BMTC Group Inc. announces financial results for its quarter ended March 31st, 2012

MONTREAL, May 3, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - For the quarter ended March 31^st, 2012, the Company's revenues decreased by $8,414,000 to $154,760,000, compared to $163,174,000 recorded in the corresponding 2011 period. Net loss for the quarter ended March 31^st, 2012, amounted to $1,760,000 compared to net earnings of $2,814,000 for the corresponding 2011 period resulting in a net basic loss per share of $0.04 compared to a net basic earnings per share of $0.05 in 2011.

The effect of costing options had no impact on net basic loss per share, compared to a decrease of $0.06 in net basic earnings per share for corresponding 2011 period. While the Company costs options as either an expense or revenue in the net earnings calculation, the Company believes it is preferable to inform readers of its financial statements of the impact of this element, which is outside the Company's control and that varies according to a calculation based on the Black-Scholes method. An increase in that value is recorded as an expense, while a decrease in value has the opposite effect. Of particular concern is the reader may conclude that the Company's profitability has risen in the context of a major decrease in the value attributed. For this reason the Company discloses net adjusted earnings in absolute dollars and on a per share basis to exclude the effect of costing options. These adjusted figures are likely not comparable with the same type of measures reported by other public issuers. It is worth noting that the Company offers a stock option program that allows the holder to receive cash in lieu of shares upon exercising stock options therefore making BMTC Group Inc. one of the few public companies to expense options on an ongoing basis.

The share repurchase program contributed to an additional loss of $0.01 to net basic loss per share during the first quarter 2012.

Excluding the effect of costing options, net result would have been decreased by $7,740,000 or $0.16 per basic share for the first quarter of 2012 compared to the corresponding 2011 period.

The decrease of $7,740,000 is explained as follows:

	2012	2011
	($ in thousands)
Net (Loss) Earnings	(1 760)	2 814
Variation of cost of options (after-tax)	15	3 181
Adjusted Net (Loss) Earnings	(1 745)	5 995
ADD : Adjusted Net Earnings for the 2011 period	(5 995)
Decrease	(7 740)

		($ in thousands)
	Increase (decrease) retail operating earnings	Increase (decrease) investment income	Increase (decrease) adjusted operating earnings
1st quarter 2012	(7 586)	(154)	(7 740)
2nd quarter 2012
3rd quarter 2012
4th quarter 2012

Annual Financial Information
($ in thousands, except for per share amounts)

		2011	2010
Revenue		748 731	822 507
Net earnings		57 231	74 193
Total Assets		274 446	320 182
Net Earnings per share
	Basic	1,16	1,44
	Diluted	1,16	1,38
Dividends per share		0,24	0,24

Quarterly Results (unaudited)
($ in thousands, except for per share amounts)

		March 31		June 30		September 30		December 31
		2012 $	2011 $	2011 $	2010 $	2011 $	2010 $	2011 $	2010 $
Revenue		154 760	163 174	194 146	207 801	196 715	215 712	194 156	215 846
Net (loss) earnings		(1 760)	2 814	21 456	16 966	17 857	21 362	15 104	32 044
Net (loss) earnings per share
	Basic	(0,04)	0,05	0,43	0,33	0,36	0,41	0,32	0,63
	Diluted	(0,04)	0,05	0,42	0,33	0,36	0,40	0,33	0,59

During the three month period ended March 31^st, 2012, no options were granted or exercised. As at March 31^st, 2012, options for 262,800 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares, representing 0.005% of the Company's outstanding shares remain issued and 5,710,864 authorized share options, representing approximately 12% of the Company's outstanding shares, may still be granted pursuant to the Plan. The issued and outstanding options may be exercised at a price of $17.85 per Class A Subordinate Voting Shares.

The number of outstanding shares of the Company changed during the three month period ended March 31^st, 2012 pursuant to the normal course issuer bid renewed on March 8^th, 2012 and the conversion of Class B Multiple Voting Shares. Accordingly, 95,500 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares were repurchased and cancelled by the Company and 84,252 Class B Multiple Voting Shares were converted into 84,252 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares. As a result of these changes the Company had on March 31^st, 2012, 2,034,583 Class B Multiple Voting Shares and 46,144,917 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares outstanding.

BMTC Group Inc.'s Class A Subordinate Voting Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange and through its subsidiaries, ABTM Group Inc. and Ameublements Tanguay Inc., is a major retailer of furniture, electronic goods and household appliances operating in the Montreal, Quebec City, Repentigny, Ste-Therese, Laval, Longueuil, Kirkland, St-Georges, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke, Chicoutimi, Rivière-du-Loup, Rimouski, Levis, Beauport, Ste-Foy, Gatineau, Ste-Hyacinthe, St-Jean-sur-le-Richelieu, Granby, Vaudreuil, Mascouche and St-Jérôme areas.

Mr. Yves Des Groseillers
Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer
BMTC Group Inc.
[phone]