Midas to Present at CL King Conference; Reports Continuing Softness in Retail Sales; First Midas-SpeeDee Co-Branded Test Stores Exceeding Expectations

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ITASCA, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The presentation by Midas, Inc. (NYSE: MDS), at the CL King "Best Ideas" Conference at the Omni Berkshire Place Hotel in New York will be available via webcast on Wednesday, Sept. 17 beginning at 12:15 p.m. EDT.

The 25-minute presentation by Alan D. Feldman, Midas' chairman and chief executive officer, and William M. Guzik, executive vice president and chief financial officer, will be accessible at www.wsw.com/webcast/clk5/mds/ or in the corporate events section of the company's website at www.midas.inc.com. The presentation will be available on the sites until Oct. 16.

In advance of the presentation, Midas announced that it continues to experience soft retail sales in North America, particularly in the Southeast and West regions of the United States.

"The retail trends of the first and second quarters have continued into the third quarter, negatively affecting our franchise revenues as well as operating results at our 93 company-owned shops," Feldman said.

"While sales of maintenance and tires continue to grow, sales of brakes, which account for nearly 40 percent of our retail mix, continue to decline as consumers defer major purchases," he said.

Feldman said that third quarter comparable shop sales in U.S. Midas shops were down by approximately four percent through August. Hardest hit were Midas shops in the parts of the country experiencing the most severe housing and credit issues, with the Southeast region down by seven percent and the West region down by 12 percent. In addition to 581 franchised shops in these two regions, there are 26 company-owned Midas shops in Florida and 12 in California.

Comparable Midas shop sales for the first two months of the third quarter for the other three regions of the U.S. were down by approximately one percent.

"We firmly believe that as the economic environment and consumer confidence improve, Midas has the correct strategy in place to grow retail sales with our focus on maintenance, tires and brakes," Feldman said.

Feldman said that the company will provide updated guidance for 2008 when it reports third quarter results in late October.

Midas also reported that its first three co-branded Midas-SpeeDee shops, which were completed in late July, are off to a strong start. Former SpeeDee shops in Watsonville, Hollister and Gilroy, Calif., have been remodeled with a new image that equally identifies and promotes the Midas and SpeeDee brands on the exteriors and with in-shop point-of-purchase displays. These shops have also added tire and alignment equipment and inventories, and shop employees have been trained in Midas sales and operations techniques.

"Our design and construction teams have done an outstanding job creating the dual-brand image," Feldman said. "Within hours of installing the new signs, customers were driving into the co-branded locations asking for Midas brake, exhaust and tire services."

Feldman said that comparable store sales at these three locations increased by 3.2 percent in the first month since they were co-branded, despite the fact there has been no advertising of the additional services.

Midas is one of the world's largest providers of automotive service, offering brake, maintenance, tires, exhaust, steering and suspension services at more than 2,500 franchised, licensed and company-owned Midas shops in 17 countries, including more than 1,700 in the United States and Canada. Midas also owns the SpeeDee Oil Change business, which franchises, licenses and owns 182 auto service centers in the United States and Mexico.

SOURCE: Midas, Inc.