ITEM 1. BUSINESS.

Unless the context indicates otherwise, references to “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the consolidated business operations of Conn’s, Inc. and all of its direct and indirect subsidiaries, limited liability companies and limited partnerships.

Overview

We are a specialty retailer of home appliances and consumer electronics. We sell major home appliances including refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers and ranges, and a variety of consumer electronics including projection, plasma and LCD televisions, camcorders, VCRs, DVD players and home theater products. We also sell home office equipment, lawn and garden equipment and mattresses, and we continue to introduce additional product categories for the home and for consumer entertainment, such as MP3’s, to help increase same store sales and to respond to our customers’ product needs. We offer over 1,100 product items, or SKUs, at good-better-best price points representing such national brands as General Electric, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Maytag, Mitsubishi, Sony, Panasonic, Thomson Consumer Electronics, Serta, Hewlett Packard and Compaq. Based on revenue in 2003, we were the 13 ^th largest retailer of home appliances in the United States, and we are either the second or third leading retailer of home appliances in terms of market share in the majority of our established markets. Likewise, in the home entertainment product categories in which we compete, we rank third or fourth in market share in the majority of our established markets according to Traqline survey as of the calendar year ended December 31, 2004.

We began as a small plumbing and heating business in 1890. We began selling home appliances to the retail market in 1937 through one store located in Beaumont, Texas. We opened our second store in 1959 and have since grown to 50 stores.

We have been known for providing excellent customer service for over 114 years. We believe that our customer-focused business strategies make us an attractive alternative to appliance and electronics superstores, department stores and other national, regional and local retailers. We strive to provide our customers with:

We believe that these strategies drive repeat purchases and enable us to generate substantial brand name recognition and customer loyalty. During fiscal 2005, approximately 60% of our credit customers, based on the number of invoices written, were repeat customers.

In 1994, we realigned and added to our management team, enhanced our infrastructure and refined our operating strategy to position ourselves for future growth. From fiscal 1994 to fiscal 1999, we selectively grew our store base from 21 to 26 stores while improving operating margins from 5.2% to 8.7%. Since fiscal 1999, we have generated significant growth in our number of stores, revenue and profitability. Specifically:

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Our principal executives offices are located at 3295 College Street, Beaumont, Texas 77701. Our telephone number is (409) 832-1696, and our corporate website is www.conns.com. We do not intend for information contained on our website to be part of this Form 10-K.

Corporate Reorganization

We were formed as a Delaware corporation in January 2003 with an initial capitalization of $1,000 to become the holding company of Conn Appliances, Inc., a Texas corporation. Prior to the completion of our initial public offering (the “IPO”) in November 2003, we had no operations. As a result of the IPO, Conn Appliances, Inc. became our wholly-owned subsidiary and the common and preferred stockholders of Conn Appliances, Inc. exchanged their common and preferred stock on a one-for-one basis for the common and preferred stock of Conn’s, Inc. Immediately after the IPO, all preferred stock and accumulated dividends were redeemed, either through the payment of cash or through the conversion of preferred stock to common stock.

Industry Overview

The home appliance and consumer electronics industry includes major home appliances, small appliances, home office equipment and software, televisions, and audio, video and mobile electronics and related software. Sellers of home appliances and consumer electronics include large appliance and electronics superstores, national chains, small regional chains, single-store operators, appliance and consumer electronics departments of selected department and discount stores and home improvement centers.

Based on data published in Twice, This Week in Consumer Electronic s, a weekly magazine dedicated to the home appliances and consumer electronics industry in the United States, the top 100 major appliance retailers reported sales of approximately $18.1 billion in 2003, up approximately 14.6% from reported sales in 2002 of approximately $15.8 billion. The retail appliance market is large and concentrated among a few major dealers. Sears has been the leader in the retail appliance market, with a market share of the top 100 retailers of approximately 31% in 2003, down from approximately 36% in 2002. Lowe’s and Home Depot held the second and third place positions, respectively, in national market share in 2003.

As measured by Twice , the top 100 consumer electronics retailers in the United States reported equipment and software sales of $106.6 billion in 2003, a 5.1% increase from the $101.4 billion reported in 2002. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, or CEA, total industry manufacturer sales of consumer electronics products in the United States, including imports, are projected to exceed $109 billion by 2007. The consumer electronics market is highly fragmented. We estimate, based on data provided in Twice , that the two largest consumer electronics superstore chains together accounted for less than 28% of the total electronics sales attributable to the 100 largest retailers in 2003. New entrants in both the home appliances and consumer electronics industries have been successful in gaining market share by offering similar product selections at lower prices.

In the home appliance market, many factors drive growth, including consumer confidence, household formations and new product introductions. Product design and innovation is rapidly becoming a key driver of growth in this market. Products either recently introduced or scheduled to be offered include high efficiency, front-loading laundry appliances, three door refrigerators, double ovens, free-standing ranges, cabinet style dishwashers, and dual fuel cooking appliances.

Technological advancements and the introduction of new products have largely driven growth in the consumer electronics market. Recently, industry growth has been fueled primarily by the introduction of products that incorporate digital technology, such as portable and traditional DVD players, digital cameras and camcorders, digital stereo receivers, satellite technology, MP3 products and high definition flat panel and projection televisions. Digital products offer significant advantages over their analog counterparts, including better clarity and quality of video and audio, durability of recording and compatibility with computers. Due to these advantages, we believe that digital technology will continue to drive industry growth as consumers replace their

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analog products with digital products. We believe the following product advancements will continue to fuel growth in the consumer electronics industry and that they offer us the potential for significant sales growth:

Business Strategy

Our objective is to be the leading specialty retailer of home appliances and consumer electronics in each of our markets. We strive to achieve this objective through a continuing focus on superior execution in five key areas: merchandising, consumer credit, distribution, product service and training. Successful execution in each area relies on the following strategies:

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near our corporate offices in Beaumont, Texas, to test the sales process of all new products and obtain customers’ reactions to new display formats before introducing these products and display formats to our other stores.

Store Development and Growth Strategy

In addition to executing our business strategy, we intend to continue to achieve profitable, controlled growth by increasing same store sales, opening new stores and updating, expanding or relocating our existing stores.

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The addition of new stores has played, and we believe will continue to play, a significant role in our continued growth and success. We currently operate 50 retail stores located in Texas and Louisiana. We opened twelve stores in fiscal 2003, of which five were relocations of existing stores; we opened three stores in fiscal 2004; and we opened six stores in fiscal 2005. We also closed one store during fiscal 2003 and closed a clearance store in one of our markets in fiscal 2005. We plan to continue our store development program by opening an additional six to eight new stores and updating approximately six stores during the balance of fiscal 2006. We believe that continuing our strategies of updating existing stores, growing our store base and locating our stores in desirable geographic markets are essential for our future success.

Customers

We do not have a significant concentration of sales with any individual customer and, therefore, the loss of any one customer would not have a material impact on our business. No single customer accounts for more than 10% of our total revenues; in fact, no single customer accounted for more than $500,000 (less than 0.1%) of our total revenue of $567.1 million during the year ended January 31, 2005.

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Products and Merchandising

Product Categories. Each of our stores sells five major categories of products: major home appliances, consumer electronics, home office equipment, delivery and installation services and other household products, including lawn and garden equipment and mattresses. The following table presents a summary of net sales by major product category, service maintenance agreement commissions and service revenues, for the years ended January 31, 2003, 2004, and 2005:

Within these major product categories (excluding service maintenance agreements, service revenues and delivery and installation), we offer our customers over 1,100 SKUs in a wide range of price points. Most of these products are manufactured by brand name companies, including General Electric, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Maytag, Mitsubishi, Sony, Hitachi, Toshiba, Panasonic, Thomson Consumer Electronics, Serta, Hewlett Packard and Compaq. As part of our good-better-best merchandising strategy, our customers are able to choose from products ranging from low-end to mid- to high-end models in each of our key product categories, as follows:

Purchasing. We purchase products from approximately 50 manufacturers and distributors. Our agreements with these manufacturers and distributors typically cover a one or two year time period, are

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renewable at the option of the parties and are terminable upon 30 days written notice by either party. Similar to other specialty retailers, we purchase a significant portion of our total inventory from a limited number of vendors. During fiscal 2005, 61.7% of our total inventory purchases were from six vendors, including 14.2%, 13.8% and 13.2% of our total inventory from Frigidaire, Sony, and Whirlpool respectively. The loss of any one or more of these key vendors or our failure to establish and maintain relationships with these and other vendors could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. We have no indication that any of our suppliers will discontinue selling us merchandise. We have not experienced significant difficulty in maintaining adequate sources of merchandise, and we generally expect that adequate sources of merchandise will continue to exist for the types of products we sell.

Merchandising Strategy. We focus on providing a comprehensive selection of high-quality merchandise to appeal to a broad range of potential customers. Consistent with our good-better-best merchandising strategy, we offer a wide range of product selections from entry-level models through high-end models. We primarily sell brand name warranted merchandise. Our established relationships with major appliance and electronic vendors and our affiliation with NATM, a major buying group, give us purchasing power that allows us to offer custom-featured appliances and electronics and provides us a competitive selling advantage over other independent retailers. We use our prototype store, located near our corporate offices in Beaumont, Texas, to test the sale of all new products and obtain customers’ reactions to new display formats before introducing these products and display formats to our other stores. As part of our merchandising strategy, we operate clearance centers, either as stand-alone units or incorporated within one of our retail stores, in our Houston and San Antonio markets to help sell damaged, used or discontinued merchandise. We intend to open a clearance center in the Dallas market in 2005. We have recently redesigned our approach to the merchandising of our “track” products to provide consumer-friendly point of sale transactions that take place within a track area located in the interior of our store. We believe that this focused approach to creating consumer awareness and ease of purchase of our track products will help increase same store sales. We do, however, expect product margins to decrease because many of these products are sold at lower margins.

Pricing. We emphasize competitive pricing on all of our products and maintain a low price guarantee that is valid in all markets from 10 to 30 days after the sale, depending on the product. At most of our stores, to print an invoice that contains pricing other than the price maintained within our computer system, sales personnel must call a special “hotline” number at the corporate office for approval. Personnel staffing this hotline number are familiar with competitor pricing and are authorized to make price adjustments to fulfill our low price guarantee when a customer presents acceptable proof of the competitor’s lower price. This centralized function also allows us to maintain control of pricing and to store and retrieve pricing data of our competitors.

Customer Service

We focus on customer service as a key component of our strategy. We believe our same day or next day delivery option, which is not offered by most of our competitors, is one of the keys to our success. Additionally, we attempt to answer and resolve all customer complaints within 48 hours of receipt. We track customer complaints by individual salesperson, delivery person and service technician. We send out over 36,000 customer satisfaction survey cards each month covering all deliveries and service calls. Based upon a response rate from our customers of approximately 15%, we consistently report customer satisfaction rates between 90% and 95%.

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Store Operations

Stores. At the end of fiscal 2005 we operated 50 retail and clearance stores located in Texas and Louisiana. The following table illustrates our markets, the number of freestanding and strip mall stores in each market and the calendar year in which we opened our first store in each market:

Our stores have an average selling space of approximately 21,800 square feet, plus a rear storage area averaging approximately 6,100 square feet for fast-moving or smaller products that customers prefer to carry out rather than wait for in-home delivery. One of our stores is a clearance center for discontinued product models and damaged merchandise, returns and repossessed product located in our Houston market and contains 12,000 square feet of selling space. All stores are open from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday, and from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. We also offer extended store hours during the holiday selling season.

Approximately 64% of our stores are located in strip shopping centers and regional malls, with the balance being stand-alone buildings in “power centers” of big box consumer retail stores. All of our locations have parking available immediately adjacent to the store’s front entrance. Our storefronts have a distinctive exterior tower or front that guides the customer to the entrance of the store. Inside the store, a large colorful tile track circles the interior floor of the store. One side of the track leads the customer to major appliances, while the other side of the track leads the customer to a large display of television and projection television products. The inside of the track contains various home office and consumer electronic products such as computers, printers, DVD players, camcorders, digital cameras, MP3 players and telephones. We are continually refining our approach to merchandising of our track products, and in fiscal 2005 expanded our small kitchen appliance assortment, introduced musical products and expanded our offering of seasonal products. Mattresses, furniture and lawn and garden equipment displays occupy the rear of the sales floor. To reach the cashier’s desk at the center of the track area, our customers must walk past our products. We believe this increases sales to customers who have purchased products from us on credit in the past and who return to our stores to make their monthly credit payments.

We have updated most of our stores in the last three years. We expect to continue to update our stores as needed to address each store’s specific needs. All of our updated stores, as well as our new stores, include modern interior selling spaces featuring attractive signage and display areas specifically designed for each major product type. Our prototype store for future expansion has from 22,000 to 26,000 square feet of retail selling space, which is approximately 10% more than the average size of our existing stores and a rear storage area of between 5,000 and 7,000 square feet. Our investment to update a store has averaged approximately $250,000 per store over the past three years, and as a result of the updating, we expect to increase same store sales at those stores. Over the last three years, we have invested approximately $12.5 million updating, refurbishing or relocating our existing stores.

Site Selection. Our stores are typically located adjacent to freeways or major travel arteries and in the vicinity of major retail shopping areas. We prefer to locate our stores in areas where our prominent tower storefront will be the anchor of the shopping center or readily visible from major thoroughfares. We also attempt to locate our stores in the vicinity of major home appliance and electronics superstores. We have typically entered major metropolitan markets where we can potentially support at least 10 to 12 stores. We believe this number of stores allows us to optimize advertising and distribution costs. We have and may continue, however, to elect to experiment with opening lower numbers of new stores in smaller communities where customer demand for products and services outweighs any extra cost. Other factors we consider when evaluating potential markets include the distance from our distribution centers, our existing store locations and store locations of our competitors and population, demographics and growth potential of the market.

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Store Economics. We lease 46 of our 50 current store locations, with an average monthly rent of $19,300. Our average investment for the nine new stores we have opened in the last two years was approximately $1.3 million, including leasehold improvements, fixtures and equipment and inventory (net of accounts payable). For these same new stores, the net sales per store has averaged $0.7 million per month over the last 18 months, or the actual time the store has been open, if less than 18 months.

Our new stores have typically been profitable on an operating basis within their first three to six months of operation and, on average have returned our net cash investment in 20 months or less. We consider a new store to be successful if it achieves $8 million to $9 million in sales volume and 2% to 5% in operating margins before other ancillary revenues and allocations of overhead and advertising in the first full year of operation. We expect successful stores that have matured, which generally occurs after two to three years of operations, to generate annual sales of approximately $12 million to $15 million and 5% to 9% in operating margins before other ancillary revenues and overhead and allocations. However, depending on the credit and insurance penetration of an individual store, we believe that a store that does not achieve these levels of sales can still contribute significantly to our pretax margin. Assuming that the store location is both visible and accessible from major thoroughfares and that major competition exists in the general area, we believe that there is a significant difference in sales volume between stores that are freestanding and stores that are located in strip malls. Most of our new and replacement stores, therefore, are stand-alone stores unless there is compelling demographic data to cause us to locate a store in a strip mall where no freestanding sites are available.

Personnel and Compensation. We staff a typical store with a store manager, an assistant manager, 10 to 20 sales personnel and other support staff including cashiers and/or porters based on store size and location. Managers have an average tenure with us of approximately seven years and typically have prior sales floor experience. In addition to store managers, we have five district managers that generally oversee from eight to twelve stores in each market. Our district managers generally have five to fifteen years of sales experience and report to our senior vice president of store operations, who has over twenty years of sales experience. Operationally, we treat the track area of our stores as a store within a store with a separate staff, merchandising function and reporting relationship.

We compensate our sales associates on a straight commission arrangement, while we generally compensate store managers on a salary basis plus incentives and cashiers at an hourly rate. In some instances, store managers receive earned commissions plus base salary. Our clearance center is staffed with a manager and six to eight sales personnel who are paid on a straight commission arrangement. Sales personnel within the track area are also compensated on a straight commission arrangement. We believe that because our store compensation plans are tied to sales, they generally provide us an advantage in attracting and retaining highly motivated employees.

Training. New sales personnel must complete an intensive two week classroom training program conducted at our corporate office. We then require them to spend an additional week riding in a delivery and service truck to gain an understanding of how we serve our customers after the sale is made. Installation and delivery staff and service personnel receive training through an on-the-job program in which individuals are assigned to an experienced installation and delivery or service employee as helpers prior to working alone. In addition, our employees benefit from on-site training conducted by many of our vendors.

We attempt to identify store manager candidates early in their careers with us and place them in a defined program of training. They generally first attend our in-house training program, which provides guidance and direction for the development of managerial and supervisory skills. They then attend an external management course that helps solidify their management knowledge and builds upon their internal training. After completion of these training programs, manager candidates work as assistant managers for six to twelve months and are then allowed to manage one of our smaller stores, where they are supervised closely by the store’s district manager. We give new managers an opportunity to operate larger stores as they become more proficient in their management skills. Each store manager attends mandatory training sessions on a monthly basis and also attends bi-weekly sales training meetings where participants receive and discuss new product information.

Marketing

We design our marketing and advertising programs to increase our brand name recognition, educate consumers about our products and services and generate customer traffic in order to increase sales. Our

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programs include periodic promotions such as three, six, twelve, eighteen, twenty-four or thirty-six months of no interest financing. We conduct our advertising programs primarily through local newspapers, local radio and television stations and direct marketing through direct mail, telephone and our website.

Direct marketing has become an effective way for us to present our products and services to our existing customers and potential new customers. We use direct mail to target promotional mailings to credit worthy individuals, including new residents in our market areas from time to time. In addition, we use direct mail to market increased credit lines to existing customers, to encourage customers using third party credit to convert to our credit programs and for customer appreciation mailings. We also conduct a mail program to reestablish contact with customers who applied for credit recently at one of our stores but did not purchase a product. We also call customers who recently applied for credit at one of our retail locations but did not purchase a product; this often redirects potential purchasers back into the original store location.

Our website, www.conns.com, offers information about our selection of products and provides useful information to the consumer on pricing, features and benefits for each product and required corporate governance information. Our website also allows the customers residing in the markets in which we operate retail locations to apply and be considered for credit, to see our special on-line promotional items and to make purchases on-line through the use of approved credit cards. The website currently averages approximately 4,400 visits per day from potential and existing customers. During fiscal 2005, our website was the initial source of approximately 78,000 credit applications that resulted in $34.2 million in sales completed in our stores. The website is linked to a call center, allowing us to better assist customers with their credit and product needs.

Distribution and Inventory Management

We typically locate our stores in close proximity of our four regional distribution centers located in Houston, San Antonio and Beaumont, Texas and Lafayette, Louisiana and smaller warehouse facilities in Austin and Dallas, Texas. This enables us to deliver products to our customers quickly, reduces inventory requirements at the individual stores and facilitates regionalized inventory and accounting controls. As part of our continued growth in the Dallas/Fort Worth market, we expect to significantly increase the size of our warehouse facility in fiscal 2006.

In our retail stores, we maintain an inventory of fast-moving items and products that the customer is likely to carry out of the store. Our sophisticated Distribution Inventory Sales computer system and the recent introduction of scanning technology in our distribution centers allow us to determine on a real-time basis the exact location of any product we sell. If we do not have a product at the desired retail store at the time of sale, we can provide it through our distribution system on a next day basis.

We maintain a fleet of tractors and trailers that allow us to move products from market to market and from distribution centers to stores. At each distribution center or warehouse facility, we also maintain a fleet of home delivery vehicles that allow us to deliver directly to the customer. Our customers pay a delivery charge based on their choice of same day or next day delivery, and we are able to deliver our products on the same day as, or the next day after, the sale to approximately 95% of our customers.

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Finance Operations

General. We sell our products for cash or for payment through major credit cards, which we treat as cash sales. We also offer our customers several financing alternatives through our proprietary credit programs. In the last three fiscal years, we financed, on average, approximately 56% of our retail sales through one of our two credit programs. We offer our customers a choice of installment payment plans and revolving credit plans through our primary credit portfolio. We also offer an installment program through our secondary credit portfolio to a limited number of customers who do not qualify for credit under our primary credit portfolio. The following table shows our product sales and gross service maintenance agreements sales, excluding returns and allowances and service revenues, by method of payment for the periods indicated.

Credit Approval. Our credit programs are operated by our centralized credit department staff, completely independent of sales personnel. As part of our centralized credit approval process, we have developed a proprietary standardized scoring model that provides preliminary credit decisions, including down payment amounts and credit terms, based on both customer and product risk. We developed this model with data analysis by Equifax ^® to correlate the product category of a customer purchase with the default probability. Although we rely on this program to approve automatically some credit applications from customers for whom we have previous credit experience, over 91.3% of our credit decisions are based on evaluation of the customer’s creditworthiness by a qualified credit grader. As of January 31, 2005, we employed approximately 300 employees who focus on credit approval and collections. These employees are highly trained to follow our strict methodology in approving credit, collecting our accounts, and charging off any uncollectible accounts based on pre-determined aging criteria.

A significant part of our ability to control delinquency and charge-off rates is tied to the relatively high level of down payments that we require and the purchase money security interest that we obtain in the product financed, which reduce our credit risk and increase our customers’ willingness to meet their future obligations. We require the customer to provide proof of credit property insurance coverage to offset potential losses relating to theft or damage of the product financed.

Installment accounts are paid over a specified period of time with set monthly payments. Revolving accounts provide customers with a specified amount which the customer may borrow, repay and re-borrow so long as the credit limit is not exceeded. Most of our installment accounts provide for payment over 12 to 36 months, and for those accounts paid in full during fiscal 2005, the average account was outstanding for approximately 13 to 15 months. Our revolving accounts were outstanding approximately 12 to 17 months for those accounts paid in full during fiscal 2005. During fiscal 2005, approximately 8.7% of the applications approved under the primary program were handled automatically through our computer system based on previous credit history with us. We automatically send the application of any new credit customer or any customer seeking additional credit where there has been a past delinquency or performance problem to an experienced, in-house credit grader.

We created our secondary credit portfolio program to meet the needs of those customers who do not qualify for credit under our primary program. If we cannot approve a customer’s application for credit under our primary portfolio, we automatically send the application to the credit staff of our secondary portfolio for further consideration. We offer only the installment program to these customers, and we grant credit to these consumers under stricter underwriting criteria, including higher down payments. An experienced, in-house credit grader administers the credit approval process. Most of the installment accounts approved under this program

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provide for repayment over 12 to 36 months, and for those accounts paid in full during fiscal 2005, the average account was outstanding for approximately 13 to 15 months.

The following two tables present, for comparison purposes, information regarding our two credit portfolios.

Credit Quality. We enter into securitization transactions to sell our retail receivables to a qualifying special purpose entity or QSPE, which we formed for this purpose. After the sale, we continue to service these receivables under a contract with the QSPE. We closely monitor these credit portfolios to identify delinquent accounts early and dedicate resources to contacting customers concerning past due accounts. We believe that our local presence, ability to work with customers and flexible financing alternatives contribute to the historically low charge-off rates on these portfolios. In addition, our customers have the opportunity to make their monthly payments in our stores, and approximately 55% of our active credit accounts did so at some time during the last 12 months. We believe that these factors help us maintain a relationship with the customer that keeps losses low while encouraging repeat purchases.

Our follow-up collection activities involve a combination of centralized efforts that take place in our corporate office and outside collection efforts that involve a visit by one of our credit counselors to the customer’s home. We maintain a sophisticated predictive dialer system and letter campaign that helps us contact between 15,000 and 20,000 delinquent customers daily. We also maintain a very experienced skip-trace department that utilizes current technology to locate customers who have moved and left no forwarding address. Our outside collectors provide an on-site contact with the customer to assist in the collection process or, if needed, to actually repossess the product in the event of non-payment. Repossessions are made when it is clear that the customer is unwilling to establish a reasonable payment process. Our legal department represents us in bankruptcy proceedings and filing of delinquency judgment claims and helps handle any legal issues associated with the collection process.

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Generally, we deem an account to be uncollectible and charge it off if the account is 120 days or more past due and has not had a payment in the last seven months. Over the last 36 months, we have recovered approximately 28% of charged-off amounts through our collection activities. The income that we realize from our interest in securitized receivables depends on a number of factors, including expected credit losses. Therefore, it is to our advantage to maintain a low delinquency rate and loss ratio on these credit portfolios.

Our accounting and credit staff consistently monitors trends in charge-offs by examining the various characteristics of the charge-offs, including store of origination, product type, customer credit information, down payment amounts and other identifying information. We track our charge-offs both gross, or before recoveries, and net, or after recoveries. We periodically adjust our credit granting, collection and charge-off policies based on this information.

The following table reflects the performance of our two credit portfolios, net of unearned interest.

The following table presents information regarding the growth of our combined credit portfolios, including unearned interest.

Product Support Services

Credit Insurance. Acting as agents for unaffiliated insurance companies, we sell credit life, credit disability, credit involuntary unemployment and credit property insurance at all of our stores. These products cover payment of the customer’s credit account in the event of the customer’s death, disability or involuntary unemployment or if the financed property is lost or damaged. We receive sales commissions from the unaffiliated insurance company at the time we sell the coverage, and we recognize retrospective commissions, which are additional commissions paid by the insurance carrier if insurance claims are lower than projected, as such commissions are actually earned.

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We require proof of property insurance on all installment credit purchases, although we do not require that customers purchase this insurance from us. During fiscal 2005, approximately 77.0% of our credit customers purchased one or more of the credit insurance products we offer, and approximately 38.3% purchased all of the insurance products we offer. Commission revenues from the sale of credit insurance contracts represented approximately 3.5%, 3.3% and 3.2% of total revenues for fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Warranty Service. We provide warranty service for all of the products we sell and only for the products we sell. Customers purchased service maintenance agreements on products representing approximately 51.2% of our total retail sales for fiscal 2005. These agreements broaden and extend the period of covered manufacturer warranty service for up to five years from the date of purchase, depending on the product, and cover certain items during the manufacturer’s warranty period. These agreements are sold at the time the product is purchased. Customers may finance the cost of the agreements along with the purchase price of the associated product. We contact the customer prior to the expiration of the service maintenance period to provide them the opportunity to renew the period of warranty coverage.

We have contracts with unaffiliated third party insurers that issue the service maintenance agreements to cover the costs of repairs performed by our service department under these agreements. The initial service contract is between the customer and the independent insurance company, but we are the insurance company’s first choice to provide service when it is needed. We receive a commission on the sale of the contract, and we bill the insurance company for the cost of the service work that we perform. Commissions on these third party contracts are recognized in revenues, net of the payment to the third party obligor. Renewal contracts are between the customer and our in-house service department. Under renewal contracts we recognize revenues received, and direct selling expenses incurred, over the life of the contracts, and expense the cost of the service work performed as products are repaired.

Of the 15,000 to 20,000 repairs that we perform each month, approximately 39.9% are covered under these service maintenance agreements, approximately 47.8% are covered by manufacturer warranties and the remainder are “walk-in” repairs from our customers. Revenues from the sale of service contracts represented approximately 5.0%, 4.6%, and 4.8% of net sales during fiscal years 2003, 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Management Information Systems

We have a fully integrated management information system that tracks on a real-time basis point-of-sale information, inventory receipt and distribution, merchandise movement and financial information. The management information system also includes a local area network that connects all corporate users to e-mail, scheduling and various servers. The servers and our stores are linked by a wide-area network that provides communication for in-house credit authorization and real time polling of sales and merchandise movement at the store level. In our distribution centers, we use radio frequency terminals to assist in receiving, stock put-away, stock movement, order filling, cycle counting and inventory management. At our stores, we currently use desktop terminals to assist in receiving, transferring and maintaining perpetual inventories.

Our integrated management information system also includes extensive functionality for management of the complete credit portfolio life cycle as well as functionality for the management of product service. The credit system continues from our in-house credit authorization through account set up and tracking, credit portfolio condition, collections, credit employee productivity metrics, skip-tracing, bankruptcy and fraud and legal account management. The service system provides for service order processing, warranty claims processing, parts inventory management, technician scheduling and dispatch, technician performance metrics and customer satisfaction measurement. All of these systems share a common customer and product sold database.

Our point of sale system uses an IBM AS/400 hardware system that runs on the OS/400 operating system. This system enables us to use a variety of readily available applications in conjunction with software that supports the system. All of our current business application software, except our accounting and human resources systems, has been developed in-house by our management information system employees. We believe our management information systems efficiently support our current operations and provide a foundation for future growth.

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We employ a Nortel telephone switch and state of the art Avaya (formerly Mosaix) system predictive dialer, as well as a redundant data network and cable plant, to improve the efficiency of our collection and overall corporate communication efforts.

As part of our ongoing system availability protection and disaster recovery planning, we are implementing a secondary AS/400 system in two phases. During phase one, we installed and implemented a back-up AS/400 system in our corporate offices to provide the ability to switch production processing from the primary system to the secondary system within fifteen to thirty minutes should the primary system become disabled or unreachable. The two machines are kept synchronized utilizing third party software. This backup system provides “high availability” of the production processing environment. Implementation of the second phase will add additional “disaster recovery” support through the relocation of the secondary AS/400 to another site geographically removed from our corporate office. The functionality, synchronization of data and switch of production processing from primary to secondary will continue to function as in the first phase, just through the offsite system. This configuration will also allow for more frequent system and software maintenance without disrupting normal production.

Competition

According to Twice , total industry manufacturer sales of home appliances and consumer electronics products in the United States, including imports, to the top 100 dealers were estimated to be $18.1 billion and $106.6 billion, respectively, in 2003. The retail home appliance market is large and concentrated among a few major suppliers. Sears has historically been the leader in the retail home appliance market, with a market share among the top 100 retailers of approximately 31% in 2003, down from 36% in 2002. The consumer electronics market is highly fragmented. We estimate that the two largest consumer electronics superstore chains accounted for less than 28% of the total electronics sales attributable to the 100 largest retailers in 2003. However, new entrants in both industries have been successful in gaining market share by offering similar product selections at lower prices.

As reported by Twice , based upon revenue in 2003, we were the 13th largest retailer of home appliances. Our competitors include national mass merchants such as Sears and Wal-Mart, specialized national retailers such as Circuit City and Best Buy, home improvement stores such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, and locally-owned regional or independent retail specialty stores. The availability and convenience of the Internet and other direct-to-consumer alternatives are increasing as a competitive factor in our industry, especially for distribution of computer and entertainment software.

We compete primarily based on enhanced customer service through our unique sales force training and product knowledge, same day or next day delivery capabilities, proprietary in-house credit program, guaranteed low prices and product repair service.

Regulation

The extension of credit to consumers is a highly regulated area of our business. Numerous federal and state laws impose disclosure and other requirements on the origination, servicing and enforcement of credit accounts. These laws include, but are not limited to, the Federal Truth in Lending Act, Equal Credit Opportunity Act and Federal Trade Commission Act. State laws impose limitations on the maximum amount of finance charges that we can charge and also impose other restrictions on consumer creditors, such as us, including restrictions on collection and enforcement. We routinely review our contracts and procedures to ensure compliance with applicable consumer credit laws. Failure on our part to comply with applicable laws could expose us to substantial penalties and claims for damages and, in certain circumstances, may require us to refund finance charges already paid and to forego finance charges not yet paid under non-complying contracts. We believe that we are in substantial compliance with all applicable federal and state consumer credit and collection laws.

Our sale of credit life, credit disability, credit involuntary unemployment and credit property insurance products is also highly regulated. State laws currently impose disclosure obligations with respect to our sales of credit and other insurance products similar to those required by the Federal Truth in Lending Act, impose restrictions on the amount of premiums that we may charge and require licensing of certain of our employees and operating entities. We believe we are in substantial compliance with all applicable laws and regulations relating to our credit insurance business.

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Employees

As of January 31, 2005, we had approximately 2,200 full-time employees and 100 part-time employees, of which approximately 1,200 were store employees. We provide a comprehensive benefits package including health, life, long term disability, and dental insurance coverage as well as a 401(k) plan, paid vacation, sick pay and holiday pay. None of our employees are covered by collective bargaining agreements. We have never had a work stoppage, and we believe our employee relations are good.

Tradenames and Trademarks

We have registered the trademarks “Conn’s” and our logos.

Available Information

We are subject to reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, and its rules and regulations. The Exchange Act requires us to file reports, proxy and other information statements and other information with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Copies of these reports, proxy statements and other information can be inspected and copied at the SEC Public Reference Room, 450 Fifth Street, N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20549. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. You may also obtain these materials electronically by accessing the SEC’s home page on the internet at www.sec.gov.

In addition, we make available, free of charge on our internet website, our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to these reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file this material with, or furnish it to, the SEC. You may review these documents, under the heading “Conn’s Investor Relations,” by accessing our website at www.conns.com. Also, reports and other information concerning us are available for inspection and copying at NASDAQ Capital Markets.

Risk Factors

An investment in our common stock involves risks and uncertainties. You should consider carefully the following information about these risks and uncertainties before buying shares of our common stock. The occurrence of any of the risks described below could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations. In that case, the trading price of our stock could decline, and you could lose all or part of the value of your investment.

Our success depends substantially on our ability to open and operate profitably new stores in existing, adjacent and new geographic markets.

We plan to continue our expansion by opening an additional six to eight new stores in fiscal 2006. We anticipate these new stores to include additional stores in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, South Texas, where we currently have two stores, and possibly others in areas where we have not operated previously. We have not yet selected sites for all of the stores that we plan to open within the next fiscal year . We may not be able to open all of these stores, and any new stores that we open may not be profitable or meet our goals. Any of these circumstances could have a material adverse effect on our financial results.

There are a number of factors that could affect our ability to open and operate new stores consistent with our business plan, including:

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These factors may also affect the ability of any newly opened stores to achieve sales and profitability levels comparable with our existing stores or to become profitable at all.

If we are unable to manage our growing business, our revenues may not increase as anticipated, our cost of operations may rise and our profitability may decline.

We face many business risks associated with growing companies, including the risk that our management, financial controls and information systems will be inadequate to support our planned expansion. Our growth plans will require management to expend significant time and effort and additional resources to ensure the continuing adequacy of our financial controls, operating procedures, information systems, product purchasing, warehousing and distribution systems and employee training programs. We cannot predict whether we will be able to manage effectively these increased demands or respond on a timely basis to the changing demands that our planned expansion will impose on our management, financial controls and information systems. If we fail to manage successfully the challenges our growth poses, do not continue to improve these systems and controls or encounter unexpected difficulties during our expansion, our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows could be materially adversely affected.

The inability to obtain funding for our credit operations through securitization facilities or other sources may adversely affect our business and expansion plans.

We finance most of our customer receivables through asset-backed securitization facilities. The trust arrangement governing these facilities currently provides for two separate series of asset-backed notes that allow us to finance up to $450 million in customer receivables. Under each note series, we transfer customer receivables to a qualifying special purpose entity we formed for this purpose in exchange for cash, subordinated securities and the right to receive cash flows equal to the interest rate spread between the transferred receivables and the notes issued to third parties (“interest only strip”). This qualifying special purpose entity, in turn, issues notes that are collateralized by these receivables and entitle the holders of the notes to participate in certain cash flows from these receivables. The Series A program is a $250 million variable funding note held by Three Pillars Funding Corporation, of which $117.5 million was drawn as of January 31, 2005. The Series B program consists of $200 million in private bond placements that was fully drawn as of January 31, 2005.

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Our ability to raise additional capital through further securitization transactions, and to do so on economically favorable terms, depends in large part on factors that are beyond our control.

These factors include:

Our ability to finance customer receivables under our current asset-backed securitization facilities depends on our compliance with covenants relating to our business and our customer receivables. If these programs reach their capacity or otherwise become unavailable, and we are unable to arrange substitute securitization facilities or other sources of financing, we may have to limit the amount of credit that we make available through our customer finance programs. This may adversely affect revenues and results of operations. Further, our inability to obtain funding through securitization facilities or other sources may adversely affect the profitability of outstanding accounts under our credit programs if existing customers fail to repay outstanding credit due to our refusal to grant additional credit. Since our cost of funds under our bank credit facility is expected to be greater in future years than our cost of funds under our current securitization facility, increased reliance on our bank credit facility may adversely affect our net income.

An increase in interest rates may adversely affect our profitability.

The interest rates on our bank credit facility and the Series A program under our asset-backed securitization facility fluctuate up or down based upon the LIBO/LIBOR rate, the prime rate of our administrative agent or the federal funds rate in the case of the bank credit facility and the commercial paper rate in the case of the Series A program. To the extent that such rates increase, the fair value of the interest only strip will decline and our interest expense could increase which may result in a decrease in our profitability.

We have significant future capital needs which we may be unable to fund, and we may need additional funding sooner than currently anticipated.

We will need substantial capital to finance our expansion plans, including funds for capital expenditures, pre-opening costs and initial operating losses related to new store openings. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms. If adequate funds are not available, we will have to curtail projected growth, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results or cash flows.

We estimate that capital expenditures during fiscal 2006 will be approximately $15 million to $17 million and that capital expenditures during future years may exceed this amount. We expect that cash provided by operating activities, available borrowings under our credit facility, and access to the unfunded portion of our asset-backed securitization program will be sufficient to fund our operations, store expansion and updating activities and capital expenditure programs through at least January 31, 2006. However, this may not be the case. We may be required to seek additional capital earlier than anticipated if future cash flows from operations fail to meet our expectations and costs or capital expenditures related to new store openings exceed anticipated amounts.

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A decrease in our credit sales could lead to a decrease in our product sales and profitability.

In the last three years, we financed, on average, approximately 56% of our retail sales through our internal credit programs. Our ability to provide credit as a financing alternative for our customers depends on many factors, including the quality of our accounts receivable portfolio. Payments on some of our credit accounts become delinquent from time to time, and some accounts end up in default, due to several factors, including general and local economic conditions. As we expand into new markets, we will obtain new credit accounts that may present a higher risk than our existing credit accounts since new credit customers do not have an established credit history with us. A general decline in the quality of our accounts receivable portfolio could lead to a reduction of available credit provided through our finance operations. As a result, we might sell fewer products, which could adversely affect our earnings. Further, because approximately 55% of our credit customers make their credit account payments in our stores, any decrease in credit sales could reduce traffic in our stores and lower our revenues. A decline in the credit quality of our credit accounts could also cause an increase in our credit losses, which could result in a decrease in our securitization income or increase the provision for bad debts on our statement of operations and result in an adverse effect on our earnings. A decline in credit quality could also lead to stricter underwriting criteria which might have a negative impact on sales.

A downturn in the economy may affect consumer purchases of discretionary items, which could reduce our net sales.

A large portion of our sales represent discretionary spending by our customers. Many factors affect discretionary spending, including world events, war, conditions in financial markets, general business conditions, interest rates, inflation, consumer debt levels, the availability of consumer credit, taxation, unemployment trends and other matters that influence consumer confidence and spending. Our customers’ purchases of discretionary items, including our products, could decline during periods when disposable income is lower or periods of actual or perceived unfavorable economic conditions. If this occurs, our net sales and profitability could decline.

We face significant competition from national, regional and local retailers of major home appliances and consumer electronics.

The retail market for major home appliances and consumer electronics is highly fragmented and intensely competitive. We currently compete against a diverse group of retailers, including national mass merchants such as Sears, Wal-Mart, Target, Sam’s Club and Costco, specialized national retailers such as Circuit City and Best Buy, home improvement stores such as Lowe’s and Home Depot, and locally-owned regional or independent retail specialty stores that sell major home appliances and consumer electronics similar, and often identical, to those we sell. We also compete with retailers that market products through store catalogs and the Internet. In addition, there are few barriers to entry into our current and contemplated markets, and new competitors may enter our current or future markets at any time.

We may not be able to compete successfully against existing and future competitors. Some of our competitors have financial resources that are substantially greater than ours and may be able to purchase inventory at lower costs and better sustain economic downturns. Our competitors may respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies and may have greater resources to devote to promotion and sale of products and services. If two or more competitors consolidate their businesses or enter into strategic partnerships, they may be able to compete more effectively against us.

Our existing competitors or new entrants into our industry may use a number of different strategies to compete against us, including:

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Competition from any of these sources could cause us to lose market share, revenues and customers, increase expenditures or reduce prices, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations.

If new products are not introduced or consumers do not accept new products, our sales may decline.

Our ability to maintain and increase revenues depends to a large extent on the periodic introduction and availability of new products and technologies. We believe that the introduction and continued growth in consumer acceptance of new products, such as digital video recorders and digital, high-definition televisions, will have a significant impact on our ability to increase revenues. These products are subject to significant technological changes and pricing limitations and are subject to the actions and cooperation of third parties, such as movie distributors and television and radio broadcasters, all of which could affect the success of these and other new consumer electronics technologies. It is possible that new products will never achieve widespread consumer acceptance.

If we fail to anticipate changes in consumer preferences, our sales may decline.

Our products must appeal to a broad range of consumers whose preferences cannot be predicted with certainty and are subject to change. Our success depends upon our ability to anticipate and respond in a timely manner to trends in consumer preferences relating to major household appliances and consumer electronics. If we fail to identify and respond to these changes, our sales of these products may decline. In addition, we often make commitments to purchase products from our vendors up to six months in advance of proposed delivery dates. Significant deviation from the projected demand for products that we sell may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition, either from lost sales or lower margins due to the need to reduce prices to dispose of excess inventory.

A disruption in our relationships with, or in the operations of, any of our key suppliers could cause our sales to decline.

The success of our business and growth strategies depends to a significant degree on our relationships with our suppliers, particularly our brand name suppliers such as General Electric, Whirlpool, Frigidaire, Maytag, Mitsubishi, Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, Samsung, Thomson Consumer Electronics, Toshiba, Hewlett Packard and Compaq. We do not have long term supply agreements or exclusive arrangements with the majority of our vendors. We typically order our inventory through the issuance of individual purchase orders to vendors. We also rely on our suppliers for cooperative advertising support. We may be subject to rationing by suppliers with respect to a number of limited distribution items. In addition, we rely heavily on a relatively small number of suppliers. Our top six suppliers represented 61.7% of our purchases for fiscal 2005, and the top two suppliers represented approximately 28.0% of our total purchases. The loss of any one or more of these key vendors or our failure to establish and maintain relationships with these and other vendors could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

Our ability to enter new markets successfully depends, to a significant extent, on the willingness and ability of our vendors to supply merchandise to additional warehouses or stores. If vendors are unwilling or unable to supply some or all of their products to us at acceptable prices in one or more markets, our results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected.

Furthermore, we rely on credit from vendors to purchase our products. As of January 31, 2005, we had $26.9 million in accounts payable and $62.3 million in merchandise inventories. A substantial change in credit terms from vendors or vendors’ willingness to extend credit to us would reduce our ability to obtain the merchandise that we sell, which could have a material adverse effect on our sales and results of operations.

You should not rely on our comparable store sales as an indication of our future results of operations because they fluctuate significantly.

Our historical same store sales growth figures have fluctuated significantly from quarter to quarter. For example, same store sales growth for each of the quarters of fiscal 2005 were 3.5%, 7.2%, 1.5%, and 0.9%,

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respectively. Even though we achieved double-digit same store sales growth prior to fiscal 2002, we may not be able to increase same store sales at this pace in the future. This is reflected in the declining rate of increases in same store sales that have occurred over the last several quarters. A number of factors have historically affected, and will continue to affect, our comparable store sales results, including:

Changes in our quarterly and annual comparable store sales results could cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate significantly.

Because we experience seasonal fluctuations in our sales, our quarterly results will fluctuate, which could adversely affect our common stock price.

We experience seasonal fluctuations in our net sales and operating results. In fiscal 2005, we generated 28.7% and 24.1% of our net sales and 30.7% and 25.8% of our net income in the fiscal quarters ended January 31 (which included the holiday selling season) and April 30 (which included our annual grand opening sales event), respectively. We also incur significant additional expenses during these fiscal quarters due to higher purchase volumes and increased staffing. If we miscalculate the demand for our products generally or for our product mix during the fiscal quarters ending January 31 and April 30, our net sales could decline, resulting in excess inventory, which could harm our financial performance. A shortfall in expected net sales, combined with our significant additional expenses during these fiscal quarters, could cause a significant decline in our operating results. This could adversely affect our common stock price.

Our business could be adversely affected by changes in consumer protection laws and regulations.

Federal and state consumer protection laws and regulations, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act, limit the manner in which we may offer and extend credit. Since we finance a substantial portion of our sales, any adverse change in the regulation of consumer credit could adversely affect our total revenues and gross margins. For example, new laws or regulations could limit the amount of interest or fees that may be charged on consumer loan accounts or restrict our ability to collect on account balances, which would have a material adverse effect on our earnings. Compliance with existing and future laws or regulations could require us to make material expenditures, in particular personnel training costs, or otherwise adversely affect our business or financial results. Failure to comply with these laws or regulations, even if inadvertent, could result in negative publicity, fines or additional licensing expenses, any of which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations and stock price.

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Pending litigation relating to the sale of credit insurance and the sale of service maintenance agreements in the retail industry, including one lawsuit in which we were the defendant, could adversely affect our business.

We understand that states’ attorneys general and private plaintiffs have filed lawsuits against other retailers relating to improper practices conducted in connection with the sale of credit insurance in several jurisdictions around the country. We offer credit insurance in all of our stores and require the purchase of property credit insurance products from us or from third party providers in connection with sales of merchandise on installment credit; therefore, similar litigation could be brought against us. While we were previously named as a defendant in a purported class action lawsuit alleging breach of contract and violations of state and federal consumer protection laws arising from the terms of our service maintenance agreements, we were advised in January 2005 that the court dismissed the lawsuit and the plaintiff’s time for appeal of that judgment expired without action, and that the court’s judgment is final. While we believe we are in full compliance with applicable laws and regulations, if we are found liable in any future lawsuit regarding credit insurance or service maintenance agreements, we could be required to pay substantial damages or incur substantial costs as part of an out-of-court settlement, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and stock price. An adverse judgment or any negative publicity associated with our service maintenance agreements or any potential credit insurance litigation could also affect our reputation, which could have a negative impact on sales.

If we lose key management or are unable to attract and retain the highly qualified sales personnel required for our business, our operating results could suffer.

Our future success depends to a significant degree on the skills, experience and continued service of Thomas J. Frank, Sr., our Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, William C. Nylin, Jr., our President and Chief Operating Officer, David L. Rogers, our Chief Financial Officer, David R. Atnip, our Senior Vice President and Secretary/Treasurer, Sydney K. Boone, our General Counsel, and other key personnel. If we lose the services of any of these individuals, or if one or more of them or other key personnel decide to join a competitor or otherwise compete directly or indirectly with us, our business and operations could be harmed, and we could have difficulty in implementing our strategy In addition, as our business grows, we will need to locate, hire and retain additional qualified sales personnel in a timely manner and develop, train and manage an increasing number of management level sales associates and other employees. Competition for qualified employees could require us to pay higher wages to attract a sufficient number of employees, and increases in the federal minimum wage or other employee benefits costs could increase our operating expenses. If we are unable to attract and retain personnel as needed in the future, our net sales growth and operating results could suffer.

Because our stores are located in Texas and Louisiana, we are subject to regional risks.

Our 50 stores are located exclusively in Texas and Louisiana. This subjects us to regional risks, such as the economy, weather conditions, hurricanes and other natural disasters. If the region suffered an economic downturn or other adverse regional event, there could be an adverse impact on our net sales and profitability and our ability to implement our planned expansion program. Several of our competitors operate stores across the United States and thus are not as vulnerable to the risks of operating in one region.

Our information technology infrastructure is vulnerable to damage that could harm our business.

Our ability to operate our business from day to day, in particular our ability to manage our credit operations and inventory levels, largely depends on the efficient operation of our computer hardware and software systems. We use management information systems to track inventory information at the store level, communicate customer information, aggregate daily sales information and manage our credit portfolio. These systems and our operations are vulnerable to damage or interruption from:

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The software that we have developed to use in granting credit may contain undetected errors that could cause our network to fail or our expenses to increase. Any failure due to any of these causes, if it is not supported by our disaster recovery plan, could cause an interruption in our operations and result in reduced net sales and profitability.

If we are unable to maintain our current insurance coverage for our service maintenance agreements, our customers could incur additional costs and our repair expenses could increase, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

There are a limited number of insurance carriers that provide coverage for our service maintenance agreements. If insurance becomes unavailable from our current carriers for any reason, we may be unable to provide replacement coverage on the same terms, if at all. Even if we are able to obtain replacement coverage, higher premiums could have an adverse impact on our profitability if we are unable to pass along the increased cost of such coverage to our customers. Inability to obtain insurance coverage for our service maintenance agreements could cause fluctuations in our repair expenses and greater volatility of earnings.

If we are unable to maintain group credit insurance policies from insurance carriers, which allow us to offer their credit insurance products to our customers purchasing on credit, our revenues could be reduced and bad debts might increase.

There are a limited number of insurance carriers that provide credit insurance coverage for sale to our customers. If credit insurance becomes unavailable for any reason we may be unable to offer replacement coverage on the same terms, if at all. Even if we are able to obtain replacement coverage, it may be at higher rates or reduced coverage, which could affect the customer acceptance of these products, reduce our revenues or increase our credit losses.

Changes in trade regulations, currency fluctuations and other factors beyond our control could affect our business.

A significant portion of our inventory is manufactured overseas and in Mexico. Changes in trade regulations, currency fluctuations or other factors beyond our control may increase the cost of items we purchase or create shortages of these items, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition. Conversely, significant reductions in the cost of these items in U.S. dollars may cause a significant reduction in the retail prices of those products, resulting in a material adverse effect on our sales, margins or competitive position. In addition, commissions earned on both our credit insurance and service maintenance agreement products could be adversely affected by changes in statutory premium rates, commission rates, adverse claims experience and other factors.

We may be unable to protect our intellectual property rights, which could impair our name and reputation.

We believe that our success and ability to compete depends in part on consumer identification of the name “Conn’s.” We have registered the trademarks “Conn’s” and our logo. We intend to protect vigorously our trademark against infringement or misappropriation by others. A third party, however, could attempt to misappropriate our intellectual property in the future. The enforcement of our proprietary rights through litigation could result in substantial costs to us that could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

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Any changes in the tax laws of the states of Texas and Louisiana could affect our state tax liabilities.

The Texas house of representatives recently approved a bill for presentation to the Texas senate that would, among other things, remove the current exemption from franchise tax liability that limited partnerships enjoy. This has been brought before the state legislature before this year, without gaining the necessary votes for passage. We cannot predict the outcome of this legislation. If it were to pass and become law, it would have a negative impact on our results of operations. We are not aware of any current bills in either the legislatures of Texas or Louisiana that, if passed, could have a materially adverse effect on our financial condition or results of operations.

The continuing rise in oil and gasoline prices could affect our customers’ determination to drive to our stores, and cause us to raise our delivery charges.

A continuing significant increase in oil and gasoline prices could adversely affect our customers’ shopping decisions and patterns. We rely heavily on our internal distribution system and our same or next day delivery policy to satisfy our customers’ needs and desires, and any such significant increases could result in increased distribution charges. Such increases may not significantly affect our competitors.

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