AMERCO Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2005 Financial Results

February 9, 2005 Download

AMERCO (Nasdaq: UHAL), the parent of U-Haul International, Inc., Oxford Life Insurance Company, Republic Western Insurance Company and Amerco Real Estate Company, today reported its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ending December 31, 2004.

Financial Results

Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 were $460.5 million, compared with $502.6 million for the same period in fiscal 2004. Earnings available to common shareholders were $18.3 million, or $.88 per share, compared with a net loss of $24.9 million, or $1.20 per share for the same period last year.

Revenues for the first nine months of fiscal 2005 were $1.59 billion, compared with $1.71 billion in the same period last year. Earnings available to common shareholders were $109.3 million, or $5.25 per share, compared with $40.4 million, or $1.95 per share for the same period last year. The results for the quarter and year-to-date include nonrecurring litigation settlement proceeds of $1.56 per share. These results reflect solid growth at U-Haul; the exit of unprofitable insurance business at Republic Western, net of losses related to hurricane damages in the southeastern U.S.; the deconsolidation of SAC Holding Corporation; the absence of restructuring charges; and charges related to probable litigation losses at Oxford.

Moving and Storage Operations

Earnings from operations at U-Haul were $3.7 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2005, compared with a loss of $10.4 million for the same period last year. This represents an improvement of $14.1 million and is attributable to stronger truck, trailer and storage rentals and the timing of recognizing current year insurance expense to better match revenues and expenses.

Earnings from operations at U-Haul for the first nine months of fiscal 2005 were $172.7 million, compared with $153.8 million for the same period last year. This 12.3% increase is attributable to stronger truck, trailer and storage rentals and tight cost controls for the current fiscal year.

Insurance Operations

Combined revenues at RepWest and Oxford declined $19.8 million and $74.2 million in the third quarter and the first nine months, respectively, compared with the same periods last year. This primarily reflects the impact of RepWest’s strategy to exit unprofitable non-U-Haul lines of business. Losses from operations for the combined insurance companies were $12.7 million in the third quarter and $6 million for the first nine months of 2004. These results include after-tax charges during the third quarter of 2004 of $9.2 million from hurricane related losses at RepWest and litigation related costs at Oxford. This year’s results compare with losses last year of $2.9 million and $13.9 million for the third quarter and nine months, respectively.

Fiscal Year 2005 Performance and Outlook

“We continue to make steady progress