June 25, 2010 (FinancialWire) (Go to http://www.financialwire.net/?s=ftrdnwswnd for all of today’s featured news.) — EZCorp, Inc. (NASDAQ: EZPW) said that it has completed the acquisition of five pawn stores located in the Chicago metropolitan area.  The stores were purchased for cash from Hometown Jewelry & Loan and Abby Jewelry & Loan.

Eric Fosse, president of the company's Pawn Americas division, said, "The acquisition of these stores gives us an immediate and substantial presence in the Chicago area."

The company plans to operate the acquired stores under its "EZPAWN" brand.

Texas-based EZCorp is a pawn store operator and provider of specialty consumer financial services. It provides collateralized non-recourse loans, commonly known as pawn loans, and a variety of short-term consumer loans, including payday loans, installment loans and auto title loans, or fee-based credit services to customers seeking loans. 

At March 31, 2010, EZCorp operated 450 pawn stores in the U.S. and Mexico and 482 short-term consumer loan stores in the U.S. and Canada. The company also has investments in Albemarle & Bond Holdings PLC, a U.K. operator of pawnbroking businesses with over 120 stores, and Cash Converters International, which franchises and operates a worldwide network of over 500 financial services and second-hand retail stores.

Real-time, streaming research for companies and funds mentioned in FinancialWire(tm) news is available via the Investrend Research Syndicate (at http://investrend.stocksmart.com/ss/html/hpcompany.html). Current valuation analysis research for companies and funds mentioned in FinancialWire(tm) news is available via the Investrend Research Syndicate (at http://www.valuengine.com/rep/searchsrep?pid=42&srchfor=).

FinancialWire(tm) is committed to serving the financial community through true journalism and providing relevant resources to investors. Standards-based, independent equity research on numerous public other companies is available through the Investrend Research Syndicate (http://www.investrend.com/reports) written by FIRST Research Consortium (http://www.investrend.com/FIRST) member-providers. Free annual reports and company filings for companies mentioned in the news are available through the Investrend Information Syndicate (at http://investrend.ar.wilink.com/?level=279). FinancialWire(tm), in cooperation with the Investrend Broadcast Syndicate, also provides complete, daily conference call and webcast schedules as a service to shareholders and investors via the FirstAlert(tm) Network’s “FirstAlert(tm) Daily” (at http://www.financialwire.net/news-alerts/).

FinancialWire(tm) is a fully independent, proprietary news wire service. FinancialWire(tm) is not a press release service, and receives no compensation from subject entities, companies, equities, or representatives thereof, for its news, opinions or distributions. Further disclosure is posted at the FinancialWire(tm) website (at http://www.financialwire.net/disclosures.php and http://www.financialwire.net/2010/04/23/safe-harbor/). Additional resources for investors are also accessible via the FinancialWire(tm) website (at http://www.financialwire.net/2010/04/23/investor-resources/). Contact FinancialWire(tm) directly via inquiries@financialwire.net.

Copyright © MMX, FinancialWire(tm); All rights reserved.

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.