BMTC Group Inc. announces financial results for its third quarter ended
September 30, 2009

MONTREAL , Nov. 5 /CNW Telbec/ - For the nine month period ended September 30th, 2009 , the Company's revenue totalled $594.1 million a decreased of $45.3 million compared to the $639.4 million recorded in the corresponding 2008 period. For the nine month period ended September 30th, 2009 , the net income stood at $48.3 million compared to $48.1 million , for the corresponding 2008 period. The net earnings per share stood at $1.81 compared to $1.57 for the corresponding 2008 period.

Results from the costing of options had the effect of reducing net earnings by $0.14 per share, compared to an increase of net earnings of $0.17 per share for the corresponding 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 which varies along with the course of the Company's share price in any given time period. An increase in the Company's share price incurs an expense, while a decrease in the Company's share price incurs revenue. Of particular concern is that the reader could be made to believe that the Company's profitability had risen in the context of a major decrease in the Company's share price. It is for this reason that the Company includes net earnings in absolute dollars and per-share dollars excluding this costing of options effect, even though doing so does not conform to GAAPs, it is therefore unlikely that we can compare them with the same type of measures presented by other issuers. It is worth noting that the Company offers a stock option program that allows the holder to exercise his options in lieu of cash therefore being one of few public companies to expense options on an ongoing basis.

The sale of fixed assets during the previous fiscal period resulted in an increase in net per share earnings of $0.11 .

The share repurchase program contributed in an increase of net earnings per-share of $0.18 for the period.

Excluding all these effects, as indicated in the following table, net adjusted earnings would have increased by $12.7 million or $0.48 per share for the period.

    
                                                          2009          2008

                                                           ($ in thousands)

    Net Earnings                                        48 286        48 052
    Expense (revenue) of options (after-tax)             3 765        (5 446)
    (Gain) resulting from the sale
     of fixed assets (after-tax)                             -        (3 266)
                                                     -----------  -----------
    Adjusted Net Earnings                               52 051        39 340
    Minus : Adjusted Net Earnings for the
     2008 period                                        39 340
                                                     -----------

    Increase 2009                                       12 711


    This increase in adjusted operating earnings was spread out through the
quarters as follows:

                                 ($ in thousands)
                                        Increase                    Increase
                                          retail      Increase      adjusted
                                       operating    Investment     operating
                                        earnings        income      earnings

    1st quarter 2009                         582           828         1 410

    2nd quarter 2009                          39         3 990         4 029

    3rd quarter 2009                       3 721         3 551         7 272
                                  -------------------------------------------
    Total:                                 4 342         8 369        12 711


    Annual Financial Information
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            2008          2007          2006
                                            ----          ----          ----
                                            ($ in thousands, except for per
                                                     share amounts)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Revenue                             $856,229      $841,544      $835,681
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Net earnings                          69,908        49,033        45,633
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Assets                         244,532       284,939       284,963
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Net Earnings per share
      Basic                                $2.36         $1.54         $1.35
      Diluted                               2.27          1.48          1.30
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Dividends per share                     0.35          0.29          0.24
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Quarterly Results (unaudited)

    ($ in thousands, except for per share amounts)

                                          Quarter Ended       Quarter Ended
                                             March 31            June 30
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          2009      2008      2009      2008
                                          ----      ----      ----      ----
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Revenue                           $168,805  $181,744  $204,956  $225,508
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Net earnings                         3,084    11,569    19,685    17,094
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Net Earnings per share
      Basic                               0.11      0.37      0.72      0.55
      Diluted                             0.10      0.35      0.70      0.54
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                          Quarter Ended        Quarter Ended
                                           September 30         December 31
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                          2009      2008      2008      2007
                                          ----      ----      ----      ----
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Revenue                           $220,363  $232,129  $216,848  $223,628
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Net earnings                        25,517    19,389    21,856    16,130
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Net Earnings per share
      Basic                               0.98      0.65      0.79      0.52
      Diluted                             0.95      0.62      0.76      0.50
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------
    

As for the three-month period ended September 30th, 2009 revenues from operations totaled 220.4 M$, representing a decrease of 11.7 M$ over the 232.1 M$ for the corresponding 2008 period. The Company's net income for the three-month period ended September 30th, 2009 , totaled $25,517,000 , or $0.98 per share, compared with $19,389,000 or $0.65 per share for the corresponding 2008 period. For the three-month period ended September 30th 2009, the results from the variation of costing options had the effect of reducing the earnings per share by $0.05 compared with a decrease in earnings of $0.01 for the corresponding 2008 period. The share repurchase program contributed $0.10 to net per share earnings for the quarter ended September 30th, 2009 .

Excluding all these effects, as indicated in the following table, net adjusted earnings would have increased by 7.3 M$ or $0.27 per share for the three-month period ended September 30th, 2009 compared to the corresponding period.

    
                                                          2009          2008
                                                     ($ in thousands, except
                                                       for per share amounts)

    Net Earnings                                        25 517        19 389
    Cost (gain) of options (after-tax)                   1 330           186
                                                     ----------    ----------
    Adjusted Net Earnings                               26 847        19 575
    MINUS : Adjusted Net Earnings for
     2008 corresponding quarter                         19 575
                                                     ----------
    Increase 2009                                        7 272
    

No options have been granted during the period ended September 30th, 2009 . During the period ended September 30th, 2009 , options were exercised on two occasions. First, on May 22nd, 2009 , the Company paid an amount before tax of $1,000,008 as cash award in lieu of shares, as a result of the exercise of 57,176 options. Secondly, on June 8th, 2009 , the Company paid an amount before tax of $5,863,489 as cash award in lieu of shares, as a result of the exercise of 330,194 options. As at September 30th, 2009 , options for 1,226,000 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares therefore remain outstanding and 2,986,832 options may still be issued pursuant to the Plan. The outstanding options may be exercised at prices ranging between $2.52 and $7.19 per Class A Subordinate Voting Shares.

A semi-annual eligible dividend of $0.20 per share has been declared to holders of Class A Subordinate voting shares and Class B Multiple voting shares of record as of the close of business on December 18th, 2009 , which will be payable on January 4th, 2010 . This represents an increase of 0.02$ per share from the last semi-annual dividend paid by the Company.

Since January 1st, 2009 , the number of outstanding shares of the Company changed for the period ended October 31st, 2009 due to the share redemption programs implemented in November 2008 and the conversion of Class B Multiple Voting Shares. Accordingly, 657,200 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares were redeemed by the Company and cancelled in 2009, while 81,824 Class B Multiple Voting Shares were converted into 107,324 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares. As a result of these changes, the Company had, as of October 31st, 2009 , 10,363,167 Class B Multiple Voting Shares and 15,779,633 Class A Subordinate Voting Shares outstanding.

BMTC Group inc., which Class A Subordinate Voting Shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, is an important retailer of furniture, electronic goods and household appliances in appliances in the areas of 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 through its subsidiary Brault & Martineau and Ameublements Tanguay.

For further information: Mr. Yves Des Groseillers, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, BMTC Group inc., [phone]