Movie Gallery Purchases 19 Video Specialty Stores To Bring Total Of New Stores Acquired Or Internally Developed For The Quarter To 69
Movie Gallery, Inc. (NASDAQ/NM: MOVI) today announced two separate acquisition transactions, which closed at the end of the fourth quarter of 1999, involving nineteen video specialty stores. The Company purchased fourteen video specialty stores in rural Georgia, Alabama and Florida that operated under the Video Superstore name. Twelve of the fourteen stores operate in Georgia, bringing the Company's total store count in Georgia to 95 stores. Additionally, the Company purchased five video specialty stores in rural Kansas and Missouri from Video Warehouse, Inc. With this acquisition, the Company has added four stores in Kansas and one store in Missouri. Joe Malugen, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Movie Gallery, remarked ""These two acquisitions are indicative of the many consolidation opportunities within this fragmented industry. While the Company has a strong presence in rural Georgia, we have been able to increase our market penetration in this key state with the acquisition of the Video Superstore stores. The Video Warehouse transaction provides the Company additional market share in two states the Company has targeted for substantial internal growth in the next few years. Thus, these transactions are consistent with our long-standing strategy to grow within our core markets. ""In addition to these two acquisitions, which brought total fourth quarter store purchases to 37, the Company opened 32 video specialty stores during the fourth quarter of 1999, including our first store in the state of Vermont. There are thousands of additional independently-owned video specialty stores in rural and secondary markets the Company can target for acquisition in the coming years. These same markets also provide the Company opportunities to develop new stores, if acquisition prices are not reasonable or as other considerations dictate. We intend to add approximately 100 new, internally developed stores during the year 2000. We believe that our demonstrated ability to expand through the combination of new internally developed stores and acquired stores reflects a balanced growth strategy that will enable us to continue to strengthen our position as the country's leading provider of video and video game rentals and sales in rural and secondary markets."" About Movie Gallery Movie Gallery currently owns and operates a total of 964 video specialty stores located in 31 states. The Company is among the three largest video specialty retailers in the United States and the leading provider of video and video game rental and sales in rural and secondary markets in the United States.