected remaining life of the loan balance. Our current estimate is that the average life of an outstanding credit card loan is approximately one to two years, depending on the respective FICO score segmentation.
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The Company calculates the Vive allowance for loan losses based on internal historical loss information and incorporates observable and forecasted macroeconomic data over a six-month reasonable and supportable forecast period. Key macroeconomic factors incorporated into our forecasts include projected changes in unemployment rates, stock market volatility, projected United States treasury rates, and projected prime lending rates. Incorporating macroeconomic data could have a material impact on the measurement of the allowance to the extent that forecasted data changes significantly, such as changes in forecasted unemployment rates and the observed significant market volatility. Subsequent to the six-month reasonable and supportable forecast period described above, the Company reverts to using historical loss information on a straight-line basis over a period of three months. For the remaining life of the portfolio, the Company utilizes historical loss information.
The Company may also consider other qualitative factors in estimating the allowance, as necessary. For the purposes of determining the allowance as of December 31, 2024, management considered qualitative factors such as the macroeconomic conditions associated with the impacts of stabilizing inflation and unemployment rates. The allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level considered appropriate to cover expected lifetime losses of principal, interest and fees on active loans in the loans receivable portfolio, and the appropriateness of the allowance is evaluated at each period end.
Vive's delinquent loans receivable are those that are 30 days or more past due based on their contractual billing dates. Vive's loans receivable are placed on nonaccrual status when they are greater than 90 days past due or upon notification of cardholder bankruptcy, death or fraud. Vive discontinues recognizing interest and fee revenue and amortizing merchant fee discounts and promotional fee discounts for loans receivable in nonaccrual status. Loans receivable are removed from nonaccrual status when the loan becomes 90 days or less past due and collection of the remaining amounts outstanding is deemed probable. Payments received on nonaccrual loans are allocated according to the same payment hierarchy methodology applied to loans that are accruing interest. Loans receivable are charged off at the end of the following month after the billing cycle in which the loans receivable become 120 days past due.
Four extends or declines credit on an individual transaction basis using its proprietary decisioning platform, without using customer credit ratings. Four's credit risk exposure is limited by smaller transaction values and a short loan duration.
The provision for loan losses was $56.0 million and $40.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The allowance for loan losses was $47.8 million and $40.6 million as of December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 to the Company's consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recently issued accounting pronouncements.
FY 2023 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001808834-24-000021.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of PROG Holdings, Inc. and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Throughout the MD&A we refer to various notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements which appear in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The following discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" of this Form 10-K.
Business Overview
PROG Holdings, Inc. ("we", "our", "us", the "Company", or "PROG Holdings") is a financial technology holding company that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. PROG Holdings has two reportable segments: (i) Progressive Leasing, an in-store, app-based, and e-commerce point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions provider; and (ii) Vive Financial ("Vive"), an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products.
Our Progressive Leasing segment provides consumers with lease-purchase solutions through its point-of-sale partner locations and e-commerce website partners (collectively, "POS partners"). It does so by purchasing merchandise from the POS partners desired by customers and, in turn, leasing that merchandise to the customers through a cancellable lease-to-own transaction. Progressive Leasing has no stores of its own, but rather offers lease-purchase solutions to the customers of traditional and e-commerce retailers. The Progressive Leasing segment comprised approximately 97% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Our Vive segment primarily serves customers that may not qualify for traditional prime lending offers who desire to purchase goods and services from participating merchants. Vive offers customized programs, with services that include revolving loans through private label and Vive-branded credit cards. Vive's current network of POS partner locations and e-commerce websites includes furniture, mattresses, home exercise equipment, and home improvement retailers, as well as medical and dental service providers. The Vive segment comprised approximately 3% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2023.
On June 25, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Four Technologies, Inc. ("Four"), an innovative Buy Now, Pay Later ("BNPL") company that allows shoppers to pay for merchandise through four interest-free installments. Four's proprietary platform capabilities and its base of customers and retailers expand PROG Holdings' ecosystem of financial technology offerings by introducing a payment solution that further diversifies the Company's consumer financial technology offerings. Shoppers use Four to purchase furniture, clothing, electronics, health and beauty products, footwear, jewelry, and other consumer goods from retailers across the United States. Four is not a reportable segment for the year ended December 31, 2023 as its financial results are not material to the Company's consolidated financial results. Four's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
Macroeconomic and Business Environment
The Company continues to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment. We believe the rapid increase in the rate of inflation during 2022, and higher year-over-year inflation continuing in 2023, particularly in housing, food, and gas costs, has disproportionately negatively affected the customers we serve and has resulted in an unfavorable impact on our Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") during 2022 and 2023 and on our lease portfolio performance during much of 2022. While the rate of increase in inflation has since slowed, the cost of living remains significantly higher than it was prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we believe inflation continues to present a challenge to our customers. We believe the significant increase in inflation, elevated interest rates for extended periods, and fears of a possible recession have also unfavorably impacted consumer confidence within our customer base, resulting in a decrease in demand for the types of merchandise offered by many of our key national and regional POS partners. In light of these macroeconomic challenges and to align the cost structure of our business with our near-term revenue outlook, the Company executed on a number of cost reduction initiatives during 2022, 2023, and the first quarter of 2024 to drive efficiencies and right-size variable costs, while attempting to minimize the negative impact on growth-related initiatives.
Customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments experienced within our Progressive Leasing segment during much of 2022 significantly exceeded levels experienced during pre-pandemic periods. In response to increasing customer delinquencies and higher write-offs, Progressive Leasing tightened its lease decisioning several times during the first half of 2022, resulting in fewer lease approvals and an adverse impact on GMV in 2022 and 2023. Levels of customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments for leases originated after Progressive Leasing further tightened its lease
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decisioning in mid-2022 improved to levels consistent with pre-pandemic lease portfolio performance. However, any meaningful increase in unemployment rates, any further increase in inflation and/or the possibility of a recession in the United States may result in increasing levels of customer payment delinquencies and related write-offs, which would result in an unfavorable impact on our performance.
Cybersecurity Incident
As previously disclosed by the Company on September 21, 2023, Progressive Leasing experienced a cybersecurity incident affecting certain data and IT systems of Progressive Leasing. Promptly after detecting the incident, the Company engaged third-party cybersecurity experts and took immediate steps to respond to, remediate and investigate the incident. Law enforcement was also notified. Based on the Company's investigation, the Company determined that the data involved in the incident contained a substantial amount of personally identifiable information, including social security numbers, of Progressive Leasing's customers and other individuals. With the assistance of our cybersecurity experts, the Company located the Progressive Leasing customers and other individuals whose information was impacted and notified them, consistent with state and federal requirements. The Company also took a number of additional measures to demonstrate its continued support and commitment to data privacy and protection. The investigation is nearly complete and the Company believes it has a full view of the compromised data.
As a result of this cybersecurity incident, Progressive Leasing has become subject to multiple lawsuits which allege, among other things, the incurrence of various types of damages arising out of the incident. As of the date of this Form 10-K, all but one of these lawsuits have been consolidated into a single action in the United States District Court for the District of Utah (the "District Court"). We believe the remaining unconsolidated lawsuit will be consolidated soon, and a consolidated complaint is expected to be filed against Progressive Leasing in the District Court in March or April of 2024.
Progressive Leasing believes the allegations made in this lawsuit are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against the lawsuit; however, at this time, the Company is unable to determine or predict the outcome of this lawsuit or reasonably provide an estimate or range of the possible losses, if any. The Company also maintains cybersecurity insurance coverage, subject to a $1.0 million retention, to limit the exposure to losses and related costs and expenses, such as those related to the cybersecurity incident and lawsuits stemming therefrom; however, there can be no assurance that such insurance coverage will be adequate to cover all of the costs and expenses related thereto or that the insurers will agree to cover all such losses, costs and expenses.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company incurred $2.8 million for actual and anticipated costs related to the cybersecurity incident. These costs related primarily to third-party legal and consulting services and credit monitoring services for Progressive Leasing's customers and employees that were impacted and are included within professional services expense as a component of operating expenses in the consolidated statements of earnings.
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Highlights
The following summarizes significant highlights from the year ended December 31, 2023:
•We reported revenues of $2.4 billion in 2023, a decrease of 7.3% compared to 2022. The decrease in revenues was primarily due to a smaller lease portfolio, which was a result of decreased customer demand for many of the products offered by our POS partners and the tightened lease decisioning implemented by Progressive Leasing in mid-2022. The decline in revenues was partially offset by improved customer payment activity in 2023, as compared to 2022.
•GMV decreased by $180.1 million for Progressive Leasing and $34.5 million for Vive in 2023, compared to 2022. These decreases were due to a decrease in demand for many of the products offered by Progressive Leasing's POS partners and tighter decisioning for Progressive Leasing and Vive, resulting in fewer lease and loan originations. These negative impacts were partially offset by GMV from our other operations, which increased by 67.2% primarily due to an increase in loan originations for our Four business in 2023, compared to 2022.
•Earnings before income tax expense increased to $196.2 million compared to $148.2 million in 2022. Despite the decline in 2023 revenues discussed above, the increase in earnings before income tax expense was primarily driven by fewer customers choosing to exercise early buyout options in 2023; improved customer payment activity; lower depreciation of lease merchandise due to the smaller lease portfolio for 2023 as compared to 2022; the absence of a goodwill impairment loss that was incurred in the third quarter of 2022; and an increase in interest income on the Company's cash and cash equivalent deposits resulting from higher interest rates.
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume. We believe GMV is a key performance indicator of our Progressive Leasing and Vive segments, as it provides the total value of new leases and loans written into our portfolio over a specified time period. GMV does not represent revenues earned by the Company, but rather is a leading indicator we use in forecasting revenues the Company may earn in the short-term. Progressive Leasing's GMV is defined as the retail price of merchandise acquired by Progressive Leasing, which it then expects to lease to its customers. GMV for Vive and Other are defined as gross loan originations.
The following table presents our GMV for the Company for the years presented:
| For the Year Ended December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 1,796,647 | $ | 1,976,794 | $ | 2,143,948 | ||||
| Vive | 143,541 | 178,002 | 199,139 | |||||||
| Other | 101,099 | 60,459 | 8,651 | |||||||
| Total GMV | $ | 2,041,287 | $ | 2,215,255 | $ | 2,351,738 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV was primarily due to a decrease in customer demand for many of the products offered by our POS partners, which is due in part to a shift in consumer spending from leasable categories to consumables and experiences. The decline in Progressive Leasing's GMV is also due to tightened lease decisioning beginning in mid-2022 to address the unfavorable economic conditions that were present in 2022. The decrease in Vive's GMV was primarily a result of tighter loan decisioning in mid-2022. We believe these factors have unfavorably impacted the generation of new leases and loans. E-commerce channels generated 16.9% of Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2023 compared to 17.2% in 2022. The decrease in total GMV was partially offset by an increase in GMV from our other operations, primarily due to an increase in loan originations by our Four business.
Active Customer Count. Our active customer count represents the total number of customers that have an active lease agreement with Progressive Leasing, or an active loan with Vive or Other. Active customer counts include customers that may have an active lease or loan agreement with more than one segment. The following table presents our active customer count for each segment:
| As of December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Customer Count: | |||||||
| Progressive Leasing | 893 | 943 | 1,044 | ||||
| Vive | 86 | 92 | 88 | ||||
| Other | 113 | 39 | 18 |
40
The decrease in the number of Progressive Leasing customers was primarily due to a decrease in customer demand for the types of merchandise typically purchased through our lease-to-own solutions and the tightening of our lease decisioning in mid-2022 to address the unfavorable economic conditions that were driving higher customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments during much of 2022. The decrease in Vive customers was primarily due to a reduction in loan originations as the result of tightened decisioning in mid-2022. These decreases were partially offset by an increase in the number of customers for our other strategic businesses.
Key Components of Earnings Before Income Tax Expense
In this MD&A section, we review our consolidated results. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and the comparable prior year periods, some of the key revenue, cost and expense items that affected earnings before income taxes were as follows:
Revenues. We separate our total revenues into two components: (i) lease revenues and fees and (ii) interest and fees on loans receivable. Lease revenues and fees include all revenues derived from lease agreements from our Progressive Leasing segment. Lease revenues are recorded net of a provision for uncollectible renewal payments. Interest and fees on loans receivable represents merchant fees, finance charges and annual and other fees earned on outstanding loans in our Vive segment and, to a lesser extent, from Four.
Depreciation of Lease Merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise reflects the expense associated with depreciating merchandise leased to customers by Progressive Leasing.
Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs represents the estimated merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management and adjustments for changes in estimates for the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs.
Operating Expenses. Operating expenses include personnel costs, stock-based compensation expense, occupancy costs, advertising, decisioning expense, professional services expense, sales acquisition expense, computer software expense, bank service charges, the provision for loan losses, fixed asset depreciation expense, intangible asset amortization, and restructuring expense, among other expenses.
Impairment of Goodwill. Impairment of goodwill is the partial write-off of the goodwill balance at the Four reporting unit. Refer to Note 1 of the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the goodwill impairment assessment and resulting impairment charge that occurred in the third quarter of 2022.
Interest Expense, Net. Interest expense, net consists of interest incurred on the Company's Senior Notes and senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility"). Interest expense is presented net of interest income earned on the Company's deposits in cash and cash equivalents.
41
Results of Operations
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2023 and 2022
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | (190,197) | (7.5) | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 74,676 | 74,041 | 635 | 0.9 | ||||||||||||
| 2,408,264 | 2,597,826 | (189,562) | (7.3) | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,576,303 | 1,757,730 | (181,427) | (10.3) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 155,250 | 193,926 | (38,676) | (19.9) | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 451,084 | 450,374 | 710 | 0.2 | ||||||||||||
| Impairment of Goodwill | — | 10,151 | (10,151) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,182,637 | 2,412,181 | (229,544) | (9.5) | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 225,627 | 185,645 | 39,982 | 21.5 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (29,406) | (37,401) | 7,995 | 21.4 | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 196,221 | 148,244 | 47,977 | 32.4 | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 57,383 | 49,535 | 7,848 | 15.8 | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 138,838 | $ | 98,709 | $ | 40,129 | 40.7 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2023 | Year Ended December 31, 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,523,785 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 68,912 | 5,764 | 74,676 | — | 70,911 | 3,130 | 74,041 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,333,588 | $ | 68,912 | $ | 5,764 | $ | 2,408,264 | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 70,911 | $ | 3,130 | $ | 2,597,826 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily the result of having a smaller lease portfolio at the beginning of and throughout 2023, as compared to the same periods in the prior year. The decrease was also a result of a decline in Progressive Leasing's GMV for the year ended 2023, as compared to 2022, resulting from decreased customer demand for many of the products offered by our POS partners and tightened lease decisioning beginning in mid-2022.The decline in revenues was partially offset by improved customer payment activity in 2023, as compared to 2022. Vive revenues declined due to a 19.4% decrease in GMV as compared to 2022, resulting in a smaller loan portfolio throughout 2023. The increase to Other revenue was primarily driven by a 67.2% increase in Four's GMV as compared to the same period in 2022.
42
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 187,199 | $ | 194,195 | $ | (6,996) | (3.6) | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 24,920 | 17,521 | 7,399 | 42.2 | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 5,429 | 6,466 | (1,037) | (16.0) | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 17,203 | 15,762 | 1,441 | 9.1 | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 26,882 | 22,824 | 4,058 | 17.8 | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 28,205 | 28,828 | (623) | (2.2) | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 26,673 | 27,629 | (956) | (3.5) | ||||||||||||
| Bank Service Charges | 11,246 | 12,491 | (1,245) | (10.0) | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 38,005 | 40,574 | (2,569) | (6.3) | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense4 | 365,762 | 366,290 | (528) | (0.1) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 40,757 | 41,232 | (475) | (1.2) | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 32,032 | 33,851 | (1,819) | (5.4) | ||||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 12,533 | 9,001 | 3,532 | 39.2 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 451,084 | $ | 450,374 | $ | 710 | 0.2 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
4 Progressive Leasing's sales, general and administrative expense was $315.1 million and $321.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
The $7.0 million decrease in personnel costs was due to a decrease of $9.1 million at Progressive Leasing attributable to its reduction in the number of employees during the second half of 2022 as part of its restructuring and cost cutting initiatives. Personnel costs for Four and other strategic businesses also decreased by $0.1 million as compared to 2022. These decreases were partially offset by an increase of $2.2 million at Vive primarily due to increased salaries and wages for new and existing employees.
Stock-based compensation increased $7.4 million compared to 2022, consisting of increases of $4.7 million at Progressive Leasing, $1.9 million at Four and other strategic businesses, and $0.8 million at Vive. The lower stock-based compensation in 2022 was the result of: (i) the Company determining in the second quarter of 2022 that performance stock units that had been granted to Four executives were no longer probable of being earned resulting in lower expense in 2022 compared to 2023; (ii) no stock-based compensation expense being recognized for Progressive Leasing performance stock units granted in 2022 as these performance metrics related to those performance stock units were not met; and (iii) other stock-based forfeitures in 2022 related to the Progressive Leasing restructuring program. During 2023, the estimated payout of performance stock units granted in 2023 exceeded target based on the Company's actual results, further increasing the stock-based compensation expense during 2023 versus 2022.
Professional services expense increased $4.1 million, consisting of $3.2 million at Progressive Leasing, $0.8 million at Four and other strategic businesses and $0.1 million at Vive. The increase at Progressive Leasing was primarily due to costs incurred related to the cybersecurity incident during the third quarter of 2023. The remaining increases were the result of increased expenses for other legal services and contract labor compared to 2022.
Restructuring expense increased $3.5 million due to additional actions taken during the year ended December 31, 2023. In 2023, restructuring costs included $9.6 million associated with the early termination of certain independent sales agent agreements and $2.9 million of employee severance within Progressive Leasing. In 2022, restructuring costs included $5.6 million of employee severance within Progressive Leasing, $3.3 million of operating lease right-of-use asset and other fixed asset impairment charges related to the relocation of the Vive corporate headquarters and a reduction of Progressive Leasing management and information technology office space, and $0.1 million of other restructuring expenses.
43
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise decreased by 10.3% during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 2022. The decrease was primarily due to a reduction in the size of Progressive Leasing's lease portfolio, resulting from tightening of its decisioning in mid-2022 and decreased consumer demand for many of the leasable products offered by Progressive Leasing's retail partners. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise decreased to 67.5% from 69.6% in the prior year period, primarily due to improved customer payment activity and lower early buyouts for the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period in 2022.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs decreased by $38.7 million due to a reduction in the size of Progressive Leasing's lease portfolio and improved customer payment activity during the year ended December 31, 2023, as compared to the same period in 2022. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues decreased to 6.7% for the year ended December 31, 2023 from 7.7% in the same period in 2022. The decrease in the provision as a percentage of lease revenues was a result of improved customer payment activity and lower write-offs due to the Company tightening its lease decisioning in mid-2022. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from inflation, elevated interest rates for extended periods, the resumption of student loan payments in October 2023, and the potential effects of such developments on Progressive Leasing's customers, and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance as of December 31, 2023. Actual lease merchandise write-offs could differ materially from the allowance for those write-offs.
Impairment of Goodwill. The Company recorded a loss of $10.2 million to partially write off the goodwill balance of the Four reporting unit during the third quarter of 2022.
Interest expense, net. Information about interest expense and interest income is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net: | ||||||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | $ | 38,694 | $ | 38,675 | $ | 19 | — | % | ||||||||
| Interest Income | (9,288) | (1,274) | (8,014) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Total Interest Expense, Net | $ | 29,406 | $ | 37,401 | $ | (7,995) | (21.4) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Interest expense, net decreased $8.0 million due to interest income earned on the Company's deposits in cash and cash equivalents resulting from an increase in deposits in higher yield accounts. The Company earned interest income of $9.3 million during 2023 compared to $1.3 million during 2022.
Earnings Before Income Tax Expense
Information about our earnings before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2023 vs. 2022 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2023 | 2022 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 216,271 | $ | 174,143 | $ | 42,128 | 24.2 | % | ||||||||
| Vive | 4,545 | 9,195 | (4,650) | (50.6) | ||||||||||||
| Other | (24,595) | (35,094) | 10,499 | 29.9 | ||||||||||||
| Earnings Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 196,221 | $ | 148,244 | $ | 47,977 | 32.4 | % |
The loss before income taxes within Other primarily relates to our Four operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings before income tax expense for each reporting segment are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense increased to $57.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $49.5 million in 2022 primarily due to higher earnings before income tax expense for 2023 as compared to the prior year. The effective tax rate was 29.2% for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to 33.4% in 2022. The decrease in the effective tax rate was primarily
44
driven by the non-deductible goodwill impairment loss for Four of $10.2 million that occurred in 2022, and the increase in the valuation allowance related to certain deferred tax assets that occurred in 2022.
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | (95,220) | (3.6) | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 74,041 | 58,915 | 15,126 | 25.7 | ||||||||||||
| 2,597,826 | 2,677,920 | (80,094) | (3.0) | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,757,730 | 1,820,010 | (62,280) | (3.4) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 193,926 | 126,984 | 66,942 | 52.7 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 450,374 | 397,399 | 52,975 | 13.3 | ||||||||||||
| Impairment of Goodwill | 10,151 | — | 10,151 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,412,181 | 2,344,393 | 67,788 | 2.9 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 185,645 | 333,527 | (147,882) | (44.3) | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (37,401) | (5,323) | (32,078) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 148,244 | 328,204 | (179,960) | (54.8) | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 49,535 | 84,647 | (35,112) | (41.5) | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 98,709 | $ | 243,557 | $ | (144,848) | (59.5) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2022 | Year Ended December 31, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,619,005 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 70,911 | 3,130 | 74,041 | — | 58,462 | 453 | 58,915 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 70,911 | $ | 3,130 | $ | 2,597,826 | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 58,462 | $ | 453 | $ | 2,677,920 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily due to an increase in customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments, as compared to the strong customer payment activity and low delinquencies it experienced in 2021. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments, which is recorded as a reduction to lease revenues and fees, was $376.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $224.7 million in 2021. The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was also the result of having a smaller lease portfolio at the beginning of and throughout 2022, as compared to 2021, and fewer customers electing to exercise early lease buyouts. The increase in Vive revenues was primarily driven by a larger loan portfolio throughout 2022 as compared to 2021.
45
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 194,195 | $ | 189,576 | $ | 4,619 | 2.4 | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 17,521 | 21,349 | (3,828) | (17.9) | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 6,466 | 6,633 | (167) | (2.5) | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 15,762 | 17,502 | (1,740) | (9.9) | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 22,824 | 24,106 | (1,282) | (5.3) | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 28,828 | 22,374 | 6,454 | 28.8 | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 27,629 | 20,674 | 6,955 | 33.6 | ||||||||||||
| Bank Service Charges | 12,491 | 11,542 | 949 | 8.2 | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 40,574 | 32,717 | 7,857 | 24.0 | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense4 | 366,290 | 346,473 | 19,817 | 5.7 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 41,232 | 17,668 | 23,564 | 133.4 | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 33,851 | 33,258 | 593 | 1.8 | ||||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 9,001 | — | 9,001 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 450,374 | $ | 397,399 | $ | 52,975 | 13.3 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
4 Progressive Leasing's sales, general and administrative expense was $321.3 million and $316.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
The increase in personnel costs of $4.6 million was driven primarily by an increase of $2.9 million in personnel costs attributable to an increase in the number of employees resulting from the Four acquisition and other strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021 that continued incurring costs in 2022. Personnel costs also increased by $2.2 million at Vive, primarily due to wage inflation. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $0.8 million at Progressive Leasing, primarily due to its reduction in the number of employees during the second half of 2022 as part of its restructuring and cost cutting initiatives.
Sales acquisition expense increased $6.5 million primarily due to increased incentives, sales commissions, and other expenses at Progressive Leasing to promote lease originations with its POS partners.
Computer software expense increased $7.0 million primarily due to an increase in non-capitalizable costs for software implementation projects by Progressive Leasing during 2022, other strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021 that continued incurring costs in 2022, and increased software licensing costs.
Other sales, general and administrative expense increased $7.9 million primarily due to additional administrative costs within Progressive Leasing during 2022, in addition to an increase of $2.4 million due to the acquisition and growth of our Four business, and other strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021 that incurred greater costs in 2022 than in 2021.
Provision for loan losses increased $23.6 million, primarily in connection with our Vive business, due to unfavorable economic conditions present during 2022 and projected macroeconomic conditions, including a rapid increase in the rate of inflation, high unemployment rates, and the absence of government stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits, as compared to 2021. The provision for loan losses also increased due to growth in GMV at Four since it was acquired in June 2021. The provision for loan losses as a percentage of interest and fees revenue increased to 55.7% for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 30.0% in 2021, due to customer payment delinquencies at Vive returning to pre-pandemic levels, higher expected credit losses due to projected unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, and higher write-offs within our Four operations.
Restructuring expense of $9.0 million was the result of a number of restructuring activities initiated by the Company during 2022 intended to reduce expenses, consolidate certain segment corporate headquarters and other office locations, and align the cost structure of the business with the Company's strategy and near-term revenue outlook. The restructuring expense was
46
primarily comprised of severance costs associated with a reduction in Progressive Leasing's workforce and operating lease right-of-use asset impairment charges related to a reduction in management and information technology office space and the relocation of the Vive corporate headquarters to the Company's corporate office building.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise decreased by 3.4% due to fewer customers exercising early lease buyout elections during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 2021. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased slightly compared to 2021, resulting from the decline in early buyout elections.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs increased by $66.9 million due to higher customer payment delinquencies and write-offs during the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the strong customer payment activity and historically low lease merchandise write-offs we experienced in 2021. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from challenges in the macroeconomic environment, including high inflation, forecasted unemployment rates, and/or the possibility of a recession and the potential effects of such developments on our POS partners, customers, and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance as of December 31, 2022.
The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues was 7.7% for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to 4.8% for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in the provision as a percentage of lease revenues was primarily due to higher customer payment delinquencies and write-offs on leases originated in 2022, most notably in the first half of 2022 prior to the Company further tightening its lease decisioning to address the unfavorable economic conditions. The provision also increased as a result of changes in estimates for the allowance as discussed above.
Impairment of Goodwill. The Company recorded a loss of $10.2 million to partially write off the goodwill balance of the Four reporting unit during the third quarter of 2022. Refer to Note 1 for additional information regarding the details of the goodwill impairment loss.
Interest expense, net. Information about interest expense and interest income is as follows:
| Change | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | ||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | |||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | |||||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | $ | 38,675 | $ | 5,590 | $ | 33,085 | nmf | ||||||||
| Interest Income | (1,274) | (267) | (1,007) | nmf | |||||||||||
| Total Interest Expense, Net | $ | 37,401 | $ | 5,323 | $ | 32,078 | nmf |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
Interest expense, net increased $32.1 million as a result of interest expense related to the Company's $600 million senior unsecured notes issued on November 26, 2021. Refer to Note 8 for further information regarding the debt issuance.
Earnings Before Income Tax Expense
Information about our earnings before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 174,143 | $ | 319,125 | $ | (144,982) | (45.4) | % | ||||||||
| Vive | 9,195 | 20,225 | (11,030) | (54.5) | ||||||||||||
| Other | (35,094) | (11,146) | (23,948) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Earnings Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 148,244 | $ | 328,204 | $ | (179,960) | (54.8) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
The $35.1 million loss before income taxes within Other primarily relates to our Four operations and includes a $10.2 million impairment loss related to the partial impairment of Four's goodwill. Other factors impacting the change in earnings before income tax expense for each reporting segment are discussed above.
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Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense decreased to $49.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $84.6 million in 2021 primarily due to lower earnings before income tax expense. The effective tax rate was 33.4% for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 25.8% in 2021. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily driven by the non-deductible goodwill impairment loss for Four of $10.2 million, interest on the Company's uncertain tax position liabilities, an unfavorable adjustment for employee stock-based compensation vesting, and an increase in the valuation allowance related to certain deferred tax assets.
Overview of Financial Position
The major changes in the consolidated balance sheet from December 31, 2022 to December 31, 2023, include:
•Cash and cash equivalents increased $23.5 million to $155.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2023. For additional information, refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section below.
•Lease merchandise, net, decreased $14.6 million due primarily to a 9.1% decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2023 as compared to 2022.
•Accounts payable and accrued expenses increased $16.2 million due primarily to a $5.9 million increase in accrued salaries and benefits resulting from the timing of year-end payroll and a higher estimated payout percentage for the executive bonus accrual, a $5.9 million increase in accounts payable to POS partners due to an increase in fourth quarter GMV compared to the same period in 2022, and a $3.9 million increase in accrued interest on the Company's uncertain tax position related to the FTC settlement.
•Deferred tax liability decreased $32.4 million due primarily to a decline in the temporary book-to-tax depreciation difference of lease merchandise resulting from the decline in merchandise on lease during 2023, as compared to 2022, and the reduction of federal bonus depreciation from 100% in 2022 to 80% in 2023.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
We expect that our primary capital requirements will consist of:
•Reinvesting in our business, including buying merchandise for the operations of Progressive Leasing. Because we believe Progressive Leasing will continue to grow over the long-term, we expect that the need for additional lease merchandise will remain a major capital requirement;
•Making merger and acquisition investment(s) to further broaden our product offerings; and
•Returning excess cash to shareholders through periodically repurchasing stock and/or paying dividends.
Other capital requirements include (i) expenditures related to software development; (ii) expenditures related to our corporate operating activities; (iii) personnel expenditures; (iv) income tax payments; (v) funding of loans receivable for Vive; and (vi) servicing our outstanding debt obligations.
Our capital requirements have been financed through:
•cash flows from operations;
•private debt offerings;
•bank debt; and
•stock offerings.
As of December 31, 2023, the Company had $155.4 million of cash, $350.0 million of availability under the Revolving Facility, and $600.0 million of indebtedness.
Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities was $204.2 million and $242.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The $38.3 million decrease in operating cash flows was primarily driven by a $190.2 million decrease in lease revenue resulting from a smaller lease portfolio and a $38.3 million increase in cash paid for income taxes compared to 2022. These decreases were partially offset by a $168.1 million decrease in purchases of lease merchandise, an increase in the balance of accounts payable and accrued expenses compared to December 31, 2022, improved customer payment activity during 2023, and an increase in interest income resulting from an increase in deposits in higher yield accounts. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2023.
Cash provided by operating activities was $242.5 million and $246.0 million during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Cash provided by operating activities decreased by $3.5 million despite the $144.8 million decrease in net earnings from continuing operations as compared to 2021. Other significant changes in operating cash outflows for 2022 as compared to the prior year include $35.6 million of interest paid on the Company's Senior Notes compared to $1.5 million in 2021, and an $8.6 million increase in net income tax payments for the year ended December 31, 2022. These decreases in operating cash flows were partially offset by a $165.3 million decrease in purchases of lease merchandise by Progressive Leasing during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 2021. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Cash Used in Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $38.8 million and $53.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The $14.7 million decrease in investing cash outflows was primarily the result of a $25.3 million increase in proceeds from loans receivable, partially offset by a $11.1 million increase in cash outflows for investments in loans receivable.
Cash used in investing activities was $53.5 million and $82.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The $28.7 million decrease in investing cash outflows in the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the same period in 2021 was primarily due to the $22.8 million of cash paid for the acquisition of Four in June 2021. Additionally, proceeds from loans receivable increased $27.4 million in 2022 compared to 2021. These changes were partially offset by a $21.4 million increase in cash outflows for investments in loans receivables in 2022 as compared to 2021.
Cash Used In Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities was $141.9 million during the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to $227.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2022, a decrease of $85.3 million. Cash used in financing activities in 2023 was primarily for the Company's repurchase of $139.6 million of its common stock, compared to $223.6 million of share repurchases in the prior year. The Company also used cash for an immaterial amount of debt issuance costs in 2023 compared to $1.6 million in 2022.
Cash used in financing activities was $227.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $30.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $196.9 million. Cash used in financing activities in 2022 was primarily due to the $223.6 million of outflows for the acquisition of treasury stock. Cash used in financing activities in 2021 was primarily comprised of: (i) a $425 million outflow for the "Dutch auction" tender offer, plus $3.6 million in related transaction fees, for the repurchase and retirement of our common stock; (ii) a $142.4 million outflow for the acquisition of treasury stock; (iii) the repayment of $50.0 million on our Revolving Facility; and (iv) $600 million gross proceeds from the issuance of Senior Notes, net of $8.3 million of bank fees.
Share Repurchases
We purchase our stock in the market from time to time as authorized by our Board of Directors. Effective November 3, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a share repurchase program that provided the Company with the ability to repurchase shares up to a maximum amount of $1 billion. As of December 31, 2023, we had the authority to purchase additional shares up to our remaining authorization limit of $197.7 million. On February 21, 2024, the Company's Board of Directors reauthorized the repurchase of Company common stock at an aggregate purchase price of up to $500 million under the Company's existing share repurchase program, with such reauthorized share repurchase program to be extended for a period of three years from February 21, 2024, or until the $500 million aggregate purchase price of Company common stock purchased pursuant to the reauthorized share repurchase program has been met, whichever occurs first.
The Company purchased 4,691,274 shares of its common stock for $139.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2023, 8,720,223 shares for $223.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2022, and 11,611,178 shares for $567.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2021. These amounts do not include any excise tax that may be assessed on those repurchases.
Dividends
We paid no dividends during 2023, 2022, and 2021. On February 21, 2024, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend in the amount of $0.12 per share of outstanding common stock, payable on March 28, 2024 to shareholders of record as of March 14, 2024. While we expect to continue paying quarterly cash dividends in future periods, the future payment of dividends, if permitted, will be at the sole discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend on our capital allocation strategy at that time as well as other factors, including our earnings, financial condition, and other considerations that our Board of Directors deems relevant.
Debt Financing
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a credit agreement with a consortium of lenders providing for a $350 million senior revolving credit facility, under which all borrowings and commitments will mature or terminate on November 24, 2025.
The Revolving Facility includes an uncommitted incremental facility increase option ("Incremental Facilities") which, subject to certain terms and conditions, permits the Company at any time prior to the maturity date to request an increase in extensions of credit available thereunder by an aggregate additional principal amount of up to $300 million. As of December 31, 2023, the Company had no outstanding balance and $350 million remaining available for borrowings on the Revolving Facility.
The Revolving Facility contains certain financial covenants, which include requirements that the Company maintain ratios of (i) total net debt to EBITDA of no more than 2.50:1.00 and (ii) consolidated interest coverage of no less than 3.00:1.00. The Company will be in default under the Revolving Facility if it fails to comply with these covenants, and all borrowings outstanding may become due immediately. Additionally, under the Revolving Facility, if the total net debt to EBITDA, as defined by the Revolving Facility, exceeds 1.25, the revolver becomes fully secured for the remaining duration of the Revolving Facility term. During 2022, the Company exceeded the 1.25 total net debt to EBITDA ratio and the Revolving Facility became fully secured. As of December 31, 2023, the Company was in compliance with the financial covenants set forth in the Revolving Facility and believes it will continue to be in compliance in the future.
On November 26, 2021, the Company entered into an indenture in connection with its offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2029 (the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued at 100.0% of their par value with a stated fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest accrues on the outstanding balance and is payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company and are guaranteed by certain of the Company's existing and future domestic subsidiaries.
The indenture discussed above contains various other covenants and obligations to which the Company and its subsidiaries are subject while the Senior Notes are outstanding. The covenants in the indenture may limit the extent to which, or the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to, among other things: (i) incur additional debt and guarantee debt; (ii) pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem capital stock; (iii) prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt; (iv) issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; (v) make loans and investments; (vi) sell assets; (vii) incur liens; (viii) enter into transactions with affiliates; (ix) enter into agreements restricting the ability of the Company's subsidiaries to pay dividends; and (x) consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Company's assets. The indenture also contains customary events of default for transactions of this type and amount. The Company was in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2023 and believes that it will continue to be in compliance in the future.
Commitments
Income Taxes. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we made net income tax payments of $100.4 million. During the year ended December 31, 2024 we anticipate making estimated cash payments of $49.0 million for United States federal and state income taxes.
Leases. We lease management and information technology space for corporate functions as well as storage space for our hub facilities under operating leases expiring at various times through 2027. Our corporate and segment management office leases contain renewal options for additional periods ranging from three to five years. Approximate future minimum payments for operating leases that have initial or remaining non-cancelable terms in excess of one year as of December 31, 2023 are disclosed in Note 7 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments. Future interest payments on the Company's variable-rate debt are based on a rate per annum equal to, at our option, (i) the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") plus a margin within the range of 1.5% to 2.5% for revolving loans, based on total leverage, or (ii) the administrative agent's base rate plus a margin ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%, as specified in the agreement. Future interest payments related to our Revolving Facility are based on the borrowings outstanding at that time. Future interest payments may be different depending on future borrowing activity and interest rates. The Company had no outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Facility as of December 31, 2023.
As discussed above, on November 26, 2021, the Company issued $600 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes that bear a fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes will mature on November 15, 2029.
The Company has no long-term commitments to purchase merchandise nor does it have significant purchase agreements that specify minimum quantities or set prices that exceed our expected requirements for three months.
Deferred income tax liabilities as of December 31, 2023 were approximately $104.8 million. Deferred income tax liabilities are calculated based on temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their respective book basis, which will result in taxable amounts in future years when the liabilities are settled at their reported financial statement amounts. The results of these calculations do not have a direct connection with the amount of cash taxes to be paid in any future periods. As a result, scheduling deferred income tax liabilities as payments due by period may be misleading, because this scheduling would not necessarily relate to liquidity needs.
Unfunded Lending Commitments. The Company, through its Vive business, had unconditionally cancellable unfunded lending commitments totaling approximately $523.9 million and $513.7 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively, that do not give rise to revenues and cash flows. These unfunded commitments arise in the ordinary course of business from credit card agreements with individual cardholders that give them the ability to borrow, against unused amounts, up to the maximum credit limit assigned to their account. While these unfunded amounts represented the total available unused lines of credit, the Company does not anticipate that all cardholders will utilize their entire available line at any given point in time. Commitments to extend unsecured credit are agreements to lend to a cardholder so long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.
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Critical Accounting Policies
We discuss the most critical accounting policies below. For a discussion of all of the Company's significant accounting policies, see Note 1 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
All of Progressive Leasing's customer agreements are considered operating leases and are recognized in accordance with ASC 842, Leases. The Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise until all payment obligations are satisfied under the lease ownership agreements. Progressive Leasing recognizes lease revenue on a straight-line basis over the estimated lease term. Initial lease payments made by the customer upon lease execution are initially recognized as deferred revenue and are recognized as lease revenue over the estimated lease term on a straight-line basis. All other customer billings are in arrears and, therefore, lease revenues are earned prior to the lease payment due date and are recorded in the statements of earnings net of related sales taxes as earned. Cash collected in advance of being due or earned and recognized as deferred revenue is presented within customer deposits and advance payments in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Progressive Leasing revenues recorded prior to the payment due date results in unbilled accounts receivable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Our revenue recognition accounting policy matches the lease revenue with the corresponding costs, mainly depreciation expense, associated with lease merchandise.
At December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had deferred revenue representing cash collected in advance of being due or earned totaling $35.7 million and $37.1 million, respectively, and accounts receivable, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical collection rates, of $67.9 million and $64.5 million, respectively. Our accounts receivable allowance is estimated using historical write-off and collection experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease receivables after 120 days. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments is recorded as a reduction of lease revenues and fees in accordance with ASC 842.
Vive recognizes interest income based upon the amount of the loans outstanding, which is recognized as interest and fees on loans receivable in the billing period in which they are assessed if collectability is reasonably assured. Vive acquires loans receivable from its third-party bank partners at a discount from the face value of the loan. The discount is comprised mainly of a merchant fee discount, which represents a pre-negotiated, nonrefundable discount that generally ranges from 3.0% to 25% of the loan face value. The discount is designed to cover the risk of loss related to the portfolio of cardholder charges and Vive's direct origination costs. The merchant fee discount, net of the origination costs, is amortized on a net basis and is recorded as interest and fee revenue on loans receivable on a straight-line basis over the initial 24-month period that the card is active.
Lease Merchandise
The Company's Progressive Leasing segment, at which all merchandise is on lease, depreciates merchandise on a straight-line basis to a 0% salvage value generally over 12 months. We record a provision for lease merchandise write-offs using the allowance method. The allowance for lease merchandise write-offs estimates the merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management as of the end of the accounting period. The Company estimates its allowance for lease merchandise write-offs using historical write-off experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease merchandise after 120 days. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs was $44.2 million and $47.1 million, respectively. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs was $155.3 million and $193.9 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Provision for Loan Losses and Loan Loss Allowance
Expected lifetime losses on loans receivable are recognized upon loan acquisition, which results in earlier recognition of credit losses and requires the Company to make its best estimate of probable lifetime losses at the time of acquisition. The Company segments its Vive loans receivable portfolio into homogenous pools by FICO score and by delinquency status and evaluates loans receivable collectively for impairment when similar risk characteristics exist. Our Vive credit card loans do not have contractually stated maturity dates, which requires the Company to estimate an average life of loan by analyzing historical payment trends to determine an expected remaining life of the loan balance. Our current estimate is that the average life of an outstanding credit card loan is approximately one to two years, depending on the respective FICO score segmentation.
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The Company calculates the Vive allowance for loan losses based on internal historical loss information and incorporates observable and forecasted macroeconomic data over a six-month reasonable and supportable forecast period. Key macroeconomic factors incorporated into our forecasts include projected changes in unemployment rates, stock market volatility, projected United States treasury rates, and projected prime lending rates. Incorporating macroeconomic data could have a material impact on the measurement of the allowance to the extent that forecasted data changes significantly, such as changes in forecasted unemployment rates and the observed significant market volatility. Subsequent to the six-month reasonable and supportable forecast period described above, the Company reverts to using historical loss information on a straight-line basis over a period of three months. For the remaining life of the portfolio, the Company utilizes historical loss information.
The Company may also consider other qualitative factors in estimating the allowance, as necessary. For the purposes of determining the allowance as of December 31, 2023, management considered other qualitative factors such as the tightening of Vive's loan decisioning in mid-2022 and more recent macroeconomic conditions associated with the impacts from increased inflation, unemployment rates, and/or the possibility of a recession in the United States, which were not fully factored into the macroeconomic forecasted data. The allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level considered appropriate to cover expected lifetime losses of principal, interest and fees on active loans in the loans receivable portfolio, and the appropriateness of the allowance is evaluated at each period end.
Delinquent loans receivable are those that are 30 days or more past due based on their contractual billing dates. The Company places loans receivable on nonaccrual status when they are greater than 90 days past due or upon notification of cardholder bankruptcy, death or fraud. The Company discontinues accruing interest and fees and amortizing merchant fee discounts and promotional fee discounts for loans receivable in nonaccrual status. Loans receivable are removed from nonaccrual status when cardholder payments resume, the loan becomes 90 days or less past due and collection of the remaining amounts outstanding is deemed probable. Payments received on nonaccrual loans are allocated according to the same payment hierarchy methodology applied to loans that are accruing interest. Loans receivable are charged off at the end of the following month after the billing cycle in which the loans receivable become 120 days past due.
The provision for loan losses was $40.8 million and $41.2 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. The allowance for loan losses was $40.6 million and $42.4 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 to the Company's consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recently issued accounting pronouncements.
FY 2022 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001808834-23-000012.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of PROG Holdings, Inc. and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Throughout the MD&A we refer to various notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements which appear in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The following discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" of this Form 10-K.
Business Overview
PROG Holdings, Inc. ("we", "our", "us", the "Company", or "PROG Holdings") is a financial technology holding company that provides transparent and competitive payment options to consumers. PROG Holdings has two reportable segments: (i) Progressive Leasing, an in-store, app-based, and e-commerce point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions provider; and (ii) Vive Financial ("Vive"), an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products.
Our Progressive Leasing segment provides consumers with lease-purchase solutions through its point-of-sale partner locations and e-commerce website partners (collectively, "POS partners"). It does so by purchasing the merchandise from the POS partners desired by customers and, in turn, leasing that merchandise to the customers through a cancellable lease-to-own transaction. Progressive Leasing has no stores of its own, but rather offers lease-purchase solutions to the customers of traditional and e-commerce retailers. The Progressive Leasing segment comprised approximately 97% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Our Vive segment primarily serves customers that may not qualify for traditional prime lending offers who desire to purchase goods and services from participating merchants. Vive offers customized programs with services that include revolving loans through private label and Vive-branded credit cards. Vive's current network of POS partner locations and e-commerce websites includes furniture, mattresses, home exercise equipment, and home improvement retailers, as well as medical and dental service providers. The Vive segment comprised approximately 3% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2022.
On June 25, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Four Technologies, Inc. ("Four"), an innovative Buy Now, Pay Later company that allows shoppers to pay for merchandise through four interest-free installments. Four’s proprietary platform capabilities and its base of customers and retailers expand PROG Holdings’ ecosystem of financial technology offerings by introducing a payment solution that further diversifies the Company's consumer financial technology offerings. Shoppers use Four to purchase furniture, clothing, electronics, health and beauty products, footwear, jewelry, and other consumer goods from retailers across the United States. Four is not a reportable segment for the year ended December 31, 2022 as its financial results are not material to the Company's consolidated financial results. Four's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
Separation and Distribution of the Aaron's Business Segment
On November 30, 2020, PROG Holdings (previously "Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc.") completed the separation of its Aaron's Business segment from its Progressive Leasing and Vive segments. The separation was effected through a tax-free distribution of all outstanding shares of common stock of The Aaron's Company, Inc. ("The Aaron's Company") to the PROG Holdings shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 27, 2020 (referred to as the "separation and distribution transaction"). Through that distribution, shareholders of PROG Holdings received one share of The Aaron's Company for every two shares of PROG Holdings common stock. Upon completion of the separation and distribution transaction on November 30, 2020, The Aaron's Company became an independent, publicly traded company under the symbol "AAN" on the New York Stock Exchange, while PROG Holdings continued to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the new symbol "PRG".
Prior to the separation and distribution transaction, the Company's operating segments were Progressive Leasing, the Aaron's Business, and Vive. All direct revenues and expenses of the Aaron's Business operations have been classified within discontinued operations, net of income tax, within our consolidated statements of earnings (loss) through the separation and distribution date of November 30, 2020. Certain corporate expenses that have previously been reported as expenses of the Aaron's Business segment in 2020 did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations and are reported as unallocated corporate expenses for segment purposes within continuing operations. These unallocated corporate expenses are in addition to corporate overhead costs allocated to the Progressive Leasing and Vive segments through the separation and distribution date of November 30, 2020.
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Macroeconomic and Business Environment
The Company continues to operate in a challenging macroeconomic environment. The rapid increase in the rate of inflation during 2022, particularly in gas, food, and housing costs, which we believe disproportionately negatively affects the customers we serve and therefore our customers' ability to make the payments they owe to the Company, has resulted in an unfavorable impact on our lease portfolio performance and Gross Merchandise Volume ("GMV") during 2022. Customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments experienced within our Progressive Leasing segment during much of 2022 significantly exceeded levels experienced during pre-pandemic periods. In response to increasing customer delinquencies and higher write-offs, Progressive Leasing tightened its lease decisioning several times during 2022, resulting in fewer lease approvals and an adverse impact on GMV. Levels of customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments for leases originated after Progressive Leasing further tightened its lease decisioning in mid-2022 improved to levels consistent with pre-pandemic lease portfolio performance. The relatively high levels of customer payment delinquencies and related write-offs experienced during the year ended December 31, 2022 related to leases originated prior to the Company's further tightening of its lease decisioning in mid-2022 may continue for an extended period of time, and/or may increase to even higher levels, which would have an unfavorable impact on our performance. Furthermore, increasing unemployment rates and/or a U.S. recession may result in increasing levels of customer payment delinquencies and related write-offs, which would result in an unfavorable impact on our performance.
The significant increase in inflation and interest rates, and fears of a possible recession have also unfavorably impacted consumer confidence within our customer base, resulting in a decrease in demand for the types of merchandise offered by many of our key national and regional POS partners. In light of these macroeconomic challenges and to align the cost structure of our business with our near-term revenue outlook, the Company executed on a number of cost reduction initiatives during the second and third quarters of 2022 to drive efficiencies and right-size variable costs, while attempting to minimize the negative impact on growth-related initiatives.
COVID-19 Pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy in recent years, including the businesses and operations of our POS partners and our own businesses. For example, the significant increase in COVID-19 cases from the Omicron variant during the first quarter of 2022 resulted in many of our POS partners temporarily closing showrooms and/or reducing the hours and scope of operations of their showrooms, and also resulted in increases in employee absenteeism and declines in customer traffic for many of our POS partners, all of which unfavorably impacted Progressive Leasing's GMV. In addition, other pandemic-related factors unfavorably impacted many of our POS partners during the first half of 2022, including supply chain disruptions resulting in shortages of available products at certain POS partners, primarily in appliances, electronics and furniture categories. Those and other pandemic-related developments, may adversely impact Progressive Leasing's generation of new lease agreements, Vive's generation of new loans, and our results of operations, financial condition, cash flow and/or liquidity in future periods.
The extent of any such adverse, pandemic-related impacts will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, for example, the emergence of more contagious and harmful variants of COVID-19, and localized outbreaks or additional waves of COVID-19 cases and the impact of any such outbreaks on our customers, POS partners, and employees.
We believe pandemic-related government stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits provided in 2020 and 2021 provided economic support to many of our customers, resulting in an increase in payment activity and early lease buyouts despite the economically challenging environment, as well as lease merchandise, accounts receivable, and loan receivable write-offs trending lower during 2020 and 2021. In turn, we further believe that the expiration of the government stimulus payments, enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits that were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic also contributed to unfavorable results of operations in 2022 as compared to 2021.
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Highlights
The following summarizes significant highlights from the year ended December 31, 2022:
•We reported revenues of $2.6 billion in 2022, a decrease of 3.0% compared to 2021. The decrease in revenues was primarily due to lower GMV as described below, an increase in customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments, tightening of lease decisioning beginning in mid-2022 resulting in fewer lease originations, and a decrease in customers exercising early lease buyout options, as compared to the strong customer payment activity and low delinquencies we experienced in 2021.
•GMV decreased by $167.2 million for Progressive Leasing and $21.1 million for Vive in 2022, compared to 2021. These decreases were due to tighter lease and loan decisioning, resulting in fewer lease and loan originations, the rapid increase in the rate of inflation eroding customers' disposable incomes and reducing their demand for many of the goods sold by our POS partners, and the absence of government stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits, which we believe benefited many of our customers in 2021. These negative impacts were partially offset by a $13.0 million increase in Progressive Leasing GMV generated through e-commerce platforms. In 2022, e-commerce GMV represented 17.2% of Progressive Leasing's total GMV, compared to 15.2% in 2021. GMV from our other operations increased by $51.8 million resulting from the growth in loan originations by our Four business during 2022.
•Earnings before income tax expense decreased to $148.2 million compared to $328.2 million in 2021. The decrease was primarily driven by an overall decline in revenues as discussed above. The decrease was also driven by an increase of $66.9 million in the provision for lease merchandise write-offs, as a result of higher customer payment delinquencies and write-offs in 2022, as compared to the strong customer payment activity and historically low lease merchandise write-offs we experienced during 2021. The decrease was further driven by an increase of $23.6 million in the provision for loan losses due to higher loan write-offs during 2022 and the recognition of estimated credit losses as of December 31, 2022, resulting from unfavorable forecasted macroeconomic conditions. Other factors contributing to the decrease were a $32.1 million increase in interest expense related to the Senior Notes issued in November 2021, a $19.8 million increase in sales, general, and administrative expenses, and a $10.2 million goodwill impairment loss related to Four.
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume. We believe GMV is a key performance indicator of our Progressive Leasing and Vive segments, as it provides the total value of new leases and loans written into our portfolio over a specified time period. GMV does not represent revenues earned by the Company, but rather is a leading indicator we use in forecasting revenues the Company may earn in the short-term. Progressive Leasing's GMV is defined as the retail price of merchandise acquired by Progressive Leasing, which it then expects to lease to its customers. GMV for Vive and Other are defined as gross loan originations.
The following table presents our GMV for the Company for the years presented:
| For the Year Ended December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 1,976,794 | $ | 2,143,948 | $ | 1,851,308 | ||||
| Vive | 178,002 | 199,139 | 130,751 | |||||||
| Other | 60,459 | 8,651 | — | |||||||
| Total GMV | $ | 2,215,255 | $ | 2,351,738 | $ | 1,982,059 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing's and Vive's GMV was primarily due to our tighter lease and loan decisioning to address the unfavorable economic conditions that were present in 2022, resulting in fewer lease and loan approvals; the rapid increase in the rate of inflation, which eroded customers' disposable incomes and their demand for many of the goods sold by our POS partners; and the absence of government stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits, which we believe benefited many of our customers in 2021. We believe all of these factors have unfavorably impacted the generation of new leases and loans. The decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV from those factors was partially offset by a $13.0 million increase in GMV generated through e-commerce platforms. E-commerce channels generated 17.2% of Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2022 compared to 15.2% in 2021. The decrease in total GMV was also partially offset by an increase in GMV from our other operations, primarily due to an increase in loan originations by our Four business.
39
Active Customer Count. Our active customer count represents the total number of customers that have an active lease agreement with Progressive Leasing, or an active loan with Vive or Four. The following table presents our consolidated active customer count, which includes an immaterial number of customers that have both an active lease agreement and loan agreement, for the Company for the years presented:
| As of December 31 (Unaudited) | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Customer Count: | |||||||
| Progressive Leasing | 943,000 | 1,044,000 | 970,000 | ||||
| Vive | 92,000 | 88,000 | 66,000 | ||||
| Other | 39,000 | 18,000 | — | ||||
| Total Active Customer Count | 1,074,000 | 1,150,000 | 1,036,000 |
The decrease in the number of Progressive Leasing customers in 2022 compared to 2021 was primarily due to a decrease in customer demand for the types of merchandise typically purchased through our lease-to-own solutions and the tightening of our lease decisioning to address the unfavorable economic conditions that were present during 2022. The increase in the number of Vive customers was primarily driven by the growth in loan originations we experienced in 2021. The increase in customers from our other operations is driven primarily by the continued growth in loan originations from our Four business.
Key Components of Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense
In this MD&A section, we review our consolidated results. For the year ended December 31, 2022 and the comparable prior year periods, some of the key revenue, cost and expense items that affected earnings before income taxes were as follows:
Revenues. We separate our total revenues into two components: (i) lease revenues and fees and (ii) interest and fees on loans receivable. Lease revenues and fees include all revenues derived from lease agreements from our Progressive Leasing segment. Lease revenues are recorded net of a provision for uncollectible renewal payments. Interest and fees on loans receivable represents merchant fees, finance charges and annual and other fees earned on outstanding loans in our Vive segment and, to a lesser extent, from Four.
Depreciation of Lease Merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise primarily reflects the expense associated with depreciating merchandise leased to customers by Progressive Leasing.
Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs represents the estimated merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management and adjustments for changes in estimates for the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs.
Operating Expenses. Operating expenses include personnel costs, stock-based compensation expense, occupancy costs, advertising, professional services expense, sales acquisition expense, computer software expense, bank service charges, the provision for loan losses, fixed asset depreciation expense, intangible asset amortization, and restructuring, among other expenses.
Impairment of Goodwill. Impairment of goodwill is the partial write-off of the goodwill balance at the Four reporting unit. Refer to Note 1 of the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the goodwill impairment assessment and resulting impairment charge.
Separation Related Charges. Separation related charges include stock-based compensation expense and retirement charges associated with the separation of the Aaron's Business segment. Refer to Note 2 of the accompanying consolidated financial statements for further discussion of the separation and distribution of the Aaron's Business segment.
Interest Expense, Net. Interest expense, net consists of interest expense incurred on the Company's Senior Notes and senior secured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility"). Interest expense is presented net of interest income earned on the Company's deposits in cash and cash equivalents.
40
Results of Operations
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2022 and 2021
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | (95,220) | (3.6) | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 74,041 | 58,915 | 15,126 | 25.7 | ||||||||||||
| 2,597,826 | 2,677,920 | (80,094) | (3.0) | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,757,730 | 1,820,010 | (62,280) | (3.4) | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 193,926 | 126,984 | 66,942 | 52.7 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 450,374 | 397,399 | 52,975 | 13.3 | ||||||||||||
| Impairment of Goodwill | 10,151 | — | 10,151 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,412,181 | 2,344,393 | 67,788 | 2.9 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 185,645 | 333,527 | (147,882) | (44.3) | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (37,401) | (5,323) | (32,078) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 148,244 | 328,204 | (179,960) | (54.8) | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 49,535 | 84,647 | (35,112) | (41.5) | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS | $ | 98,709 | $ | 243,557 | $ | (144,848) | (59.5) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
41
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2022 | Year Ended December 31, 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,619,005 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 70,911 | 3,130 | 74,041 | — | 58,462 | 453 | 58,915 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,523,785 | $ | 70,911 | $ | 3,130 | $ | 2,597,826 | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 58,462 | $ | 453 | $ | 2,677,920 |
The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was primarily due to an increase in customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments, as compared to the strong customer payment activity and low delinquencies it experienced in 2021. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments, which is recorded as a reduction to lease revenues and fees, was $376.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $224.7 million in 2021. The decrease in Progressive Leasing revenues was also due to a 7.8% decline in its GMV during the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to 2021, and fewer customers electing to exercise early lease buyouts during 2022, as compared to 2021. The increase in Vive revenues was primarily driven by a larger loan portfolio throughout 2022 as compared to 2021.
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 194,195 | $ | 189,576 | $ | 4,619 | 2.4 | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 17,521 | 21,349 | (3,828) | (17.9) | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 6,466 | 6,633 | (167) | (2.5) | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 15,762 | 17,502 | (1,740) | (9.9) | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 22,824 | 24,106 | (1,282) | (5.3) | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 28,828 | 22,374 | 6,454 | 28.8 | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 27,629 | 20,674 | 6,955 | 33.6 | ||||||||||||
| Bank Service Charges | 12,491 | 11,542 | 949 | 8.2 | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 40,574 | 32,717 | 7,857 | 24.0 | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense4 | 366,290 | 346,473 | 19,817 | 5.7 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 41,232 | 17,668 | 23,564 | 133.4 | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 33,851 | 33,258 | 593 | 1.8 | ||||||||||||
| Restructuring Expense | 9,001 | — | 9,001 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 450,374 | $ | 397,399 | $ | 52,975 | 13.3 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
4 Progressive Leasing's sales, general and administrative expense was $321.3 million and $316.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
The increase in personnel costs of $4.6 million was driven primarily by an increase of $2.9 million in personnel costs attributable to an increase in the number of employees resulting from the Four acquisition and other strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021 that continued incurring costs during 2022. Personnel costs also increased by $2.2 million at Vive, primarily due to wage inflation. These increases were partially offset by a decrease of $0.8 million at Progressive Leasing, primarily due to its reduction in the number of employees during the second half of 2022 as part of its restructuring and cost cutting initiatives.
Sales acquisition expense increased $6.5 million primarily due to increased incentives, sales commissions, and other expenses at Progressive Leasing to promote lease originations with its POS partners.
42
Computer software expense increased $7.0 million primarily due to an increase in non-capitalizable costs for software implementation projects by Progressive Leasing during 2022, other strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021 that continued incurring costs in 2022, and increased software licensing costs.
Other sales, general and administrative expense increased $7.9 million primarily due to additional administrative costs within Progressive Leasing during 2022, in addition to an increase of $2.4 million due to the acquisition and growth of our Four business, and other strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021 that incurred greater costs in 2022 than in 2021.
Provision for loan losses increased $23.6 million due to unfavorable economic conditions present during 2022 and projected macroeconomic conditions, including a rapid increase in the rate of inflation, high unemployment rates, and the absence of government stimulus payments and enhanced unemployment benefits and child tax credits, as compared to 2021, at Vive. The provision for loan losses also increased due to growth in GMV at Four since it was acquired in June 2021. The provision for loan losses as a percentage of interest and fees revenue increased to 55.7% for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 30.0% in 2021, due to customer payment delinquencies at Vive returning to pre-pandemic levels, higher expected credit losses due to projected unfavorable macroeconomic conditions, and higher write-offs within our Four operations.
Restructuring expense of $9.0 million is the result of a number of restructuring activities initiated by the Company during 2022 intended to reduce expenses, consolidate certain segment corporate headquarters and other office locations, and align the cost structure of the business with the Company's strategy and near-term revenue outlook. The restructuring expense was primarily comprised of severance costs associated with a reduction in Progressive Leasing's workforce and operating lease right-of-use asset impairment charges related to a reduction in call center and office space and the relocation of the Vive corporate headquarters to the Company's corporate office building.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise decreased by 3.4% due to fewer customers exercising early lease buyout elections during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 2021. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased slightly compared to 2021, resulting from the decline in early buyout elections.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs increased by $66.9 million due to higher customer payment delinquencies and write-offs during the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the strong customer payment activity and historically low lease merchandise write-offs we experienced in 2021. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from challenges in the macroeconomic environment, including high inflation, forecasted unemployment rates, and/or a recession and the potential effects of such developments on our POS partners, customers, and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance as of December 31, 2022. Actual lease merchandise write-offs could differ materially from the allowance.
The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues was 7.7% for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to 4.8% for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase in the provision as a percentage of lease revenues was primarily due to higher customer payment delinquencies and write-offs on leases originated in 2022, most notably in the first half of 2022 prior to the Company further tightening its lease decisioning to address the unfavorable economic conditions. The provision also increased as a result of changes in estimates for the allowance as discussed above.
Impairment of Goodwill. The Company recorded a loss of $10.2 million to partially write off the goodwill balance of the Four reporting unit during the third quarter of 2022. Refer to Note 1 for additional information regarding the details of the goodwill impairment loss.
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Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense
Information about our earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2022 vs. 2021 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | 2021 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 174,143 | $ | 319,125 | $ | (144,982) | (45.4) | % | ||||||||
| Vive | 9,195 | 20,225 | (11,030) | (54.5) | ||||||||||||
| Other | (35,094) | (11,146) | (23,948) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 148,244 | $ | 328,204 | $ | (179,960) | (54.8) | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
The $35.1 million loss before income taxes within "Other" primarily relates to our Four operations and includes a $10.2 million impairment loss related to the partial impairment of Four's goodwill. Other factors impacting the change in earnings before income tax expense are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense decreased to $49.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $84.6 million in 2021 primarily due to lower earnings before income tax expense. The effective tax rate was 33.4% for the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 25.8% in 2021. The increase in the effective tax rate was primarily driven by the non-deductible goodwill impairment loss for Four of $10.2 million, interest on the Company's uncertain tax position liabilities, an unfavorable adjustment for employee stock-based compensation vesting, and an increase in the valuation allowance related to certain deferred tax assets.
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 175,600 | 7.2 | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 58,915 | 41,190 | 17,725 | 43.0 | ||||||||||||
| 2,677,920 | 2,484,595 | 193,325 | 7.8 | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,820,010 | 1,690,922 | 129,088 | 7.6 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 126,984 | 131,332 | (4,348) | (3.3) | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 397,399 | 372,625 | 24,774 | 6.6 | ||||||||||||
| Separation Related Charges | — | 17,953 | (17,953) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,344,393 | 2,212,832 | 131,561 | 5.9 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 333,527 | 271,763 | 61,764 | 22.7 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense, Net | (5,323) | (187) | (5,136) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 328,204 | 271,576 | 56,628 | 20.9 | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 84,647 | 37,949 | 46,698 | 123.1 | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS | 243,557 | 233,627 | 9,930 | 4.3 | ||||||||||||
| LOSS FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS, NET OF INCOME TAX | — | (295,092) | 295,092 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS (LOSS) | $ | 243,557 | $ | (61,465) | $ | 305,022 | nmf |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
44
Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2021 | Year Ended December 31, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,443,405 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 58,462 | 453 | 58,915 | — | 41,190 | — | 41,190 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 58,462 | $ | 453 | $ | 2,677,920 | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 41,190 | $ | — | $ | 2,484,595 |
The increase in Progressive Leasing revenues was due to a 15.8% increase in GMV driven by growth from large national POS partners and e-commerce platforms. GMV generated through e-commerce platforms represented 15.2% of total Progressive Leasing GMV in 2021, compared to 7.0% in 2020. Although Progressive Leasing's customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments began trending back to normalized pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021, and reached those pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter, the unfavorable impact of that factor on revenues was more than offset by Progressive Leasing's lease portfolio growth in 2021. The increase in Vive revenues was due to continued strong customer payment performance and a 52.3% increase in GMV in the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to 2020, resulting in growth in our loans receivable portfolio and additional interest and fee revenues. We believe a significant portion of our Progressive Leasing and Vive customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments, which contributed to the strong customer payment activity we experienced in 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 189,576 | $ | 170,285 | $ | 19,291 | 11.3 | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 21,349 | 20,403 | 946 | 4.6 | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 6,633 | 6,545 | 88 | 1.3 | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 17,502 | 6,627 | 10,875 | 164.1 | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 24,106 | 22,503 | 1,603 | 7.1 | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 22,374 | 19,449 | 2,925 | 15.0 | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 20,674 | 13,260 | 7,414 | 55.9 | ||||||||||||
| Bank Service Charges | 11,542 | 9,916 | 1,626 | 16.4 | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 32,717 | 37,779 | (5,062) | (13.4) | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense4 | 346,473 | 306,767 | 39,706 | 12.9 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 17,668 | 34,038 | (16,370) | (48.1) | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 33,258 | 31,820 | 1,438 | 4.5 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 397,399 | $ | 372,625 | $ | 24,774 | 6.6 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
4 Progressive Leasing's sales, general and administrative expense was $316.3 million and $268.9 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The increase in personnel costs of $19.3 million was driven by increases of $21.5 million and $0.9 million at Progressive Leasing and Vive, respectively, for additional hiring and promotions resulting from continued growth in the business and new personnel costs for functions associated with becoming a standalone public company effective November 30, 2020. Personnel costs increased an additional $1.8 million as a result of strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021. These increases were partially offset by executive personnel costs incurred by the Aaron's Business segment in the year ended December 31, 2020, which did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations, and are classified within unallocated corporate costs for segment purposes.
45
Advertising expense increased $10.9 million primarily due to Progressive Leasing's effort to continue growing GMV from existing POS partners and to further expand into e-commerce, combined with reduced marketing efforts in the same period of 2020 associated with cost cutting measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Computer software expense increased $7.4 million primarily due to non-capitalizable software implementation projects by Progressive Leasing during 2021 and increased software and licensing costs related to the overall growth and strategic initiatives of the Company.
Provision for loan losses decreased $16.4 million due to continued strong customer payment activity and changes to estimates in Vive's allowance for loan losses during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to 2020. The Company recognized an incremental $12.3 million allowance for loan losses during the year ended December 31, 2020 due to the unfavorable forecasted macroeconomic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year ended December 31, 2021, strong customer payment activity and improved forecasted macroeconomic conditions resulted in a downward change in estimate to the allowance for loan losses of $14.7 million. These changes in forecasted macroeconomic conditions and strong customer payment activity resulted in a decrease in Vive's allowance for loan losses as a percentage of gross loans receivable from 32.1% as of December 31, 2020 to 23.4% as of December 31, 2021. We believe a significant portion of our Vive customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments, which contributed to the strong customer payment activity in 2020 and 2021. These decreases were partially offset by the establishment of new allowances due to Vive's GMV growth of 52.3% in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise increased due to growth in Progressive Leasing's portfolio of leased assets for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to 2020. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased to 69.5% from 69.2% in 2020, primarily due to elevated early lease buyouts in 2021 as compared to 2020, partially offset by a decrease in the provision for uncollectible renewal payments.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs decreased $4.3 million primarily due to a $14.8 million decline in write-offs, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, as a result of continued strong payment activity from customers, and changes to estimates in our allowance for lease merchandise write-offs. At December 31, 2020, we established incremental lease merchandise allowances of $10.3 million, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on management's best estimate of the potential unfavorable impacts the COVID-19 pandemic may have on our customers' ability to continue making payments on their leases. In the year ended December 31, 2021, we continued to experience strong customer payment activity and relatively low write-offs, resulting in the reversal of the full amount of the incremental COVID-19 specific allowance for write-offs. We believe a significant portion of our Progressive Leasing customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments, which contributed to the strong customer payment activity we experienced in 2020 and 2021.
The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues decreased to 4.8% for the year ended December 31, 2021 from 5.4% in 2020 due to improved customer payment activity, relatively low write-offs, and changes in estimates on the allowance as discussed above.
Separation related charges. The Company incurred $18.0 million of stock-based compensation and retirement costs in the year ended December 31, 2020 related to the Company's separation of the Aaron's Business segment.
Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense
Information about our earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 319,125 | $ | 320,636 | $ | (1,511) | (0.5) | % | ||||||||
| Vive | 20,225 | (11,180) | 31,405 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Other | (11,146) | — | (11,146) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Unallocated Corporate Expenses | — | (37,880) | 37,880 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 328,204 | $ | 271,576 | $ | 56,628 | 20.9 | % |
46
The $11.1 million loss before income taxes within "Other" primarily relates to our Four operations. Unallocated corporate expenses represent certain expenses that had previously been reported within the Aaron's Business segment in 2020 that did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense increased to $84.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $37.9 million in 2020. The effective tax rate of 14.0% during the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily due to a $34.2 million discrete income tax benefit generated by the provisions of the CARES Act in 2020, which resulted from the rate differential on the carryback of the Company's 2018 net operating loss previously recorded at 21% to the 2013 tax year, where the benefit was recognized at 35%. There are no material adjustments between the Company's effective tax rate of 25.8% and the Company's statutory income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Overview of Financial Position
The major changes in the consolidated balance sheet from December 31, 2021 to December 31, 2022, include:
•Cash and cash equivalents decreased $38.3 million to $131.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2022. For additional information, refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section below.
•Lease merchandise, net, decreased $66.0 million due primarily to a 7.8% decrease in Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2022 as compared to 2021.
•Loans receivable, net of allowances and unamortized fees, increased $11.7 million due to growth in the loan portfolios of Vive and Four compared to December 31, 2021.
•Goodwill decreased $10.2 million as a result of the impairment loss to partially write off the goodwill balance of the Four reporting unit during the third quarter of 2022. Refer to Note 1 for additional information regarding the details of the impairment loss.
47
Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
We expect that our primary capital requirements will consist of:
•Reinvesting in our business, including buying merchandise for the operations of Progressive Leasing. Because we believe Progressive Leasing will continue to grow over the long-term, we expect that the need for additional lease merchandise will remain a major capital requirement;
•Making merger and acquisition investment(s) to further broaden our product offerings; and
•Returning excess cash to shareholders through periodically repurchasing stock.
Other capital requirements include (i) expenditures related to software development; (ii) expenditures related to our corporate operating activities; (iii) personnel expenditures; (iv) income tax payments; (v) funding of loans receivable for Vive; and (vi) servicing our outstanding debt obligation.
Our capital requirements have been financed through:
•cash flows from operations;
•private debt offerings;
•bank debt; and
•stock offerings.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had $131.9 million of cash, $350.0 million of availability under the Revolving Facility, and $600.0 million of indebtedness.
The Company's statement of cash flows for the year ended 2020 was not required to be adjusted for discontinued operations. Accordingly, the cash flow activities for the Aaron's Business discontinued operations are included in the discussion and analysis set forth below for the comparative periods through the separation and distribution date of November 30, 2020.
Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities was $242.5 million and $246.0 million during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Cash provided by operating activities decreased by $3.5 million despite the $144.8 million decrease in net earnings from continuing operations as compared to 2021. Other significant changes in operating cash outflows compared to the prior year include $35.6 million of interest paid on the Company's Senior Notes compared to $1.5 million in 2021, and an $8.6 million increase in net income tax payments for the year ended December 31, 2022. These decreases in operating cash flows were partially offset by a $165.3 million decrease in purchases of lease merchandise by Progressive Leasing during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to 2021. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2022.
Cash provided by operating activities was $246.0 million and $456.0 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The $210.0 million decrease in operating cash flows was primarily due to the separation of the Aaron's Business, which accounted for $193.3 million of the cash provided by operating activities during the year ended December 31, 2020. The $16.7 million decrease in cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations in 2021 when compared to 2020 was driven by an increase of lease merchandise purchases of $265.5 million during 2021. The Company also made net income tax payments of $53.6 million during 2021, compared to $29.0 million in 2020. These higher cash outflows in 2021 were partially offset by stronger customer payment activity during the first half of 2021 and the payment of Progressive Leasing's $175.0 million settlement with the FTC in the second quarter of 2020. Changes in certain working capital accounts also contributed to operating cash inflows. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Cash Used in Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $53.5 million and $82.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The $28.7 million decrease in investing cash outflows in the year ended December 31, 2022 as compared to the same period in 2021 was primarily due to the $22.8 million of cash paid for the acquisition of Four in June 2021. Additionally, proceeds from loans receivable increased $27.4 million in 2022 compared to 2021. These changes were partially offset by a $21.4 million increase in cash outflows for investments in loans receivables in 2022 as compared to 2021.
Cash used in investing activities was $82.2 million and $114.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 included $64.5 million in cash outflows attributable to the Aaron's Business discontinued operations. The $32.2 million increase in cash used in investing
activities from continuing operations when compared to the same period in 2020 was primarily due to: (i) a $69.6 million increase in cash outflows for investments in Vive loans receivable in 2021 due to growth in loan origination activity; and (ii) the $22.8 million cash paid, net of cash acquired, for the acquisition of Four in June 2021. The increases were partially offset by a $62.9 million increase in proceeds on loans receivable driven by strong customer payment activity and growth in the portfolio in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period of 2020.
Cash Used in Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities was $227.2 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 compared to $30.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021, an increase of $196.9 million. Cash used in financing activities in 2022 was primarily due to the $223.6 million outflows for the acquisition of treasury stock. Cash used in financing activities in 2021 was primarily comprised of: (i) a $425 million outflow for the "Dutch auction" tender offer, plus $3.6 million in related transaction fees, for the repurchase and retirement of our common stock; (ii) a $142.4 million outflow for the acquisition of treasury stock; (iii) the repayment of $50.0 million on our Revolving Facility; and (iv) $600 million gross proceeds from the issuance of Senior Notes, net of $8.3 million of bank fees.
Cash used in financing activities was $30.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $362.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020, a decrease of $332.3 million. Cash used in financing activities in 2021 was primarily comprised of: (i) a $425 million outflow for the "Dutch auction" tender offer, plus $3.6 million in related transaction fees, for the repurchase and retirement of our common stock; (ii) a $142.4 million outflow for the acquisition of treasury stock; (iii) the repayment of $50.0 million on our Revolving Facility; and (iv) $600 million gross proceeds from the issuance of Senior Notes, net of $8.3 million of bank fees. Cash used in financing activities in 2020 was primarily comprised of: (i) $342.0 million of net repayments made to fully extinguish the Company's historical debt facilities in advance of the separation and distribution transaction; (ii) $50.0 million of borrowings on the Company's Revolving Facility; (iii) $54.2 million of cash transferred to The Aaron's Company in the separation and distribution; (iv) $13.8 million of dividends paid; and (v) $12.4 million of proceeds from stock option exercises.
Share Repurchases
We purchase our stock in the market from time to time as authorized by our Board of Directors. On February 22, 2021, the Company's Board of Directors terminated the share repurchase program that was in effect as of December 31, 2020 and replaced it with a repurchase program that permitted the Company to repurchase up to $300 million of the Company's outstanding common stock. On November 3, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program that replaced the previous $300 million repurchase program. As of December 31, 2022, we had the authority to purchase additional shares up to our remaining authorization limit of $337.3 million.
The Company purchased 8,720,223 shares of its common stock for $223.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2022 and 11,611,178 shares for $567.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Dividends
We paid no dividends during 2022 and 2021 and do not currently anticipate paying any dividends. Prior to the separation and distribution transaction, we declared an annual common stock dividend of $0.165 per share in 2020, which resulted in an aggregate dividend payment of $13.8 million.
Debt Financing
On November 26, 2021, the Company entered into an indenture in connection with its offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2029 (the "Senior Notes"). The Senior Notes were issued at 100.0% of their par value with a stated fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company and will be guaranteed by certain of the Company's existing and future domestic subsidiaries.
The indenture discussed above contains various other covenants and obligations to which the Company and its subsidiaries are subject while the Senior Notes are outstanding. The covenants in the indenture may limit the extent to which, or the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to, among other things: (i) incur additional debt and guarantee debt; (ii) pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem capital stock; (iii) prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt; (iv) issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; (v) make loans and investments; (vi) sell assets; (vii) incur liens; (viii) enter into transactions with affiliates; (ix) enter into agreements restricting the ability of the Company’s subsidiaries to pay dividends; and (x) consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Company’s assets. The indenture also contains customary events of default for transactions of this type and amount. We were in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2022 and believe that we will continue to be in compliance in the future.
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a credit agreement with a consortium of lenders providing for our $350 million senior unsecured Revolving Facility, under which revolving borrowings became available at the completion of the separation and distribution date and under which all borrowings and commitments will mature or terminate on November 24, 2025.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had no outstanding balance and $350 million remaining available for borrowings on the Revolving Facility. The Revolving Facility includes an uncommitted incremental facility increase option which, subject to certain terms and conditions, permits the Company at any time prior to the maturity date to request an increase in extensions of credit available thereunder by an aggregate additional principal amount of up to $300 million.
Our Revolving Facility contains certain financial covenants, which include requirements that the Company maintain ratios of (i) total net debt to EBITDA of no more than 2.50:1.00 and (ii) consolidated interest coverage of no less than 3.00:1.00. The Company will be in default under the Revolving Facility if it fails to comply with these covenants, and all borrowings outstanding may become due immediately. Additionally, under the Revolving Facility, if the total net debt to EBITDA, as defined by the Revolving Facility, exceeds 1.25, the revolver becomes fully secured for the remaining duration of the Revolving Facility term. As of June 30, 2022, the Company exceeded the 1.25 total net debt to EBITDA ratio and the Revolving Facility became fully secured. At December 31, 2022, we were in compliance with the financial covenants set forth in the Revolving Facility and believe that we will continue to be in compliance in the future.
Commitments
Income Taxes. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we made net income tax payments of $62.2 million. During the year ended December 31, 2023 we anticipate making estimated cash payments of $71.4 million for United States federal and state income taxes.
Leases. We lease management and information technology space for corporate functions as well as call center space and storage space for our hub facilities under operating leases expiring at various times through 2027. Our corporate and call center leases contain renewal options for additional periods ranging from three to five years. We also lease transportation vehicles under operating leases which generally expire during the next three years. We expect that most leases will be renewed or replaced by other leases in the normal course of business.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments. Future interest payments on the Company's variable-rate debt are based on a rate per annum equal to, at our option, (i) the London Interbank Overnight Rate ("LIBOR") plus a margin within the range of 1.5% to 2.5% for revolving loans, based on total leverage, or (ii) the administrative agent's base rate plus a margin ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%, as specified in the agreement. The agreement governing the Revolving Facility also contains language allowing for the substitution of interest rates based on the Secured Overnight Financing Rate ("SOFR") once LIBOR ceases being published, which is expected to occur in 2023. Future interest payments related to our Revolving Facility are based on the borrowings outstanding at that time. Future interest payments may be different depending on future borrowing activity and interest rates. The Company had no outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Facility as of December 31, 2022.
As discussed above, on November 26, 2021, the Company issued $600 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes that bear a fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes will mature on November 15, 2029.
The Company has no long-term commitments to purchase merchandise nor does it have significant purchase agreements that specify minimum quantities or set prices that exceed our expected requirements for three months.
Deferred income tax liabilities as of December 31, 2022 were approximately $137.3 million. Deferred income tax liabilities are calculated based on temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their respective book basis, which will result in taxable amounts in future years when the liabilities are settled at their reported financial statement amounts. The results of these calculations do not have a direct connection with the amount of cash taxes to be paid in any future periods. As a result, scheduling deferred income tax liabilities as payments due by period may be misleading, because this scheduling would not necessarily relate to liquidity needs.
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Unfunded Lending Commitments. The Company, through its Vive business, has unconditionally cancellable unfunded lending commitments totaling approximately $513.7 million and $467.6 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively, that do not give rise to revenues and cash flows. These unfunded commitments arise in the ordinary course of business from credit card agreements with individual cardholders that give them the ability to borrow, against unused amounts, up to the maximum credit limit assigned to their account. While these unfunded amounts represented the total available unused lines of credit, the Company does not anticipate that all cardholders will utilize their entire available line at any given point in time. Commitments to extend unsecured credit are agreements to lend to a cardholder so long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements.
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Critical Accounting Policies
We discuss the most critical accounting policies below. For a discussion of all of the Company’s significant accounting policies, see Note 1 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
All of Progressive Leasing's customer agreements are considered operating leases and are recognized in accordance with ASC 842, Leases. The Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise until all payment obligations are satisfied under the lease ownership agreements. Progressive Leasing recognizes lease revenue on a straight-line basis over the estimated lease term. Initial lease payments made by the customer upon lease execution are initially recognized as deferred revenue and are recognized as lease revenue over the estimated lease term on a straight-line basis. All other customer billings are in arrears and, therefore, lease revenues are earned prior to the lease payment due date and are recorded in the statements of earnings net of related sales taxes as earned. Cash collected in advance of being due or earned and recognized as deferred revenue is presented within customer deposits and advance payments in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Progressive Leasing revenues recorded prior to the payment due date results in unbilled accounts receivable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Our revenue recognition accounting policy matches the lease revenue with the corresponding costs, mainly depreciation expense, associated with lease merchandise.
At December 31, 2022 and 2021, we had deferred revenue representing cash collected in advance of being due or earned totaling $37.1 million and $45.1 million, respectively, and accounts receivable, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical collection rates, of $64.5 million and $66.3 million, respectively. Our accounts receivable allowance is estimated using historical write-off and collection experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease receivables after 120 days. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments is recorded as a reduction of lease revenues and fees in accordance with ASC 842.
Vive recognizes interest income based upon the amount of the loans outstanding, which is recognized as interest and fees on loans receivable in the billing period in which they are assessed if collectability is reasonably assured. Vive acquires loans receivable from its third-party bank partners at a discount from the face value of the loan. The discount is comprised mainly of a merchant fee discount, which represents a pre-negotiated, nonrefundable discount that generally ranges from 3.0% to 25% of the loan face value. The discount is designed to cover the risk of loss related to the portfolio of cardholder charges and Vive’s direct origination costs. The merchant fee discount, net of the origination costs, is amortized on a net basis and is recorded as interest and fee revenue on loans receivable on a straight-line basis over the initial 24-month period that the card is active.
Lease Merchandise
The Company’s Progressive Leasing segment, at which all merchandise is on lease, depreciates merchandise on a straight-line basis to a 0% salvage value generally over 12 months. We record a provision for lease merchandise write-offs using the allowance method. The allowance for lease merchandise write-offs estimates the merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management as of the end of the accounting period. The Company estimates its allowance for lease merchandise write-offs using historical write-off experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write off lease merchandise after 120 days. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs was $47.1 million and $54.4 million, respectively. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs was $193.9 million and $127.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets
Intangible assets are classified into one of three categories: (i) intangible assets with definite lives subject to amortization; (ii) intangible assets with indefinite lives not subject to amortization; and (iii) goodwill. For intangible assets with definite lives, tests for impairment are performed if conditions exist that indicate the carrying amount may not be recoverable. For intangible assets with indefinite lives and goodwill, tests for impairment are performed at least annually, and sooner if events or circumstances indicate that an impairment may have occurred. Factors which may necessitate an interim impairment assessment include a sustained decline in a company’s stock price, prolonged negative industry or economic trends and significant underperformance relative to historical or projected future operating results. For the annual impairment test of intangible assets with indefinite lives and goodwill, a company may perform a qualitative assessment for impairment if it believes it is not more likely than not that the carrying amount of a reporting unit’s net assets exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value.
Indefinite-lived intangible assets represent the value of the trade name acquired as part of the Progressive Leasing acquisition. At the date of acquisition, the Company determined that no legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive, economic or other factors limit the useful life of the trade name intangible asset and, therefore, the useful life is considered indefinite. The Company reassesses this conclusion quarterly and continues to believe the useful life of this asset is indefinite. The Company
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performed a quantitative assessment to complete its indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment test as of October 1, 2022 and determined that no impairment had occurred.
In conjunction with the purchase of Four on June 25, 2021, the Company acquired $5.2 million of definite-lived intangible assets comprised of Four's proprietary technology platform, trade name, and existing merchant relationships. The Company also recorded $17.4 million of goodwill related to the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets acquired, which represents the Company’s ability to provide a BNPL product to the Company’s existing base of retailers, merchants and customers.
The following table presents the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets, net:
| December 31, | ||
|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | 2022 | |
| Goodwill1 | $ | 296,061 |
| Other Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets2 | 53,000 | |
| Definite-Lived Intangible Assets, Net | 61,411 | |
| Goodwill and Other Intangibles, Net | $ | 410,472 |
1 As of December 31, 2022, goodwill for Progressive Leasing and Four was $288.8 million and $7.3 million, respectively.
2 Other indefinite-lived intangible assets represents the Progressive Leasing trade name.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company had two reporting units with goodwill: Progressive Leasing and Four. We performed our annual goodwill impairment testing for the Progressive Leasing reporting unit as of October 1, 2022 using a quantitative methodology. We engaged the same third-party valuation firm to assist with the annual goodwill impairment test for the Progressive Leasing reporting unit. This entailed an assessment of the reporting unit's fair value relative to the carrying value that was derived using a combination of both income and market approaches and performing a market capitalization reconciliation which included an assessment of the control premium implied from our estimated fair values of our reporting units. The fair value measurement involved significant unobservable inputs (Level 3 inputs, as discussed more fully below). The income approach utilized the discounted future expected cash flows, which required assumptions about short-term and long-term cash flows for the Progressive Leasing reporting unit. Due to the significant uncertainty associated with macroeconomic conditions, the assumptions and estimates used by management were highly subjective. The weighted-average cost of capital used in the income approach was adjusted to reflect the specific risks and uncertainties associated with the current macroeconomic environment in developing the cash flow projections. The market approach, which includes the guideline public company method, utilized pricing multiples derived from an analysis of comparable publicly traded companies. We believe the comparable companies we evaluated as marketplace participants served as an appropriate reference when calculating fair value because those companies have similar risks, participate in the lease to own market, provide similar products and services, and compete with Progressive Leasing directly. The Company concluded that the fair value of Progressive Leasing exceeded its carrying value and, therefore, determined that there was no indication of impairment as of October 1, 2022.
As of September 30, 2022, the Company concluded an interim goodwill impairment test was triggered for the Four reporting unit. Factors that led to this conclusion included: (i) a significant decline in valuations and related market multiples for Four's peers in the BNPL industry; (ii) an increase in Four's forecasted losses; and (iii) projected negative cash flows for Four in future periods. The Company determined the Four goodwill was partially impaired and recorded an impairment of goodwill of $10.2 million during the third quarter of 2022. The Company engaged a third-party valuation firm to assist with the interim goodwill impairment test for the Four reporting unit. This included an assessment of the Four reporting unit's fair value relative to the carrying value that was derived using a market approach. The market approach, which includes the guideline public company method, utilized pricing multiples derived from an analysis of other publicly traded companies that operate in the BNPL industry. We believe the comparable companies we evaluate as marketplace participants serve as an appropriate reference when calculating fair value because those companies have similar risks, participate in similar markets, provide similar products and services for their customers and compete with Four directly.
As a result of the impairment recorded in the third quarter of 2022, the carrying value of our Four reporting unit approximated its fair value as of October 1, 2022. As such, additional goodwill impairment charges may occur in future periods if the Company fails to execute on one or more elements of Four's strategic plan, Four's actual or projected results are unfavorable compared to the current forecasted operating results, and/or there are further declines in the BNPL peer market multiples.
As of December 31, 2022, the Company concluded that there were no events or circumstances that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of the Progressive Leasing or Four reporting unit below its carrying amount.
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Provision for Loan Losses and Loan Loss Allowance
Effective January 1, 2020 with the adoption of ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments ("CECL") expected lifetime losses on loans receivable are recognized upon loan acquisition, which results in earlier recognition of credit losses and requires the Company to make its best estimate of probable lifetime losses at the time of acquisition. The Company segments its Vive loans receivable portfolio into homogenous pools by FICO score and by delinquency status and evaluates loans receivable collectively for impairment when similar risk characteristics exist. Our Vive credit card loans do not have contractually stated maturity dates, which requires the Company to estimate an average life of loan by analyzing historical payment trends to determine an expected remaining life of the loan balance. Our current estimate is that the average life of an outstanding credit card loan is approximately one to two years, depending on the respective FICO score segmentation.
The Company calculates the Vive allowance for loan losses based on internal historical loss information and incorporates observable and forecasted macroeconomic data over a twelve-month reasonable and supportable forecast period. Key macroeconomic factors incorporated into our forecasts include projected changes in unemployment rates, stock market volatility, projected United States treasury rates, and projected prime lending rates. Incorporating macroeconomic data could have a material impact on the measurement of the allowance to the extent that forecasted data changes significantly, such as changes in forecasted unemployment rates and the observed significant market volatility. For any periods beyond the twelve-month reasonable and supportable forecast period described above, the Company reverts to using historical loss information on a straight-line basis over a period of six months and utilizes historical loss information for the remaining life of the portfolio.
The Company may also consider other qualitative factors in estimating the allowance, as necessary. For the purposes of determining the allowance as of December 31, 2022, management considered other qualitative factors such as the macroeconomic conditions associated with the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, increasing inflation, forecasted higher unemployment rates, and/or a prolonged recession in the United States, which was not fully factored into the macroeconomic forecasted data, and which likely contributed to unfavorable cardholder payment trends we experienced during these periods. The allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level considered appropriate to cover expected lifetime losses of principal, interest and fees on active loans in the loans receivable portfolio, and the appropriateness of the allowance is evaluated at each period end.
Delinquent loans receivable are those that are 30 days or more past due based on their contractual billing dates. The Company places loans receivable on nonaccrual status when they are greater than 90 days past due or upon notification of cardholder bankruptcy, death or fraud. The Company discontinues accruing interest and fees and amortizing merchant fee discounts and promotional fee discounts for loans receivable in nonaccrual status. Loans receivable are removed from nonaccrual status when cardholder payments resume, the loan becomes 90 days or less past due and collection of the remaining amounts outstanding is deemed probable. Payments received on nonaccrual loans are allocated according to the same payment hierarchy methodology applied to loans that are accruing interest. Loans receivable are charged off at the end of the following month after the billing cycle in which the loans receivable become 120 days past due.
The provision for loan losses was $41.2 million and $17.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. The allowance for loan losses was $42.4 million and $40.8 million as of December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 to the Company’s consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recently issued accounting pronouncements.
FY 2021 10-K MD&A
SEC filing source: 0001808834-22-000016.
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") is intended to help the reader understand the results of operations and financial condition of PROG Holdings, Inc. and should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the accompanying notes. Throughout the MD&A we refer to various notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements which appear in Item 8 of this Form 10-K. The following discussion may contain forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates and beliefs and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause or contribute to these differences include those discussed in Item 1A. Risk Factors and "Forward-Looking Statements" of this Form 10-K.
Business Overview
PROG Holdings, Inc. ("we", "our", "us", the "Company", or "PROG Holdings") is a financial technology holding company that provides leading financial solutions to empower consumers and retailers. PROG Holdings has two reportable segments: (i) Progressive Leasing, an e-commerce, app-based, and in-store point-of-sale lease-to-own solutions provider; and (ii) Vive Financial ("Vive"), an omnichannel provider of second-look revolving credit products.
Our Progressive Leasing segment provides consumers with lease-purchase solutions through its point-of-sale partner locations and e-commerce website partners (collectively, "POS partners") in 49 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. It does so by purchasing the merchandise from the POS partners desired by customers and, in turn, leasing that merchandise to the customers through a cancellable lease-to-own transaction. Progressive Leasing has no stores of its own, but rather offers lease-purchase solutions to the customers of traditional and e-commerce retailers. The Progressive Leasing segment comprised approximately 98% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Our Vive segment primarily serves customers that may not qualify for traditional prime lending offers who desire to purchase goods and services from participating merchants. Vive offers customized programs with services that include revolving loans through private label and Vive-branded credit cards. Vive's current network of POS partner locations and e-commerce websites includes furniture, mattresses, home exercise equipment, and home improvement retailers, as well as medical and dental service providers. The Vive segment comprised approximately 2% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2021.
On June 25, 2021, the Company completed the acquisition of Four Technologies, Inc. ("Four"), an innovative Buy Now, Pay Later company that allows shoppers to pay for merchandise through four interest-free installments. Four’s proprietary platform capabilities and its base of customers and retailers expand PROG Holdings’ ecosystem of financial technology offerings by introducing a payment solution that further diversifies the Company's consumer financial technology offerings. Shoppers use Four to purchase furniture, clothing, electronics, health and beauty products, footwear, jewelry, and other consumer goods from retailers across the United States. Four is not a reportable segment for the year ended December 31, 2021 as its revenues, loss before income taxes, and assets are not material to the Company's consolidated financial results. Four's financial results are reported within "Other" for segment reporting purposes.
Separation and Distribution of the Aaron's Business segment
On November 30, 2020, PROG Holdings (previously "Aaron's Holdings Company, Inc.") completed the separation of its Aaron's Business segment from its Progressive Leasing and Vive segments. The separation was effected through a tax-free distribution of all outstanding shares of common stock of The Aaron's Company, Inc. ("The Aaron's Company") to the PROG Holdings shareholders of record as of the close of business on November 27, 2020 (referred to as the "separation and distribution transaction"). Through that distribution, shareholders of PROG Holdings received one share of The Aaron's Company for every two shares of PROG Holdings common stock. Upon completion of the separation and distribution transaction on November 30, 2020, The Aaron's Company became an independent, publicly traded company under the symbol "AAN" on the New York Stock Exchange, while PROG Holdings continued to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the new symbol "PRG".
Prior to the separation and distribution transaction, the Company's operating segments were Progressive Leasing, the Aaron's Business, and Vive. All direct revenues and expenses of the Aaron's Business operations have been classified within discontinued operations, net of income tax, within our consolidated statements of earnings (loss) for all periods through the separation and distribution date of November 30, 2020. Certain corporate expenses that have previously been reported as expenses of the Aaron's Business segment in 2020 and 2019 did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations and are reported as unallocated corporate expenses for segment purposes within continuing operations. These unallocated corporate expenses are in addition to corporate overhead costs allocated to the Progressive Leasing and Vive segments for
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periods through the separation and distribution date of November 30, 2020. We have focused our discussion in the MD&A on our continuing operations of Progressive Leasing and Vive.
COVID-19 Pandemic
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted global supply chains and increased unemployment levels. Although the temporary showroom and/or store closures or reduced hours and scope of operations that many of our POS partners experienced during portions of 2020 have eased, other pandemic-related factors continue to unfavorably impact many of our POS partners, including supply chain disruptions resulting in shortages of available products at certain POS partners, primarily in the appliance, electronics and furniture categories. While customer demand and gross merchandise volume ("GMV") was strong during most of 2021, these pandemic-related developments may have an unfavorable impact on Progressive Leasing’s generation of new lease agreements, Vive's generation of new loans, GMV, and revenues in future periods. During December 2021 and January 2022, we experienced an unfavorable impact to our GMV due to a resurgence of COVID-19, from the Omicron variant in particular, that resulted in store closures, reduced hours of operation, significant increases in employee absenteeism, and a decline in customer traffic for many of our POS partners.
The COVID-19 pandemic may adversely impact our business, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and/or cash flow in future periods. The extent of any such adverse impacts will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including (i) the length and severity of the pandemic, including, for example, the emergence of more contagious and harmful variants of COVID-19 and localized outbreaks or additional waves of COVID-19 cases; (ii) the impact of any such outbreaks on our customers, POS partners, and employees; (iii) the nature of any government orders issued in response to such outbreaks; (iv) the effectiveness, availability and level of use of vaccines; and (v) whether there is any additional government stimulus in response to the pandemic, as well as the nature, timing and amount of such stimulus payments.
In response to COVID-19, the United States government enacted certain fiscal stimulus measures in several phases to assist in counteracting the economic disruptions caused by the pandemic. On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act") was signed into law. A second round of stimulus benefits was enacted and paid in December 2020. On March 11, 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 was signed into law, providing a third round of stimulus payments to individuals and extending supplemental unemployment assistance through September 6, 2021, while exempting the first $10,200 of unemployment benefits from income tax. We believe all of those government stimulus measures provided economic support to many of our customers, resulting in an increase in payment activity and early lease buyouts, as well as lease merchandise, accounts receivable, and loan receivable write-offs trending lower during 2020 and the first half of 2021. We believe a significant portion of our Progressive Leasing and Vive customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments during 2020 and the first half of 2021, which enabled them to continue making payments to us under their lease-to-own or credit card agreements, despite the economically challenging times resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
As expected, customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments within our Progressive Leasing segment began trending back towards normalized pre-pandemic levels during the second half of 2021, and reached those pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2021. Customer payment delinquencies within our Vive segment were unfavorable during the second half of 2021 as compared to the first half of 2021 and 2020, but still more favorable than pre-pandemic delinquency levels. We cannot be certain that our customers will continue making their payments to us at these current levels. We may experience customer payment delinquencies and associated write-offs at levels worse than pre-pandemic trends due to the expiration of the various types of government stimulus that were implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, other adverse economic impacts arising out of the pandemic, and/or the increase in inflation in recent months to levels not seen in decades. Those and other factors may adversely impact our customers' ability to make payments to us, and may have an unfavorable impact on our financial performance.
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Highlights
The following summarizes significant highlights from the year ended December 31, 2021:
•We reported revenues of $2.7 billion in 2021, an increase of 7.8% compared to 2020. The increase in revenues was primarily due to growth of the Company's portfolio of leased assets, driven by a rise in GMV generated from continued growth from large national POS partners and increased penetration in e-commerce. In 2021, GMV generated through e-commerce platforms represented 15.2% of total Progressive Leasing GMV, compared to 7.0% in 2020. These favorable increases in revenue were partially offset by customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments trending back to normalized pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021, and reaching those pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter, as compared to the strong customer payment activity and historically low delinquencies we experienced in the first half of 2021 and in 2020. We believe a significant portion of our customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments during 2020 and the first half of 2021, which contributed to this strong customer payment activity.
•Earnings before income taxes increased to $328.2 million compared to $271.6 million in 2020. The increase was primarily driven by overall growth and higher revenues as discussed above and $18.0 million in separation related charges in 2020 that were not recurring. The increase in earnings before income taxes was partially offset by a $23.9 million increase in operating expenses due mainly to higher personnel and advertising expenses.
•On November 4, 2021 the Company announced the commencement of a "modified Dutch auction" tender offer to purchase for cash up to $425 million of its shares of common stock. On November 26, 2021, the Company issued $600 million of senior unsecured notes ("Senior Notes") that will mature November 15, 2029, for which a portion of the net proceeds was used to fund the tender offer. On December 8, 2021 the Company announced that it had accepted for purchase 8,673,469 shares of its common stock at $49.00 per share. In addition to the shares repurchased through the tender offer, the Company repurchased 2,937,709 shares of its common stock for $142.4 million during 2021.
Key Operating Metrics
Gross Merchandise Volume. We believe GMV is a key performance indicator of our Progressive Leasing and Vive segments, as it provides the total value of new leases and loans written into our portfolio over a specified time period. GMV does not represent revenues earned by the Company, but rather is a leading indicator we use in forecasting revenues the Company may earn in the short-term. Progressive Leasing's GMV is defined as the retail price of merchandise acquired by Progressive Leasing, which it then leases to its customers. Vive and Other GMV is defined as gross loan originations.
The following table presents our GMV for the Company for the years presented:
| For the Year Ended December 31 (Unaudited and In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 2,143,948 | $ | 1,851,308 | $ | 1,812,824 | ||||
| Vive | 199,139 | 130,751 | 83,109 | |||||||
| Other | 8,651 | — | — | |||||||
| Total GMV | $ | 2,351,738 | $ | 1,982,059 | $ | 1,895,933 |
The increase in Progressive Leasing's GMV was driven by an increase in the quantity of new leases originated in 2021, largely the result of continued growth from our largest national POS partners and increased penetration in e-commerce. E-commerce channels generated $326.5 million, or 15.2%, of Progressive Leasing's GMV in 2021 compared to $130.3 million, or 7.0%, in 2020. Vive's GMV growth was driven by an increase in new loans at both new and existing POS partners. Our Progressive Leasing and Vive GMV also improved year over year due to the unfavorable impacts of COVID-19 in 2020, including showroom and/or store closures and supply chain disruptions for our POS partners.
Active Customer Count. Our active customer count represents the total number of customers that have an active lease agreement with Progressive Leasing, or an active loan with Vive or Four. The following table presents our consolidated active customer count, which includes an immaterial number of customers that have both an active lease agreement and loan agreement, for the Company for the years presented:
| As of December 31 (Unaudited) | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Customer Count: | |||||||
| Progressive Leasing | 1,044,000 | 970,000 | 1,072,000 | ||||
| Vive | 88,000 | 66,000 | 48,000 | ||||
| Other | 18,000 | — | — | ||||
| Total Active Customer Count | 1,150,000 | 1,036,000 | 1,120,000 |
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The increase in the number of Progressive Leasing and Vive customers in 2021 compared to 2020 was due to continued growth in new leases and loans, respectively, at both new and existing POS partners. The number of Progressive Leasing customers was also negatively impacted in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related government stimulus, which led to higher levels of early lease buyouts and more customers of our POS partners purchasing products, instead of leasing them, in 2020.
Key Components of Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes
In this MD&A section, we review our consolidated results. For the year ended December 31, 2021 and the comparable prior year periods, some of the key revenue and cost and expense items that affected earnings before income taxes were as follows:
Revenues. We separate our total revenues into two components: (i) lease revenues and fees and (ii) interest and fees on loans receivable. Lease revenues and fees include all revenues derived from lease agreements from our Progressive Leasing segment. Lease revenues are recorded net of a provision for uncollectible renewal payments. Interest and fees on loans receivable represents merchant fees, finance charges and annual and other fees earned on outstanding loans in our Vive segment and, to a lesser extent, from Four.
Depreciation of Lease Merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise primarily reflects the expense associated with depreciating merchandise leased to customers by Progressive Leasing.
Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs represents the estimated merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management and adjustments for changes in estimates for the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs.
Operating Expenses. Operating expenses include personnel costs, stock-based compensation expense, occupancy costs, advertising, professional services expense, sales acquisition expense, computer software expense, the provision for loan losses, fixed asset depreciation expense, and intangible asset amortization, among other expenses.
Legal and Regulatory Expense, Net of Insurance Recoveries. Legal and regulatory expense includes regulatory charges and legal expenses incurred, net of insurance recoveries for certain third-party legal costs, related to Progressive Leasing's 2019 settlement of the FTC matter discussed in Note 11 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Separation Related Charges. Separation related charges include stock-based compensation expense and retirement charges associated with the separation of the Aaron's Business segment.
Interest Expense. Interest expense consists of interest incurred on the Company's senior unsecured revolving credit facility (the "Revolving Facility") and on the Company's Senior Notes.
42
Results of Operations
Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 175,600 | 7.2 | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 58,915 | 41,190 | 17,725 | 43.0 | ||||||||||||
| 2,677,920 | 2,484,595 | 193,325 | 7.8 | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,820,010 | 1,690,922 | 129,088 | 7.6 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 126,984 | 131,332 | (4,348) | (3.3) | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 397,399 | 373,460 | 23,939 | 6.4 | ||||||||||||
| Legal and Regulatory Insurance Recoveries | — | (835) | 835 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Separation Related Charges | — | 17,953 | (17,953) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,344,393 | 2,212,832 | 131,561 | 5.9 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 333,527 | 271,763 | 61,764 | 22.7 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | (5,323) | (187) | (5,136) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 328,204 | 271,576 | 56,628 | 20.9 | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 84,647 | 37,949 | 46,698 | 123.1 | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS | 243,557 | 233,627 | 9,930 | 4.3 | ||||||||||||
| NET LOSS FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS, NET OF INCOME TAX | — | (295,092) | 295,092 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS (LOSS) | $ | 243,557 | $ | (61,465) | $ | 305,022 | nmf |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
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Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2021 | Year Ended December 31, 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Other | Total | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | — | $ | — | $ | 2,443,405 | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 58,462 | 453 | 58,915 | — | 41,190 | — | 41,190 | ||||||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,619,005 | $ | 58,462 | $ | 453 | $ | 2,677,920 | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 41,190 | $ | — | $ | 2,484,595 |
The increase in Progressive Leasing revenues was due to a 15.8% increase in GMV driven by growth from large national POS partners and e-commerce platforms. GMV generated through e-commerce platforms represented 15.2% of total Progressive Leasing GMV in 2021, compared to 7.0% in 2020. Although Progressive Leasing's customer payment delinquencies and uncollectible renewal payments began trending back to normalized pre-pandemic levels in the second half of 2021, and reached those pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter, the unfavorable impact of that factor on revenues was more than offset by Progressive Leasing's lease portfolio growth in 2021. The increase in Vive revenues was due to continued strong customer payment performance and a 52.3% increase in GMV in the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to 2020, resulting in growth in our loans receivable portfolio and additional interest and fee revenues. We believe a significant portion of our Progressive Leasing and Vive customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments, which contributed to the strong customer payment activity we experienced in 2020 and the first half of 2021.
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 189,576 | $ | 170,285 | $ | 19,291 | 11.3 | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 21,349 | 20,403 | 946 | 4.6 | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 6,633 | 6,545 | 88 | 1.3 | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 17,502 | 6,627 | 10,875 | 164.1 | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 24,234 | 23,325 | 909 | 3.9 | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 21,128 | 18,492 | 2,636 | 14.3 | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 20,674 | 13,260 | 7,414 | 55.9 | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 45,377 | 48,665 | (3,288) | (6.8) | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense4 | 346,473 | 307,602 | 38,871 | 12.6 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 17,668 | 34,038 | (16,370) | (48.1) | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 33,258 | 31,820 | 1,438 | 4.5 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 397,399 | $ | 373,460 | $ | 23,939 | 6.4 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
4 Progressive Leasing's sales, general and administrative expense was $316.3 million and $269.8 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
The increase in personnel costs of $19.3 million was driven by increases of $21.5 million and $0.9 million at Progressive Leasing and Vive, respectively, for additional hiring and promotions resulting from continued growth in the business and new personnel costs for functions associated with becoming a standalone public company effective November 30, 2020. Personnel costs increased an additional $1.8 million as a result of strategic initiatives started by the Company in 2021. These increases were partially offset by executive personnel costs incurred by the Aaron's Business segment in the year ended December 31, 2020, which did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations, and are classified within unallocated corporate costs for segment purposes.
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Advertising expenses increased $10.9 million primarily due to Progressive Leasing's efforts to continue growing GMV from existing POS partners and to further expand into e-commerce, combined with reduced marketing efforts in the same period of 2020 associated with cost cutting measures implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sales acquisition expense increased $2.6 million primarily due to increased rebates paid to POS partners, external sales commissions and continued efforts to grow Progressive Leasing GMV.
Computer software expense increased $7.4 million primarily due to non-capitalizable software implementation projects by Progressive Leasing during 2021 and increased software and licensing costs related to the overall growth and strategic initiatives of the Company.
Provision for loan losses decreased $16.4 million due to continued strong customer payment activity and changes to estimates in Vive's allowance for loan losses during the year ended December 31, 2021 as compared to 2020. The Company recognized an incremental $12.3 million allowance for loan losses during the year ended December 31, 2020 due to the unfavorable forecasted macroeconomic conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. In the year ended December 31, 2021, strong customer payment activity and improved forecasted macroeconomic conditions resulted in a downward change in estimate to the allowance for loan losses of $14.7 million. These changes in forecasted macroeconomic conditions and strong customer payment activity resulted in a decrease in Vive's allowance for loan losses as a percentage of gross loans receivable from 32.1% as of December 31, 2020 to 23.4% as of December 31, 2021. We believe a significant portion of our Vive customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments, which contributed to the strong customer payment activity in 2020 and 2021. These decreases were partially offset by the establishment of new allowances due to Vive's GMV growth of 52.3% in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the prior year. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from inflation increasing in recent months to levels not seen in decades, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including for example, adverse economic impacts resulting from additional spikes in COVID-19 infections, and the potential effects of such developments on our customers and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance for loan losses as of December 31, 2021. Actual loan losses may differ materially from the allowance.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. Depreciation of lease merchandise increased due to growth in Progressive Leasing's portfolio of leased assets for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased to 69.5% from 69.2% in 2020, primarily due to elevated early lease buyouts in 2021 as compared to 2020, partially offset by a decrease in the provision for uncollectible renewal payments.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs decreased $4.3 million primarily due to a $14.8 million decline in write-offs, compared to the year ended December 31, 2020, as the result of continued strong payment activity from customers, and changes to estimates in our allowance for lease merchandise write-offs. At December 31, 2020, we established incremental lease merchandise allowances of $10.3 million, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, based on management's best estimate of the potential unfavorable impacts the COVID-19 pandemic may have on our customers' ability to continue making payments on their leases. In the year ended December 31, 2021, we continued to experience strong customer payment activity and relatively low write-offs, resulting in the reversal of the full amount of the incremental COVID-19 specific allowance for write-offs. We believe a significant portion of our Progressive Leasing customers received stimulus payments and/or federally supplemented unemployment payments, which contributed to the strong customer payment activity we experience in 2020 and the second half of 2021. Given the significant economic uncertainty resulting from inflation increasing in recent months to levels not seen in decades, and the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including for example, additional spikes in COVID-19 cases, and the potential effects of such developments on our customers and business going forward, a high level of estimation was involved in determining the allowance as of December 31, 2021. Actual lease merchandise write-offs may differ materially from the allowance.
The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues decreased to 4.8% for the year ended December 31, 2021 from 5.4% for the same period in 2020 due to improved customer payment activity, relatively low write-offs, and changes in estimates on the allowance as discussed above.
Separation related charges. The Company incurred $18.0 million of stock-based compensation and retirement costs in the year ended December 31, 2020 related to the Company's separation of the Aaron's Business segment.
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Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes
Information about our earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2021 vs. 2020 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | 2020 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 319,125 | $ | 320,636 | $ | (1,511) | (0.5) | % | ||||||||
| Vive | 20,225 | (11,180) | 31,405 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Other | (11,146) | — | (11,146) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Unallocated Corporate Expenses | — | (37,880) | 37,880 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 328,204 | $ | 271,576 | $ | 56,628 | 20.9 | % |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
The $11.1 million loss before income taxes within "Other" primarily relates to our Four operations. Unallocated corporate expenses represent certain expenses that had previously been reported within the Aaron's Business segment in 2020 that did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense increased to $84.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $37.9 million in 2020. The effective tax rate of 14.0% during the year ended December 31, 2020 is primarily due to a $34.2 million discrete income tax benefit generated by the provisions of the CARES Act in 2020, which resulted from the rate differential on the carryback of the Company's 2018 net operating loss previously recorded at 21% to the 2013 tax year, where the benefit was recognized at 35%. There are no material adjustments between the Company's effective tax rate of 25.8% and the Company's statutory income tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2021.
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Results of Operations – Years Ended December 31, 2020 and 2019
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2020 vs. 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2020 | 2019 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| REVENUES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 2,128,133 | $ | 315,272 | 14.8 | % | ||||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | 41,190 | 35,046 | 6,144 | 17.5 | ||||||||||||
| 2,484,595 | 2,163,179 | 321,416 | 14.9 | |||||||||||||
| COSTS AND EXPENSES: | ||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation of Lease Merchandise | 1,690,922 | 1,445,027 | 245,895 | 17.0 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Lease Merchandise Write-offs | 131,332 | 153,516 | (22,184) | (14.5) | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | 373,460 | 357,762 | 15,698 | 4.4 | ||||||||||||
| Legal and Regulatory Expense, Net of Insurance Recoveries | (835) | 179,261 | (180,096) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| Separation Related Charges | 17,953 | — | 17,953 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| 2,212,832 | 2,135,566 | 77,266 | 3.6 | |||||||||||||
| OPERATING PROFIT | 271,763 | 27,613 | 244,150 | 884.2 | ||||||||||||
| Interest Expense | (187) | — | (187) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 271,576 | 27,613 | 243,963 | 883.5 | ||||||||||||
| INCOME TAX EXPENSE | 37,949 | 52,228 | (14,279) | (27.3) | ||||||||||||
| NET EARNINGS (LOSS) FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS | 233,627 | (24,615) | 258,242 | nmf | ||||||||||||
| (LOSS) EARNINGS FROM DISCONTINUED OPERATIONS, NET OF INCOME TAX | (295,092) | 56,087 | (351,179) | nmf | ||||||||||||
| NET (LOSS) EARNINGS | $ | (61,465) | $ | 31,472 | $ | (92,937) | nmf |
nmf—Calculation is not meaningful
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Revenues
Information about our revenues by source and reportable segment is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, 2020 | Year Ended December 31, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Total | Progressive Leasing | Vive | Total | ||||||||||||
| Lease Revenues and Fees | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | — | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 2,128,133 | $ | — | $ | 2,128,133 | ||||||
| Interest and Fees on Loans Receivable | — | 41,190 | 41,190 | — | 35,046 | 35,046 | ||||||||||||
| Total Revenues | $ | 2,443,405 | $ | 41,190 | $ | 2,484,595 | $ | 2,128,133 | $ | 35,046 | $ | 2,163,179 |
Progressive Leasing revenues increased driven by strong customer payment activity, including higher customer early lease buyout activity, and also by a 2.1% increase in GMV and an increase in average merchandise price per lease. The increase in Vive revenues was due to a 57.3% growth in GMV in 2020.
Operating Expenses
Information about certain significant components of operating expenses is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2020 vs. 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2020 | 2019 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| Personnel Costs1 | $ | 170,285 | $ | 160,049 | $ | 10,236 | 6.4 | % | ||||||||
| Stock-Based Compensation | 20,403 | 21,193 | (790) | (3.7) | ||||||||||||
| Occupancy Costs | 6,545 | 6,809 | (264) | (3.9) | ||||||||||||
| Advertising | 6,627 | 6,967 | (340) | (4.9) | ||||||||||||
| Professional Services | 23,325 | 26,323 | (2,998) | (11.4) | ||||||||||||
| Sales Acquisition Expense2 | 18,492 | 18,333 | 159 | 0.9 | ||||||||||||
| Computer Software Expense3 | 13,260 | 11,691 | 1,569 | 13.4 | ||||||||||||
| Other Sales, General and Administrative Expense | 48,665 | 53,378 | (4,713) | (8.8) | ||||||||||||
| Sales, General and Administrative Expense4 | 307,602 | 304,743 | 2,859 | 0.9 | ||||||||||||
| Provision for Loan Losses | 34,038 | 21,667 | 12,371 | 57.1 | ||||||||||||
| Depreciation and Amortization | 31,820 | 31,352 | 468 | 1.5 | ||||||||||||
| Operating Expenses | $ | 373,460 | $ | 357,762 | $ | 15,698 | 4.4 | % |
1 Personnel costs excludes stock-based compensation expense, which is reported separately in the operating expense table.
2 Sales acquisition expense includes vendor incentives and rebates to POS partners, external sales commissions, amortization of initial direct costs and amounts paid to various POS partners to be their exclusive provider of lease-to-own solutions.
3 Computer software expense consists primarily of software subscription fees, licensing fees and non-capitalizable software implementation costs.
4 Progressive Leasing's sales, general and administrative expense was $269.8 million and $260.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Personnel costs classified as continuing operations include costs historically attributed to the Progressive Leasing and Vive segments, as well as certain corporate personnel costs that were previously unallocated. Personnel costs for Progressive Leasing increased by $15.5 million in 2020, mainly due to continued hiring to support the growth of the business. This increase was partially offset by a $4.9 million decrease in shared corporate personnel costs. Most of these shared corporate personnel functions were retained by The Aaron's Company in the November 30, 2020 separation and distribution transaction. The reduction in these shared personnel costs was primarily driven by the inclusion of eleven months of these expenses in 2020 compared to a full year in 2019. Personnel costs for Vive remained relatively flat year over year.
The decrease in professional services relates to $3.5 million of expenses related to previous corporate strategic initiatives incurred in 2019 that are classified within unallocated corporate expenses for segment purposes.
Other sales, general and administrative expenses decreased $4.7 million as a result of management's efforts to reduce expenses through different cost cutting measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The increased provision for loan losses was due to growth in Vive's GMV in 2020 and an incremental allowance of $12.3 million for the forecasted adverse macroeconomic conditions stemming primarily from the COVID-19 pandemic, including higher unemployment rates and market volatility, which were used in estimating our allowance for loan losses as of December 31, 2020. The Company adopted ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments ("CECL") during the first quarter of 2020, which is an "expected loss" model that generally will result in the recognition of allowances for
48
losses earlier than under accounting guidance in place in 2019. The increase from these factors was partially offset by lower charge-offs as compared to 2019, driven by stronger customer payment activity in 2020, which we believe was the result of government stimulus payments and expanded unemployment benefits being provided to many of Vive's customers.
Other Costs and Expenses
Depreciation of lease merchandise. As a percentage of total lease revenues and fees, depreciation of lease merchandise increased to 69.2% in 2020 from 67.9% in the prior year, primarily due to a higher percentage of our customers exercising 90-day buyouts and other early buyout elections in 2020.
Provision for lease merchandise write-offs. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs as a percentage of lease revenues decreased to 5.4% in 2020 from 7.2% in 2019. This decrease was due to improved customer payment activity in 2020, which resulted in a $14.0 million decrease in gross write-offs when compared to 2019.
Legal and regulatory expense, net of insurance recoveries. Legal and regulatory expense, net of insurance recoveries, for the year ended December 31, 2020 relates to $0.8 million of insurance recoveries associated with the legal expenses incurred in 2019 related to Progressive Leasing's $175.0 million settlement of the FTC matter discussed in Note 11 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Separation related charges. Separation related charges classified as continuing operations expense were $18.0 million in 2020, of which $15.6 million is classified as unallocated corporate expenses for segment reporting and the remaining $2.4 million is recognized as an expense of Progressive Leasing. These charges represent stock-based compensation expense associated with the modification of outstanding equity awards and executive retirement charges related to the separation and distribution transaction.
Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Taxes
Information about our earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense by reportable segment is as follows:
| Change | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year Ended December 31, | 2020 vs. 2019 | |||||||||||||||
| (In Thousands) | 2020 | 2019 | $ | % | ||||||||||||
| EARNINGS FROM CONTINUING OPERATIONS BEFORE INCOME TAX EXPENSE: | ||||||||||||||||
| Progressive Leasing | $ | 320,636 | $ | 64,283 | $ | 256,353 | 398.8 | % | ||||||||
| Vive | (11,180) | (6,127) | (5,053) | (82.5) | ||||||||||||
| Unallocated Corporate Expenses | (37,880) | (30,543) | (7,337) | (24.0) | ||||||||||||
| Earnings from Continuing Operations Before Income Tax Expense | $ | 271,576 | $ | 27,613 | $ | 243,963 | 883.5 | % |
Unallocated corporate expenses represent certain expenses that had previously been reported within the Aaron's Business segment that did not qualify for classification within discontinued operations. Factors impacting the change in earnings from continuing operations before income tax expense are discussed above.
Income Tax Expense
Income tax expense from continuing operations decreased to $37.9 million in 2020 compared to $52.2 million in 2019. The effective tax rate of 14.0% in 2020 is lower than the statutory rate due to a $35.5 million tax benefit from the remeasurement of net operating loss carrybacks resulting from the CARES Act, partially offset by limitations on executive compensation deductions. Tax expense of $52.2 million in 2019 compared to earnings before income tax expense of $27.6 million was due to the $175.0 million FTC regulatory charge with no associated current or deferred tax benefit.
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Overview of Financial Position
The major changes in the consolidated balance sheet from December 31, 2020 to December 31, 2021, include:
•Cash and cash equivalents increased $133.5 million to $170.2 million primarily due to cash provided by operating activities of $246.0 million, partially offset by a net $49.9 million in cash used to fund the growth in our loan receivable portfolio, $22.8 million used for the acquisition of Four, and a net $30.3 million of cash used in financing activities. The financing activities in 2021 included the repurchase of $571.0 million of our common stock and the repayment of $50 million on our Revolving Facility, offset by the gross proceeds of $600 million from the Senior Notes that were issued on November 26, 2021, net of $8.3 million of bank fees. For additional information, refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section below.
•Lease merchandise, net of accumulated depreciation and allowances, increased $103.8 million due primarily to a 15.8% increase in GMV for Progressive Leasing compared to 2020 and a higher level of early lease buyouts in the second half of 2020 compared to the second half of 2021.
•Loans receivable, net of allowances and unamortized fees, increased $40.2 million due to growth in new loans, driven by an increase in GMV within our Vive segment.
•Goodwill increased $17.4 million as a result of the Company's acquisition of Four on June 25, 2021. Refer to Note 3 for additional information regarding the details of the acquisition and the assets acquired.
•Income tax receivable was $14.4 million as of December 31, 2021 compared to an income tax payable of $18.2 million as of December 31, 2020. The change was primarily the result of the Company's conclusion in the third quarter of 2021 that Progressive Leasing's $175.0 million settlement payment to the FTC in 2020 is deductible, but resulted in a $45.7 million increase in uncertain tax positions that is recognized within accounts payable and accrued expenses.
•Accounts payable and accrued expenses increased $57.7 million primarily due to a $45.7 million increase in uncertain tax positions, which was partially offset by an $15.4 million decrease in income taxes payable. Both of these changes resulted from the Company's conclusion in the third quarter of 2021 that Progressive Leasing's $175.0 million settlement payment to the FTC in 2020 is deductible but results in an uncertain tax position. Other increases in accrued expenses included accrued salaries and benefits and other accrued expenses and liabilities, which increased $7.7 million and $12.6 million, respectively, from December 31, 2020.
•Debt at December 31, 2021 of $589.7 million represents the Company's Senior Notes issued on November 26, 2021, net of unamortized debt issuance costs. The $50.0 million outstanding on the Revolving Facility as of December 31, 2020 was repaid during 2021 and the Company had no outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Facility as of December 31, 2021. Refer to the "Liquidity and Capital Resources" section below for further details regarding the Company’s financing arrangements.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
General
We expect that our primary capital requirements will consist of:
•Reinvesting in our business, including buying merchandise for the operations of Progressive Leasing. Because we believe Progressive Leasing will continue to grow, we expect that the need for additional lease merchandise will remain a major capital requirement;
•Making merger and acquisition investment(s) to further broaden our product offerings; and
•Returning excess cash to shareholders through periodically repurchasing stock.
Other capital requirements include (i) expenditures related to software development; (ii) expenditures related to our corporate operating activities; (iii) personnel expenditures; (iv) income tax payments; (v) funding of loans receivable for Vive; and (vi) servicing our outstanding debt obligation.
Our capital requirements have been financed through:
•cash flows from operations;
•private debt offerings;
•bank debt; and
•stock offerings.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $170.2 million of cash, $350.0 million of availability under the Revolving Facility, and $600.0 million of indebtedness.
The Company's statements of cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were not required to be adjusted for discontinued operations. Accordingly, the cash flow activities for the Aaron's Business discontinued operations are included in the discussion and analysis set forth below for the comparative periods through the separation and distribution date of November 30, 2020.
Cash Provided by Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities was $246.0 million and $456.0 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The $210.0 million decrease in operating cash flows was primarily due to the separation of the Aaron's Business, which accounted for $193.3 million of the cash provided by operating activities during year ended December 31, 2020. The $16.7 million decrease in cash provided by operating activities from continuing operations when compared to 2020 was driven by an increase of lease merchandise purchases of $265.5 million during 2021. The Company also made net income tax payments of $53.6 million during 2021, compared to $29.0 million in 2020. These higher cash outflows were partially offset by stronger customer payment activity during the first half of 2021 and the $175.0 million payment of Progressive Leasing's settlement with the FTC in the second quarter of 2020. Changes in certain working capital accounts also contributed to operating cash inflows. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Cash provided by operating activities was $456.0 million and $317.2 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The $138.8 million increase in operating cash flows was primarily driven by strong customer payment activity and $133.7 million less purchases of merchandise in 2020 compared to 2019, partially offset by a $175.0 million payment made in 2020 related to the FTC settlement discussed in more detail in Note 11 to the accompanying consolidated financial statements. The Company made net income tax payments of $29.0 million during 2020 compared to a net income tax refund of $0.7 million in 2019. Other changes in cash provided by operating activities are discussed above in our discussion of results for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Cash Used in Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $82.2 million and $114.5 million during the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The cash used in investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2020 included $64.5 million in cash outflows attributable to the Aaron's Business discontinued operations. The $32.2 million increase in cash used in investing activities from continuing operations when compared to the same period in 2020 was primarily due to: (i) $69.6 million increase in cash outflows for investments in Vive loans receivable due to growth in loan origination activity; and (ii) the $22.8 million cash paid, net of cash acquired, for the acquisition of Four in June 2021. These increases were partially offset by a $62.9 million increase in proceeds on loans receivable driven by strong customer payment activity and growth in the portfolio in the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the same period of 2020.
Cash used in investing activities was $114.5 million and $106.3 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The $8.2 million increase in investing cash outflows in 2020 as compared to 2019 was primarily due to: (i) $42.3 million increase in cash outflows for investments in Vive loans receivable in 2020 as compared to 2019, driven by growth in loan origination activity in the second half of 2020; (ii) $16.2 million increase in proceeds on loans receivable driven by strong customer payment activity and growth in the portfolio in 2020 compared to 2019; and (iii) $28.6 million decrease in cash outflows for capital expenditures on the Aaron's Business discontinued operations for store investments prior to the separation and distribution transaction.
Cash Used in Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities was $30.3 million during the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to $362.6 million during the year ended December 31, 2020, a decrease of $332.3 million. Cash flows used in financing activities in 2021 were primarily comprised of: (i) $425 million outflow for the tender offer, plus $3.6 million in related transaction fees, for the repurchase and retirement of our common stock; (ii) $142.4 million outflow for the acquisition of treasury stock; (iii) the repayment of $50 million on our Revolving Facility; and (iv) $600 million gross proceeds from the issuance of Senior Notes, net of $8.3 million of bank fees. Cash flows used in financing activities in 2020 is primarily comprised of: (i) $342.0 million of net repayments made to fully extinguish the Company's historical debt facilities in advance of the separation and distribution transaction; (ii) $50.0 million of borrowings on the Company's Revolving Facility; (iii) $54.2 million of cash transferred to The Aaron's Company in the separation and distribution; (iv) $13.8 million of dividends paid; and (v) $12.4 million of proceeds from stock option exercises.
Cash used in financing activities was $362.6 million and $168.6 million during the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively, an increase of $194.0 million. Cash flows used in financing activities in 2020 is primarily comprised of: (i) $342.0 million of net repayments made to fully extinguish the Company's historical debt facilities in advance of the separation and distribution transaction; (ii) $50.0 million of borrowings on the Company's Revolving Facility; (iii) $54.2 million of cash transferred to The Aaron's Company in the separation and distribution; (iv) $13.8 million of dividends paid; and (v) $12.4 million of proceeds from stock option exercises. Cash flows used in financial activities in 2019 is primarily comprised of: (i) $84.5 million of net repayments of debt; (ii) $69.3 million of stock repurchases; (iii) $9.4 million of dividends paid; and (iv) $7.7 million of proceeds from stock option exercises.
Share Repurchases
We purchase our stock in the market from time to time as authorized by our Board of Directors. On February 22, 2021, the Company's Board of Directors terminated the share repurchase program that was in effect as of December 31, 2020 and replaced it with a repurchase program that permitted the Company to repurchase up to $300 million of the Company's outstanding common stock. On November 3, 2021, the Company announced that its Board of Directors had authorized a new $1 billion share repurchase program that replaced the previous $300 million repurchase program. As of December 31, 2021, we had the authority to purchase additional shares up to our remaining authorization limit of $560.9 million.
There were no share repurchases during the year ended December 31, 2020. The following table is a summary of the Company’s share repurchases during the year ended December 31, 2021:
| Year Ended December 31, 2021 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shares | Amount (In Thousands) | ||||
| Tender Offer Shares Repurchased | 8,673,469 | $ | 425,000 | ||
| Other Share Repurchases | 2,937,709 | 142,358 | |||
| Total Share Repurchases | 11,611,178 | $ | 567,358 |
As of February 22, 2022, we repurchased an additional 1,278,097 shares of common stock for $52.0 million subsequent to December 31, 2021.
Dividends
We paid no dividends during 2021 and do not currently anticipate paying any dividends. Prior to the separation and distribution transaction, we declared annual common stock dividends of $0.165 per share and $0.145 per share in 2020 and 2019, respectively, which resulted in aggregate dividend payments of $13.8 million and $9.4 million in 2020 and 2019, respectively.
Debt Financing
On November 26, 2021, the Company entered into an indenture in connection with its previously announced offering of $600 million aggregate principal amount of its senior unsecured notes due 2029. The Senior Notes were issued at 100.0% of their par value with a stated fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes are general unsecured obligations of the Company and will be guaranteed by certain of the Company's existing and future domestic subsidiaries.
The indenture discussed above contains various other covenants and obligations to which the Company and its subsidiaries are subject to while the Senior Notes are outstanding. The covenants in the indenture may limit the extent to which, or the ability of the Company and its subsidiaries to, among other things: (i) incur additional debt and guarantee debt; (ii) pay dividends or make other distributions or repurchase or redeem capital stock; (iii) prepay, redeem or repurchase certain debt; (iv) issue certain preferred stock or similar equity securities; (v) make loans and investments; (vi) sell assets; (vii) incur liens; (viii) enter into transactions with affiliates; (ix) enter into agreements restricting the ability of the Company’s subsidiaries to pay dividends; and (x) consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of the Company’s assets. The indenture also contains customary events of default for transactions of this type and amount. We were in compliance with these covenants at December 31, 2021 and believe that we will continue to be in compliance in the future.
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a credit agreement with a consortium of lenders providing for our $350 million senior unsecured Revolving Facility, under which revolving borrowings became available at the completion of the separation and distribution date and under which all borrowings and commitments will mature or terminate on November 24, 2025.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had no outstanding balance and $350 million remaining available for borrowings on the Revolving Facility. The Revolving Facility includes an uncommitted incremental facility increase option which, subject to certain terms and conditions, permits the Company at any time prior to the maturity date to request an increase in extensions of credit available thereunder by an aggregate additional principal amount of up to $300 million.
Our Revolving Facility contains certain financial covenants, which include requirements that the Company maintain ratios of (i) total net debt to EBITDA of no more than 2.50:1.00 and (ii) consolidated interest coverage of no less than 3.00:1.00. The Company will be in default under the Revolving Facility if it fails to comply with these covenants, and all borrowings outstanding may become due immediately. Additionally, under the Revolving Facility, if the total net debt to EBITDA, as defined by the Revolving Facility, exceeds 1.25, the revolver becomes fully secured for the remaining duration of the Revolving Facility term. The Revolving Facility is unsecured as of December 31, 2021. At December 31, 2021, we were in compliance with the financial covenants set forth in the Revolving Facility and believe that we will continue to be in compliance in the future.
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Commitments
Income Taxes. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we made net income tax payments of $53.6 million. During the year ended December 31, 2022 we anticipate making estimated cash payments of $36.3 million for United States federal and state income taxes.
Leases. We lease management and information technology space for corporate functions as well as call center space and storage space for our hub facilities under operating leases expiring at various times through 2027. Our corporate and call center leases contain renewal options for additional periods ranging from three to five years. We also lease transportation vehicles under operating leases which generally expire during the next three years. We expect that most leases will be renewed or replaced by other leases in the normal course of business.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments. Future interest payments on the Company's variable-rate debt are based on a rate per annum equal to, at our option, (i) the London Interbank Overnight ("LIBO") rate plus a margin within the range of 1.5% to 2.5% for revolving loans, based on total leverage, or the administrative agent's base rate plus a margin ranging from 0.5% to 1.5%, as specified in the Revolving Facility agreement. Future interest payments related to our Revolving Facility are based on the borrowings outstanding at that time. Future interest payments may be different depending on future borrowing activity and interest rates. The Company had no outstanding borrowings under the Revolving Facility subject to interest as of December 31, 2021.
As mentioned above, on November 26, 2021, the Company issued $600 million aggregate principal amount of Senior Notes that bear a fixed annual interest rate of 6.00%. Interest will accrue on the outstanding balance and will be payable semi-annually. The Senior Notes will mature on November 15, 2029.
The Company has no long-term commitments to purchase merchandise nor does it have significant purchase agreements that specify minimum quantities or set prices that exceed our expected requirements for three months.
Deferred income tax liabilities as of December 31, 2021 were approximately $146.3 million. Deferred income tax liabilities are calculated based on temporary differences between the tax basis of assets and liabilities and their respective book basis, which will result in taxable amounts in future years when the liabilities are settled at their reported financial statement amounts. The results of these calculations do not have a direct connection with the amount of cash taxes to be paid in any future periods. As a result, scheduling deferred income tax liabilities as payments due by period may be misleading, because this scheduling would not necessarily relate to liquidity needs.
Unfunded Lending Commitments. The Company, through its Vive business, has unconditionally cancellable unfunded lending commitments totaling approximately $467.6 million and $287.3 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively, that do not give rise to revenues and cash flows. These unfunded commitments arise in the ordinary course of business from credit card agreements with individual cardholders that give them the ability to borrow, against unused amounts, up to the maximum credit limit assigned to their account. While these unfunded amounts represented the total available unused lines of credit, the Company does not anticipate that all cardholders will utilize their entire available line at any given point in time. Commitments to extend unsecured credit are agreements to lend to a cardholder so long as there is no violation of any condition established in the contract. Commitments generally have fixed expiration dates or other termination clauses. Since many of the commitments are expected to expire without being drawn upon, the total commitment amounts do not necessarily represent future cash requirements. Prior to the January 1, 2020 adoption of CECL as discussed further in Note 1 to these consolidated financial statements, the Company recorded a reserve for losses on unfunded loan commitments of $0.4 million, which was included in accounts payable and accrued expenses in the December 31, 2020 consolidated balance sheet. Upon the adoption of CECL, the Company adjusted the aforementioned reserve for losses on unfunded loan commitments and recorded a corresponding increase of $0.4 million to its January 1, 2020 retained earnings balance.
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Critical Accounting Policies
We discuss the most critical accounting policies below. For a discussion of all of the Company’s significant accounting policies, see Note 1 in the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
All of Progressive Leasing's customer agreements are considered operating leases and are recognized in accordance with ASC 842, Leases. The Company maintains ownership of the lease merchandise until all payment obligations are satisfied under the lease ownership agreements. Progressive Leasing recognizes lease revenue on a straight-line basis over the estimated lease term. Initial lease payments made by the customer upon lease execution are initially recognized as deferred revenue and are recognized as lease revenue over the estimated lease term on a straight-line basis. All other customer billings are in arrears and, therefore, lease revenues are earned prior to the lease payment due date and are recorded in the statements of earnings net of related sales taxes as earned. Cash collected in advance of being due or earned and recognized as deferred revenue is presented within customer deposits and advance payments in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Progressive Leasing revenues recorded prior to the payment due date results in unbilled accounts receivable in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets. Our revenue recognition accounting policy matches the lease revenue with the corresponding costs, mainly depreciation expense, associated with lease merchandise.
At December 31, 2021 and 2020, we had deferred revenue representing cash collected in advance of being due or earned totaling $45.1 million and $46.6 million, respectively, and accounts receivable, net of an allowance for doubtful accounts based on historical collection rates, of $66.3 million and $61.3 million, respectively. Our accounts receivable allowance is estimated using historical write-off and collection experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write-off lease receivables after 120 days. The provision for uncollectible renewal payments is recorded as a reduction of lease revenues and fees in accordance with ASC 842.
Vive recognizes interest income based upon the amount of the loans outstanding, which is recognized as interest and fees on loans receivable in the billing period in which they are assessed if collectability is reasonably assured. Vive acquires loans receivable from its third-party bank partners at a discount from the face value of the loan. The discount is comprised mainly of a merchant fee discount, which represents a pre-negotiated, nonrefundable discount that generally ranges from 3.0% to 25% of the loan face value. The discount is designed to cover the risk of loss related to the portfolio of cardholder charges and Vive’s direct origination costs. The merchant fee discount, net of the origination costs, is amortized on a net basis and is recorded as interest and fee revenue on loans receivable on a straight-line basis over the initial 24-month period that the card is active.
Lease Merchandise
The Company’s Progressive Leasing segment, at which all merchandise is on lease, depreciates merchandise on a straight-line basis to a 0% salvage value generally over 12 months. We record a provision for lease merchandise write-offs using the allowance method. The allowance for lease merchandise write-offs estimates the merchandise losses incurred but not yet identified by management as of the end of the accounting period. The Company estimates its allowance for lease merchandise write-offs using historical write-off experience. Other qualitative factors, such as current and forecasted customer payment trends, are considered in estimating the allowance. For customer agreements that are past due, the Company's policy is to write-off lease merchandise after 120 days. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the allowance for lease merchandise write-offs was $54.4 million and $46.0 million, respectively. The provision for lease merchandise write-offs was $127.0 million and $131.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Goodwill and Other Intangible Assets
Intangible assets are classified into one of three categories: (i) intangible assets with definite lives subject to amortization; (ii) intangible assets with indefinite lives not subject to amortization; and (iii) goodwill. For intangible assets with definite lives, tests for impairment are performed if conditions exist that indicate the carrying amount may not be recoverable. For intangible assets with indefinite lives and goodwill, tests for impairment are performed at least annually, and sooner if events or circumstances indicate that an impairment may have occurred. Factors which may necessitate an interim impairment assessment include a sustained decline in the Company’s stock price, prolonged negative industry or economic trends and significant underperformance relative to historical or projected future operating results. For the annual impairment test of intangible assets with indefinite lives and goodwill, the Company may perform a qualitative assessment for impairment if it believes it is not more likely than not that the carrying amount of a reporting unit’s net assets exceeds the reporting unit’s fair value.
Indefinite-lived intangible assets represent the value of the trade name acquired as part of the Progressive Leasing acquisition. At the date of acquisition, the Company determined that no legal, regulatory, contractual, competitive, economic or other factors limit the useful life of the trade name intangible asset and, therefore, the useful life is considered indefinite. The Company reassesses this conclusion quarterly and continues to believe the useful life of this asset is indefinite. The Company
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performed a qualitative assessment to complete its indefinite-lived intangible asset impairment test as of October 1, 2021 and determined that no impairment had occurred.
In conjunction with the purchase of Four on June 25, 2021, the Company acquired $5.2 million of definite-lived intangible assets comprised of the Four proprietary technology platform, trade name, and existing merchant relationships. The Company also recorded $17.4 million of goodwill related to the excess of the purchase price over the fair value of the net assets acquired, which represents the Company’s ability to provide a "buy now, pay later" product to the Company’s existing base of retailers, merchants and customers.
The following table presents the carrying amount of goodwill and other intangible assets, net:
| December 31, | ||
|---|---|---|
| (In Thousands) | 2021 | |
| Goodwill1 | $ | 306,212 |
| Other Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets2 | 53,000 | |
| Definite-Lived Intangible Assets, Net | 84,305 | |
| Goodwill and Other Intangibles, Net | $ | 443,517 |
1 As of December 31, 2021, goodwill for Progressive Leasing and Four was $288.8 million and $17.4 million, respectively.
2 Other indefinite-lived intangible assets represents the Progressive Leasing trade name.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had two reporting units with goodwill: Progressive Leasing and Four. We performed our annual goodwill impairment testing as of October 1, 2021. When evaluating goodwill for impairment, the Company performs a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that a reporting unit or intangible asset group is impaired. The decision to perform a qualitative impairment assessment for an individual reporting unit in a given year is influenced by a number of factors, including the size of the reporting unit’s goodwill, the current and projected operating results, the significance of the excess of the reporting unit’s estimated fair value over carrying amount at the last quantitative assessment date, the Company's market capitalization, and the amount of time in between quantitative fair value assessments and the date of acquisition. As of October 1, 2021, the Company performed a qualitative assessment for the goodwill of the Progressive Leasing and Four reporting units and concluded no indications of impairment existed. The Company determined that there were no events that occurred or circumstances that changed in the fourth quarter of 2021 that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of a reporting unit below its carrying amount.
Provision for Loan Losses and Loan Loss Allowance
Prior to January 1, 2020, the Company estimated probable losses inherent in the portfolio using an "incurred loss" methodology. Effective January 1, 2020 with the adoption of ASU 2016-13, Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments ("CECL") as discussed within "Recent Accounting Pronouncements" in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements in this Form 10-K, expected lifetime losses on loans receivable are recognized upon loan acquisition, which results in earlier recognition of credit losses and requires the Company to make its best estimate of probable lifetime losses at the time of acquisition. The Company segments its Vive loans receivable portfolio into homogenous pools by FICO score and by delinquency status and evaluates loans receivable collectively for impairment when similar risk characteristics exist. Our Vive credit card loans do not have contractually stated maturity dates, which requires the Company to estimate an average life of loan by analyzing historical payment trends to determine an expected remaining life of the loan balance. Our current estimate is that the average life of an outstanding credit card loan is approximately one to two years, depending on the respective FICO score segmentation.
The Company calculates the Vive allowance for loan losses based on internal historical loss information and incorporates observable and forecasted macroeconomic data over a twelve-month reasonable and supportable forecast period. Key macroeconomic factors incorporated into our forecasts include projected changes in unemployment rates, stock market volatility, projected United States treasury rates, and projected prime lending rates. Incorporating macroeconomic data could have a material impact on the measurement of the allowance to the extent that forecasted data changes significantly, such as changes in forecasted unemployment rates and the observed significant market volatility associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. For any periods beyond the twelve-month reasonable and supportable forecast period described above, the Company reverts to using historical loss information on a straight-line basis over a period of six months and utilizes historical loss information for the remaining life of the portfolio.
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The Company may also consider other qualitative factors in estimating the allowance, as necessary. For the purposes of determining the allowance as of December 31, 2021, management considered other qualitative factors such as the beneficial impact that government stimulus measures had on our customer base in 2020 and the first half of 2021, which was not fully factored into the macroeconomic forecasted data, and which likely contributed to favorable cardholder payment trends we experienced during these periods. The allowance for loan losses is maintained at a level considered appropriate to cover expected lifetime losses of principal, interest and fees on active loans in the loans receivable portfolio, and the appropriateness of the allowance is evaluated at each period end.
Delinquent loans receivable are those that are 30 days or more past due based on their contractual billing dates. The Company places loans receivable on nonaccrual status when they are greater than 90 days past due or upon notification of cardholder bankruptcy, death or fraud. The Company discontinues accruing interest and fees and amortizing merchant fee discounts and promotional fee discounts for loans receivable in nonaccrual status. Loans receivable are removed from nonaccrual status when cardholder payments resume, the loan becomes 90 days or less past due and collection of the remaining amounts outstanding is deemed probable. Payments received on nonaccrual loans are allocated according to the same payment hierarchy methodology applied to loans that are accruing interest. Loans receivable are charged off at the end of the following month after the billing cycle in which the loans receivable become 120 days past due.
The provision for loan losses was $17.7 million and $34.0 million for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. The allowance for loan losses was $40.8 million and $42.1 million as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
Refer to Note 1 to the Company’s consolidated financial statements for a discussion of recently issued accounting pronouncements.