RIFCO Ranked 71st Fastest-Growing Company in Canada by PROFIT 100

RED DEER, AB, June 2 /CNW/ - RIFCO INC. (TSX.V: RFC) is pleased to announce that the Company has been ranked 71st on the 22nd annual PROFIT 100 ranking of Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies by PROFIT Magazine. RIFCO achieved a five year revenue growth rate of 864%.

Ranking Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies by five-year revenue growth, the PROFIT 100 profiles the country's most successful growth companies. Published in the June issue of PROFIT and online at PROFIT100.com, the PROFIT 100 is Canada's largest annual celebration of entrepreneurial achievement.

"Canada's Fastest-Growing Companies are the poster children for entrepreneurship, innovation and pure tenacity," says Ian Portsmouth, editor of PROFIT. "They demonstrate what it takes to succeed in today's highly competitive, technology-driven global economy."

Bill Graham, President and CEO stated "RIFCO is pleased to accept our place in this year's ranking of Canada's fastest growing companies. The combination of macroeconomic events inflicted on the Company over the last 18 months could not have been predicted. However, we weathered the storm when many other finance companies did not, and we have remained profitable through it all. We are now stronger and smarter. We have a vast opportunity for growth before us that we fully intend to exploit to the benefit of our shareholders."

The Company is now seeing improved funding costs, improved access to capital, and improving credit performance from existing loans. This is being combined with a marketplace that has seen half of the direct competitors cease operations over the past few years. The result is a unique growth opportunity for RIFCO.

Aggressive loan origination growth rates of 50 to 100% are targeted for the coming years. The Company has just completed doubling its sales force to help deal with requests, by dealers, for RIFCO financing. RIFCO's employees in all departments will be required to continue their exceptional performance in order to support the rapid growth in assets under management. Recruitment and training of new staff and premise renovations are currently underway.

During the global recession, the Company's credit model performed as expected and has allowed RIFCO to remain profitable. The Company's credit model has now been "Stress Tested" by the current recession and passed with flying colors.

As RIFCO grows its loan origination volumes and servicing capabilities, the intrinsic value of the Company's lending platform is being magnified. We believe that the value of the lending platform will be unlocked as increasing amounts of reasonably priced capital is deployed to generate high yielding, predictable auto loans.

    
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PROFIT: Your Guide to Business Success is Canada's pre-eminent publication dedicated to the management issues and opportunities facing small and mid-sized businesses. For more than 25 years, Canadian entrepreneurs across a vast array of economic sectors have remained loyal to PROFIT because it's a timely and reliable source of actionable information that helps them increase their revenues, boost their profitability and get the recognition they deserve for generating positive economic and social change. Published six times a year by Rogers Publishing Ltd., PROFIT is distributed almost exclusively to the chief executives of companies with 5 to 250 employees and annual revenue of $1 million to $25 million, reaching 306,000 readers across Canada. Visit PROFIT online at http://www.PROFITmagazine.ca.

    
    About RIFCO
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RIFCO is one of Canada's fastest-growing automotive finance companies. Non-traditional auto loans are indirectly originated through a growing network of selected new and used vehicle dealers operating in all provinces except Saskatchewan and Quebec.

The common shares of RIFCO INC. are traded on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "RFC". There are 19.23 million shares (basic) outstanding and 20.63 million (fully diluted) shares.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Certain information contained in this press release, including information and statements which may contain words such as "potentially" "objective", "estimates", "would", "will", "contemplates", "expects" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts, are forward-looking information including, but not limited to, information as to future performance.

For further information: RIFCO INC., Lance A. Kadatz, Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Telephone: [phone] EXT 111, Fax: [phone], Email: [email protected], Website: www.rifco.net