"Although I am not happy with a 2.1% same store revenue growth for the quarter, we did have a 4.0% growth in rental and fee revenue for the same period"
David A. Kraemer, President and Chief Executive Officer

Bestway, Inc. (BSTW), today reported financial results for its fiscal third quarter and nine months ended April 30, 2004.

For the third quarter of fiscal 2004, revenue increased 2.5% to $9,447,879, compared with revenue of $9,213,864 for the same period last year. Same store revenues (revenues earned in stores operated for the entirety of both periods) increased 2.1% in the quarter. Net earnings in the third quarter decreased to $88,010, or $.05 per fully diluted share, compared with $147,106, or $.08 per fully diluted share, for the third quarter last year. The Company's quarterly decline in net earnings resulted primarily from costs associated with an overall increase in salaries and wages and other operating expenses. We feel strongly that the investments we are making in our people will allow us to drive growth and profitability in the future.

For the nine months ended April 30, 2004, revenue increased 6.4% to $28,071,100, compared with revenue of $26,381,085 for the same period last year. Same store revenues increased 6.1% for the year-to-date period. Net earnings for the nine month period increased to $311,723, or $.17 per fully diluted share, compared to net loss of $46,967, or $.03 per fully diluted share, last year.

"Although I am not happy with a 2.1% same store revenue growth for the quarter, we did have a 4.0% growth in rental and fee revenue for the same period," commented David A. Kraemer, President and Chief Executive Officer. "It should also be noted that our strategic efforts of increasing our customer base, focusing on higher revenue-generating merchandise, implementing targeted marketing campaigns and focusing on developing our people has resulted in a 13.9% same store growth in revenue compared to two years ago. I feel strongly that we are capable of further accelerating same store revenue growth. Using the foundation we built with the strategic initiatives outlined above, we began implementation of several additional changes in our business model with excellent results," Kraemer continued, "these changes were brought about by our market and customer research over the past several months. We are encouraged by the acceptance of these changes to date and look forward to completing implementation of the programs over the next several months."