Earnings Call
Ezcorp Inc (EZPW)
Earnings Call Transcript - EZPW Q2 FY2026
Operator
Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the EZCorp second quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question and answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. As a reminder, this call may be recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Sean Mansouri, the company's investor relations advisor with Elevate IR. Please go ahead, Sean. Thank you, and good morning, everyone.
Sean Mansouri, Head of Investor Relations
During our prepared remarks, we will refer to slides, which are available for viewing or download from our website at investors.easycorp.com. Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that this conference call, as well as the presentation slides, contains certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's expected operating and financial performance for future periods. These statements are based on the company's current expectations. Actual results for future periods may differ materially from those expressed due to a number of risks or other factors that are discussed in our annual, quarterly, and other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As noted in our presentation materials and unless otherwise identified, results are presented on an adjusted basis to remove the effect of foreign currency fluctuations and other discrete items. Joining us on the call today are EasyCorp's Chief Executive Officer, Lachie Gibbon, and Tim Jugman's Chief Financial Officer. Now I'd like to turn the call over to
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Lachie. Thank you, Sean, and good morning, everyone. EasyCorp delivered an exceptional second quarter with record revenue, all-time high PLO, and 76% growth in adjusted EBITDA. This was the largest year-over-year profit step up in our recent history and it was driven by disciplined execution across all segments, sustained customer demand, strong scrap revenue and margin, and the contribution from our first full quarter with Simple Management Group or SMG. Adjusted EBITDA grew to $76.9 million, meaningfully outpacing revenue growth of 42%, with EBITDA bar margin expanding 340 basis points to 18%, demonstrating the continued operating leverage inherent in our platform as we continue to scale. Diluted EPS also rose 76% to $0.58. Demand for our core pawn products continues to be very strong across all of the markets in which we operate. Consumer credit conditions remain challenging, particularly for lower and middle-income households, as many traditional lenders continue to tighten underwriting standards. For consumers who need immediate, no-obligation access to cash, porn remains a fast, transparent and trusted solution. At the same time, more consumers are seeking affordable, high-quality pre-owned goods, driven by value-conscious shopping and a focus on sustainability. Both sides of our business, porn transactions and second-hand goods sales, supplemented by a very favourable gold market, are benefiting significantly from these trends. As I mentioned, core financial metrics were strong across the business. We saw continued momentum in PLO and PFC, merchandise sales and margin, and a material increase in scrap. To give investors a clean read on underlying pawn performance, beginning this quarter we are introducing core pawn revenue and core pawn growth profit, which exclude scrap.
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
At Corporn, revenue grew 11% in the U.S. and 18% in Latin America on a constant currency basis.
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
And on a same-store basis, Corporn gross profit grew 12%, underscoring the durable, non-scrap strength of our underlying business. We ended the quarter with net-earning assets of $613 million, up 30%, and a healthy PLO to inventory ratio of 1.3 times, reflecting disciplined lending and inventory management. This was also our first consolidated quarter with SMG, with the transaction closing on January 2nd. We are in the early stages of applying our operating playbook across the platform, and we are pleased with the integration progress to date. Also during the quarter on January 12th, we completed our previously announced acquisition of El Buffalo Porn, adding 12 stores in Texas. Integration onto our platform is progressing well, and we're excited to deploy our operating principles and capital to unlock additional value in one of our largest domestic markets. Following the early January completions of SMG and El Buffalo, along with the continued de novo expansion across Latin America, we added 123 stores to our footprint during the quarter and ended the period operating 1,506 stores across 16 countries, supported by approximately 9,500 team members. Subsequent to quarter end in April, we further strengthened our market leading position in Guatemala with the acquisition of 32 additional stores. We are focused on capitalizing on the scale advantages of our expanded global platform and the significant runway ahead in both existing and new pawn markets. Turning to slide three, for those new to the story, the pawn business resonates strongly with customers because the transaction is fundamentally customer friendly. Our loans are non-recourse, meaning customers have no obligation to repay. With our core pawn product, we don't check credit, require bank accounts, or verify employment, and we don't pursue collections or report to credit bureaus. These are small, short-term transactions, typically $200 to $220 in the US, and $70 to $140 in Latin America, with terms ranging from 30 to 90 days. That core value proposition, together with offering great value for secondhand goods in an environmentally responsible way, where it's fun to come and shop in a pawn store, have been critical in driving consistent, outstanding operating and financial results for our shareholders. With that, I'll turn it over to Tim to walk through the financial details. Tim.
Speaker 9
Thanks, Lachie. Turning slide five to the consolidated financial highlights. We delivered an exceptional quarter of earnings performance. Adjusted EBITDA rose 76% to $76.9 million, with Martin expanding 340 basis points to 18%. Diluted EPS improved 76% to $0.58. These results reflect the operating leverage of our platform at scale. Total revenues reached a record $434.9 million, up 42%. Improvement was broad-based with meaningful contribution from PSC merchandise sales and a significant increase in scrap gross profit, resulting from elevated gold prices. PLO increased 31% to $342.1 million, an all-time high fueled by sustained consumer demand, high average loan sizes across all drug fees, and the addition of an SMG. PSC revenues rose 27% to $147.3 million, supported by PLO growth and new stores. On the retail side, merchandise sales climbed 22% to $207.2 million, with same-store sales up 7%. Merchandise margin expanded 210 basis points to 36%, reflecting improved pricing, execution, and product mix. Scrap margin also expanded significantly from 22% to 38%, as we've benefited from higher gold prices. Gross profit of $253.4 million improved 42%, supported by contributions across all three revenue streams. G&A rose 38%, primarily due to high incentive compensation expenses associated with the SMG acquisition. With top and bottom line growth meaningfully outpacing operating expenses, we are demonstrating the scalability
Speaker 8
operating leverage inherent in our platform.
Speaker 9
On slide six, we have provided consolidated revenue and EBITDA bridges that depict the drivers of the growth this quarter. As Lachie mentioned, beginning this quarter, we are disclosing core pawn revenue, which excludes scrap sales and core pawn gross profit, which excludes scrap gross profit as both the consolidated and segment level. We think these give investors a cleaner read on underlying performance, which importantly highlights that our business is significantly improving
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
even without the benefit of elevated gold prices.
Speaker 9
At the consolidated level, corn pawn revenue grew 24% and corn pawn gross profit grew 28% on a same store basis. Corn pawn revenues and gross profit grew 9% and 12% respectively. Given the magnitude of the scrap sale win this quarter, I want to address scrap attribution directly. Jewelry scrap sales nearly quadrupled year over year driven by elevated gold prices and increased jewelry purchasing activity. Clearly this is a major strength inherent in the operating model during times of elevated gold prices where significantly higher cash flow can be redeployed into higher return activities such as into growing earning assets, building more de novo stores and executing on exciting acquisitions.
Speaker 8
Excluding scrap gross profits,
Speaker 9
Consolato Iberda grew 17%, reflecting earnings improvement
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
on top of the scrap tailwind.
Speaker 9
Same store, Porn's gross profit grew 12%, evidencing underlying strength of the business independent of scrap and additional stores. Moving to the US Porn segment on slide seven and eight, we ended the quarter with 559 stores across 19 states and an increase of 12 stores with the above flow acquisition completed in January. Total revenues increased $60.8 million or 27% to $282.2 million. Approximately two-thirds of this improvement is attributed to the highest scrap sales, which benefited from elevated gold prices and increased jewelry purchasing activity. Core Pawn revenue grew 11% to $226.7 million, and Core Pawn gross profit grew 13%, reflecting both strong lending activity and genuine merchandise margin expansion. PLO expanded 16% to $230.5 million, with same-store PLO up 13%. Average loan size rose 16% to $240, primarily due to higher prices on jewelry. Jewelry now represents 69% of US PLO, up 460 basis points. Sequentially, PLO only dropped 4%, which is the lowest drop we have seen in many years. We can point to a combination of higher jewelry loans, lower than expected tax refunds, and a rise in gas prices in March, leading to this result. PSC improved 13% to $98.8 million, generally in line with same-store PLO growth. On the retail side, merchandise sales climbed 9%, with same-store sales up 7%. Merchandise margin improved 170 basis points to 38%. Jewelry scrap gross profit rose approximately $19 million, reflecting our ability to efficiently monetize aged jewelry inventory in the current gold price environment. Inventory increased 20% to $188.2 million, fueled by PLO expansion and layaways, while turnover remained steady at 2.3 times. Aged general merchandise decreased 95 basis points to 2.3% of total GM inventory, or $0.9 million, reflecting disciplined inventory management. segment EBITDA improved 57% to $80.9 million, with margin expanding 540 basis points to 29%, supported by robust gross profit performance and same-store expenses up just 6%. Turning to Latin America on slide 9 and 10, we ended the quarter with 840 stores across four countries. During the period, we opened four de novo stores, two in Guatemala, one in Mexico and one in Honduras. Total revenues rose $16.5 million or 19% to $101.4 million. It was another very strong quarter for Latin America with a majority of EBITDA growth driven by Corporn performance rather than scrap. Corporn revenue grew 18% to $95.6 million and Corporn gross profit grew 25%, reflecting PLO growth, new store contributions, and a 410 basis point expansion and merchandise margin. PLO expanded 27% to $79 million, with same-store PLO up 15%. Gap average loan size improved 23% to $107, largely reflecting higher jewellery prices. Jewelry now represents 48% of Latin American PLO, up 860 basis points. CBS grew 71% to $32 million, supported by same-store PLO gains and contributions from new stores. Merchandise sales climbed 17%, with same-store sales up 8%. Merchandise margin improved 410 basis points to 34%, reflecting discipline pricing execution and product mix. Inventory finished at $56.2 million with inventory of 3.2 times. Age general merchandise declined to below 1% of total GM inventory reflecting strong inventory discipline across the region. Segment EBITDA improved 24% to $19.6 million with margin expanding 70 basis points to 19% despite a 19% increase in same store expenses driven primarily by labor costs. As we noted last quarter, Mexico's January minimum wage increase of approximately 13% is now flowing through our Latin American run rate
Sean Mansouri, Head of Investor Relations
on top of prior year increases.
Speaker 9
Turning to SMG on slide 11, as Lachie mentioned, the SMG transaction closed on January 2nd
Speaker 8
and contributed approximately 89 of the 90 days in the quarter.
Speaker 9
Because there are no comparable prior year comparisons, we are presenting absolute figures only,
Sean Mansouri, Head of Investor Relations
and we do so for the next several quarters until a clean year-over-year comparison is available.
Speaker 9
PLO for SMG was $32.6 million at the quarter end, contributing $51.3 million of revenue, comprised of $14.4 million of PSE, $17.8 million of merchandise sales and $19.1 million of jewellery scrap sales. Core Porn revenue was $32.2 million with Core Porn gross profit of $20.3 million. Segment EBITDA was $9.5 million at a margin of 18.5%. As disclosed in our 10Q, we own approximately 87.7% of Founders One, which in turn owns approximately 85.1% of SMG, giving us an effective 74.6% ownership. Segment store count finished at 107 across 12 countries with two de novo openings in the quarter. From a balance sheet perspective, we remain highly liquid with no short or medium term debt maturities, ending the quarter with $354.2 million in unrestricted cash. During the quarter, under the $50 million share repurchase program authorized by our board in November 2025, we repurchased approximately 156,000 shares of our Class A common stock for $4 million. We will continue to balance organic growth investment, disciplined M&A, and optimistic capital return to shelters within the framework of a fiscally conservative balance sheet. Looking ahead, we remain focused on expanding PLO, improving industry efficiency, and scaling operational best practices across all geographies. With respect to scrap, we're not in the business of predicting gold prices, but we can say gold is only marginally up since the beginning of calendar 2026. If gold continues to stabilize, we would expect scrap and scrap gross profit margin to begin to normalize towards historical levels next quarter. On expenses, we remain disciplined. That said, we do expect a sequential increase through the year as we continue integrating recent acquisitions and building de novos, and scale operational best practices across all drugs needs. Our M&A pipeline remains active in both the US and Latin America and we continue to approach each opportunity with rigorous financial discipline. At 1,506 stores across 16 countries and a strong balance sheet, we are well positioned to capitalise on further consolidation opportunities. Now I'd like to turn it back to Lachie for his closing remark. Thanks Tim.
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Q2 was an exceptionally strong quarter for EasyCorp with record PLO, record revenue and meaningful margin expansion in both pawn segments. Year-over-year EBITDA growth of 76% was the highest in our recent history. It was also a fantastic quarter for M&A where we bought SMG, one of the largest pawn chains in the North American region and an exciting 12-store chain in Texas. Post-quarter end, we bought 32 more stores in Guatemala where we are expanding our clear market leadership. Importantly, we are producing these results with a conservative, highly liquid balance sheet and a strong, stable, and tenured team. Our focus for the balance of the fiscal year is straightforward. To continue to execute against the operating priorities we have outlined with rigorous discipline, to integrate recent exciting acquisitions onto our platform, and continue to deepen the core porn unit economics that makes this business compound significantly over time. I want to extend my sincere appreciation to our approximately 9,500 team members across all of our markets. Your dedication to our mission, being the first and best choice of our customers' short-term cash needs and quality pre-owned goods, is the foundation of these clearly outstanding results. Guided by our core values of people, porn and passion, we remain confident in our ability to scale with discipline, invest with purpose, and deliver sustained long-term value for our shareholders. And with that, operator, we'll open the line for questions.
Operator
Thank you. At this time, we will conduct the question and answer session. To ask a question, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question comes from the line of Brian McNamara of Canaccord Genuity. Your line is now open.
Brian McNamara, Analyst — Canaccord Genuity
Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on the impressive results. Thanks for taking the questions. So how would you guys characterize the tax refund season relative to your expectations going into the quarter? Obviously, loan paydowns appear very small relative to historical standards. What's driving that? Is it the higher prices at the pump? Is it just obviously the low-income consumer feeling the incremental pressures elsewhere? How would you kind of characterize the state of your tried-and-true low-income consumer?
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
I think you're on the right track there. But, Tim, you want to take this one versus our expectations. But from a macro perspective, Brian, I think you're bang on. I think it's alternative lenders are tightening credit. I think the gas pump has been really challenging in recent weeks. recent weeks and I think you know those two things have certainly impacted the number but
Speaker 9
Tim do you want to add anything to that yeah definitely uh at the at the end of last quarter we did talk about the fact that uh that we did think that the the there would be slightly higher uh tax refunds in dollars uh going out um but it wouldn't affect our our customers that much Also, we did see that the average tax refund was slightly higher than last year, but lower than estimates that had been provided in the market. So definitely was more muted than we thought. But on top of that, you did have an increase in the gold price through the quarter. So the average loan size that was being taken, especially on the jewelry side through the quarter, was larger than we expected as well. And then, as Lockie said, we had these gas prices at the end of the March, which drove a lot of people to our stores to ask for extra cash.
Brian McNamara, Analyst — Canaccord Genuity
Lockie, you mentioned applying your playbook to SMG. what are the areas of low-hanging fruit to improve store productivity and profitability in those stores? And how much did SMG add to EBITDA in the quarter? I know EBITDA was up big, like 76%. I'm
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
just trying to figure out what that is organically. Yeah, I think it's the numbers that Tim, while I talk, I think the numbers in the deck of what it contributed. But look, it's, you know, SMG is a well-run business. We just bring, I think, various, through various groups, particularly Blair's operations groups I think you know just added expertise to what they're doing I think we've got you know really strong lending practices you know we're using a lot of AI now around our pricing and around our LTVs and lending grids I think our sales programs are really strong so I think if you start there in Blair's group you know I think we can make some real meaningful difference there I think starting with people, compensation, recognition, career paths, all of this stuff that we've been doing for the last three, four, five years that I think has been so critical in driving earnings. I think, you know, you start there on the operations side and then we bring, you know, Tim's financial function, which I think just elevates the ability to help our store managers and help our district managers with better financial analysis just because, you know, we're bigger, we're better funded, more expertise. So I think, look, it's a well-run business. We've always said that. But I think EASY just brings this added element where I think, you know, the next 12 months we should be able to drive some meaningful impact.
Speaker 9
And definitely the scale that EASY brings just has a lot of people that SMG folk can go talk to and ask questions. And so that scale just brings a lot more to a smaller organization. The number there on the SMG for the quarter, EBITDA, was $9.5 million for the SMG segment. SMG did have some corporate costs that go into our DNA, which totaled $3.9 million.
Brian McNamara, Analyst — Canaccord Genuity
Great. And then last one for me before I pass it on. Gold's off its recent highs a decent amount here. can you remind us in the market your approach to pricing your gold loan book, any risk involved there if we have more of a significant sell-off here? Thanks.
Speaker 9
Yeah, we run pretty conservatively. We're not changing the price that we lend on a daily basis, so we're looking at more of an average view. As I said on the call, the gold price really hasn't moved that much if you look at the beginning of january we're at the you know four five four six kind of range we're at the four six kind of four seven kind of range right now uh so not much movement if you're looking at the more you know if you're taking out all the big ups and downs through the last couple of months um and so from our point of view gold is rather stable and how we've been lending is rather stable uh at the moment helpful thank you on top of that i would say that you know retail price of gold uh doesn't also doesn't move in line with the goal with the scrap price of gold so that's obviously gone up you go to a average jewelry store now you'll see uh that that is quite elevated um which means that people coming to our stores to buy secondhand jewelry are getting amazing deals so definitely Mother's Day coming up definitely come to our store understood thanks a lot guys best luck
Operator
thanks Brian one moment for our next question our next question comes from the line of John Het of Jefferies your line is now open morning guys and thanks very
John Het, Analyst — Jefferies
much for the Mother's Day reminder the the first question I have is that the first question I have is you know it mean obviously business is very buoyant right now but I'm wondering like it can you assess like customer is there anything like at the customer level you know loan sizes are moving up I know that's partly in tandem with gold but it seemed like in the u.s. there's also a bigger shift to jewelry based lending is you know any any kind of just characteristics you can tell us about uh subtle changes in customer behavior new customer activity
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
and things like that yeah thanks for the question john look i think we are building a marketing capability at the moment you know not a big spend but a really dedicated targeted marketing effort um mainly digitally to attract re-attract existing customers target new customers And, you know, we've had a pretty targeted approach on increasing our jewellery business across all that we do. So I think, you know, it's been quite deliberate. We're really targeting that customer and targeting that vertical. I think on the, you know, various categories, I just truly believe that customers, more and more customers are keen to buy secondhand. because I think it's value for money. I think markets are getting tougher out there. And as we build much better presented, better staffed, fun places to shop, I think we're building a much more attractive business for this customer. So look, I think it's across all that we're doing. Certainly, jewellery is leading the charge. I think customers are getting much more excited, clearly, because of the gold price and what they can do. But this is quite a deliberate effort of marketing programs to bring people into our stores to look at jewellery.
Speaker 9
I would add as well, the average loan size is up. Obviously, that's related to the gold price, but it's up because demand for that amount of money is up. And so that's definitely a reflection of the things costing more, and gas prices is definitely one that's very easy to see. But, you know, the average loan size reflects what people are asking for to borrow to deal with short-term needs, and that's up.
John Het, Analyst — Jefferies
That's helpful. And then, you know, maybe just a related follow-on is, you know, about digital marketing campaigns and so forth you guys have you know prioritize call it technological investments broadly speaking over the past several years loyalty programs and so forth maybe can you just give us an update on call it adoption and any responses that are call it impacts you
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
can see from those those investments and look it's a good question I think on the loyalty side you know we've done the really heavy lift over the last few years and got 75 odd percent of our customers onto the onto the program you know most importantly our teams love it it gives them the ability to you know re-engage their customer all the time to talk about their points balance come back in you kind of come and buy this so i think on the rewards program it's really led by our teams who who really you know find it to be a strong differentiator in the in local neighborhoods in which they work on the digital initiative side look we've got a bunch going uh we're still testing we're piloting you know i'm convinced that online just has to be a bigger channel particularly in the luxury segment uh but we're pretty early in that we're still pretty early in that uh in that journey but you know for example seo sem all up big uh you know A store near me, SEO, is performing really well. So we just think it's, you know, it all starts with customer service in the stores, of course, but we're trying to supplement that with better digital initiatives that, you know, for example, we've got all of our inventory now online across the whole of the U.S. You can get an online quote across all of the U.S. for a product now. You know, we need to improve those products. They're still pretty early, but I think, you know, they can potentially drive some real customer traffic and some revenue, you know, in the next 12 months or so. So I would say pleased with our progress, but it's still early. But, you know, we're trying to meet our customers anywhere they are, whether it's in the street, in the store, online, on the phone, on the text, because, you know, they choose where they want to see us and I think EasyCorp needs to be in all of those places. So it's been a pretty deliberate strategy over the last year or two and I think the next 12 months is going to hopefully produce some real benefit.
John Het, Analyst — Jefferies
Great. I appreciate that, guys. Thanks. Thanks,
Operator
John. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Vincent Kaintick of BTIG. Your line is now open.
Speaker 8
Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking my questions, and congratulations on the results. I did want to go back to talking about the sensitivity to gold prices. It's just been the biggest investor question I've been getting last night and this morning. So So I do appreciate the core pond metrics you provided. So when you think about gold prices, I guess, first, you know, how much of an impact is it having, you know, not just on jewelry, scrap sales, and margins, but also when we think about the core pond balance growth and then the retail margin expansion. And then if I maybe kind of take the other side of it, if maybe we can talk about how sensitive earnings are to say if gold prices were to normalize from here. Thank you. Thanks, Vince.
Speaker 9
I think it goes back to the other question earlier here, where the average loan size is going up, but it's because of demand for cash. It's not because gold is going up that people need more money, and so they need more money and they're using gold to get that. And so I think those two things need to be separated out to understand this business. If a customer doesn't need the extra money, they don't just try and get the maximum loan amount, right? The customer is trying to get a certain amount of money by bringing goods to the store and we provide them cash to deal with their short-term needs. They are not trying to maximise the loan they get. They want to solve their problem of cash. And so I think if you separate those two things out, it changes how you see the business. And so I just, yes, it is gold that is driving it. So if gold prices drop, then instead of bringing the one item they're bringing in now, they start bringing in two items, which is what they used to do when gold wasn't up this far. And so I think that the business from a core-on perspective is well-protected.
Speaker 8
Okay, that's very helpful. Thank you for that. And then separately, if we could talk about acquisition and other store growth opportunities. So first, congratulations on closing the SMG deal this past quarter. Sounds like there's a lot of opportunity there. Could you talk about how you see the pipeline for other acquisitions that might be out there in different geographies? and then also how you're thinking about DeNovo store growth in your geographies?
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Thanks, Vince. Yeah, look, SMG is obviously a big transaction. I think it's the biggest pawn track transaction we've ever done. So I've certainly got the U.S. team focused on integration there because it's big, it's exciting, we can make a meaningful difference. And so I think, you know, that was the most attractive deal to do in the North American market. We've now done it. but as you know the easy parts to deal we've now got to make it really hum so i think when you're thinking about m&a and and new acquisitions and de novos right for now i think the core um the core objective is to make these couple of very large acquisitions that we've just done whether it's smg whether it's the one in laredo el buffalo whether it's um muffley in in guatemala which is another 32 stores, I'm really getting the teams to focus on integrating those to extract as much value and benefit from those acquisitions as we can. We're going to build these teams, build the culture and maximize earnings. So I think that's kind of priority one. In terms of new stuff, there's absolutely plenty of deals, plenty of stuff to do out there. I think in the us um you know as i've said in the last couple of quarters outside of smg it's it's probably onesies and twosies the odds the odds three and four if you're lucky and and then maybe something bigger comes up now and then but i think it's it's it's really a market where we've just got to continue with the small acquisitions and make sure we're doing them well and efficiently and then in latin america there is you know it's an enormous opportunity whether it's mna or de DeNovo. I think both are enormous opportunities. Mexico still has many, many, many areas that we could build new stores in. I think the customer demand is insatiable down there because of the lack of access to traditional credit. It's really our challenge is how do we staff these stores in a really strong way. So we're working through AI models to be able to lift our capability there, to be able to train people much faster, more efficiently in a deeper way. So I think we've got some strategies around de novos that we're going to employ to further, to really quicken the pace of those. I think not right now, I think let us get through this current year on the pretty traditional cadence that we've been doing for de novos, but certainly for next year, I'm going to be pushing our teams to see if we can really accelerate that de novo business because truly our team has gotten much, much better at this, both from a site acquisition or site leasing perspective right through to our operating culture, our people, our training. That's become a really important part of our growth engine and I think we can accelerate it. So hopefully my team's listening and we're about to come into budget time and that's what I'm going to be pushing, but I think that is a great call-out that you've made. it's a really strong opportunity and on the on the on the acquisition front absolutely hasn't changed it there's still many big independently owned chains in mexico and latin america uh that at the right price or if they you know we can come together on a transaction we'd love to do them but i think i think we've shown now after about five years of doing this as the leadership team or nearly five years we're only going to do it in a disciplined way we're going to buy these with our shareholders front of mind that we've got to build returns. We're not just dots on maps, people. We're trying to buy good stores that we think we can improve. And I think there's plenty of those out there. So that's my long-winded way of saying integration right now is a big focus, but DeNovo's and acquisition pipeline is absolutely a big strength that we've got for our growth engine going forward.
Speaker 8
That's great and very helpful. Thanks, Ben.
Operator
One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Kyle Joseph of Stevens. Your line is now open.
Speaker 1
Hey, good morning, guys. Congrats on a good quarter. And, yeah, appreciate the disclosure on PON and you guys breaking that out for us. I just wanted to touch on LATAM. It looks like you guys have been seeing really strong retail trends there, both in terms of margins and then it looks like, you know, PLO is up well ahead of inventory growth this year. Just kind of comment, you know, anything you guys are seeing specifically, you know, down south versus what you're seeing in the U.S.
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Well, thanks, Paul. I think it starts with the people. I think we're building, Blair particularly is building an outstanding culture across Latin America. The leadership group down there is very tenured and just outstanding operators. And I think with the playbook that Blair designed in the US, we're now two plus years into that down in Latin America and you can see the results are just absolutely fantastic. So I think it is the culture training, our jewellery focus. We were pretty light in our jewelry business in Latin America two years ago, but with a strategy and then an execution culture of how to build that business, I think that's been part of the big change down there. So look, I think, is it different to the US? Yes, but a lot of the techniques that we used in the US to drive such significant earnings momentum, we're using down there. and what I'd say to you is they are now coming to fruition. I still think there is a huge amount of opportunity down there. I was down there last week in stores and every store you walk into, whether it's a good one, bad one, you see the opportunity. So look, I think it is incredibly pleasing to see how well that business is doing. Even without scrap, you can see that I think Tim said in his comments we're sort of almost 30% EBITDA growth, something like that, which is absolutely phenomenal. So, you know, we're very proud of the team down there and what we're doing.
Speaker 1
Great. That's it for me. Thanks for taking my question. Thanks, Carl.
Operator
One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Andrew Scud of Roth Capital Partners. Your line is now open.
Andrew Scud, Analyst — ROTH Capital Partners
Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks for taking my questions, and congrats on the strong results. Most of my questions have been answered here, so a quick one on a smaller part of your business. but you guys have been building out Max Pawn, kind of your luxury pawn side of the business. You guys added a store recently in Miami. Can you just kind of talk about kind of the long-term plans with Max Pawn and the luxury pawn opportunity?
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Yep, thank you, Andrew. Yeah, so I think about luxury in two buckets. One is the Max Pawn business. So as you said, that's four stores. We've got three in Vegas and a new one in Miami. The focus in that business is just to maximise the potential of those four stores. Miami is our first breakout from Vegas, so I think it's a really important one to make this concept work. But Vegas business is doing very, very well, you know, exactly as we had hoped for it. But Miami is very early, and so our focus is to make that work so that we can see if that happens, you know, then we can expand across the US. So we're excited by that business. But what we're also doing is we're seeding significantly more luxury across the store base. We made a store in Austin. We called it Easy Porn Lux. And we kind of, not the full max porn experience, but an elevated porn broking experience. And the results have just been fantastic. We're only, I think, about a month into it. But with that elevated Luxe product experience brand, I think luxury is a pretty exciting potential growth opportunity. It's still small, but it is opening up much different new customer segments. And particularly in stores that are in areas that are gentrifying, I think could potentially be a really interesting growth driver. So think about Lux just in two ways. It's Max Pawn itself as well as Lux in the rest of the UZ Pawn business.
Andrew Scud, Analyst — ROTH Capital Partners
Sounds really interesting, and thanks for taking my questions, and congrats again on the results. Thanks, Andrew.
Operator
As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press star 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. One moment for our next question. Our next question comes from the line of Raj Sharma of Texas Capital. Your line is now open.
Raj Sharma, Analyst — Texas Capital
Thank you. Yeah, thank you for taking my questions. You've addressed quite a few of the questions, but again, the big question is, you know, what do you think PLO growth would be if gold prices were to plateau? And I think you've talked quite a lot about it. Maybe you cannot it's maybe it's hard to kind of delineate that um but just given the your performance is stellar across you know all um fronts and once smg anniversaries where do you think the same stores trends would be can you give a sense um are these great results organic trends and acceleration, is that to be expected? So what should we assume going forward once SMG anniversaries?
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Thanks, Raj. Look, we obviously don't guide, but if you exclude SPRAP, our intention is clearly to keep building these metrics. So whether it's PLO, PSC, sales, turns, we are in this business to keep growing these metrics. This has been probably the best quarter that I've ever seen at Easy Corp. So I understand your point that things are firing at the moment, but, you know, we believe that even in the existing organic same-store business, you know, our job is to continue to drive these results. You know, we're going to add a bunch of de novo stores to that. We're going to add a bunch of acquisitions to that. But, you know, we think that without guiding here, we think that this business is capable of much more. And so we're, you know, we still believe that it's trading very cheaply with the growth, with the liquidity on our balance sheet, with the tenured team, with the no real net debt. It is, you know, potentially, it is a, you know, it's an enormous opportunity for shareholders and for investors, I think. And we're looking forward to, you know, continuing these growth initiatives.
Speaker 9
I would call out two numbers on the same store stuff that we produced in the quarter. So loans for the U.S. were 13% up on a same store basis, and in Latin America, PLO was up 15% on a same store basis. So it gives you an idea of what we're producing today, and PLO is the leading indicator of how the business is going to perform. Yeah, thank you for that.
Raj Sharma, Analyst — Texas Capital
Obviously, the business is doing incredibly well. Just on how are you prioritizing, you know, you're building up significant incremental capital. How are you prioritizing? Should we expect more de novo, you know, between de novo stores, LATAM, M&A, and shareholder returns?
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
Yeah, look, I think it's all of those things around investing in the business. I think, you know, you start with your earning assets. If we're building PLO and inventory, that takes, you know, significant capital across 1,500 stores. Then there's DeNovos, as you mentioned. I think there's plenty of really interesting acquisitions to do out there. Plus, we just like to be liquid and conservative. You know, it's a dangerous world out there at the moment. And I think companies that are highly liquid with low debt is certainly where I'd like to have my money. So, you know, I think it's a mix of putting those investing into the business. I think with respect to shareholder returns, yeah, we've got the buyback program. And you saw we bought $4 million worth during the quarter. So, you know, that's active. We believe the stock is, as I said, very cheap. And that represents a good return on capital for shareholders. But I think, as I've always said, our priority is scale, and I think the market is seeing that we are very serious about that, and we have very executable M&A and de novo opportunities that we're putting our capital to. And I think that that is the way to drive the best shareholder returns, and I think we've got more ahead.
Raj Sharma, Analyst — Texas Capital
Thank you. And just lastly, the store expenses growth decelerated in Latin, you know, despite, I believe, wage inflation there, you know, is that how sustainable is that trend?
Speaker 9
So the, on those costs, they were still up in Latin America 19% on a same-store basis. So still up, that's 13%, you know, 13% minimum wage increases in Mexico driving a lot of that. But it's also, you know, you see the performance, the amount of transit, the amount that's going through those stores actually requires a few more people, so that's driving some of that as well.
Raj Sharma, Analyst — Texas Capital
Great. I landed there again. Thank you. Congratulations. results and you know um thank you i'll take yourself one thank you we'll talk to you in a bit
Operator
i am showing no further questions at this time i would now like to turn it back to
Lachie Gibbon, CEO
lockheed for closing remarks thank you operator and look thanks everyone for joining we've said that this is has been an enormous quarter for us so i'm very thankful to our teams the business is on almost all metrics operating at a very high level and we're very pleased with the M&A during the quarter so we'll speak to a bunch of you in the next couple of days but thank you for joining and thank you to all of our shareholders for your support thanks thank you for your participation
Operator
in today's conference this does conclude the program you may now disconnect