DALLAS — Manchester recently announced it has appointed a senior vice president of operations, a senior vice president and chief accounting officer, and a communications director.

The company recently named Rex Gossett as senior vice president of operations. His focus will be on the company's buy-here, pay-here business.

Gossett worked in the BHPH industry for 13 years, according to the company. Executives said he served in a variety of operational and management roles in this industry, where he was responsible for originating more than $500 million in subprime auto receivables.

For the past eight years, officials said Gossett served as a member of senior management with J.D. Byrider Franchise. Moreover, while with Byrider, executives said he was responsible for opening nine of the existing 14 locations.

Executives went on to note that Gossett achieved a nine-year annual compounded growth rate of 25 percent and helped grow Byrider's subprime portfolio to $150 million in receivables and reduced static pool loss rates to lower than 22 percent from a high of 30 percent.

"The management and operational experience that Rex brings to the Manchester team will not only assist us with evaluating the operations of the future acquisitions, but his in-depth knowledge and understanding of our industry and ‘hands-on' experience will become a quantifiable asset to each of Manchester's dealer groups," explained Richard Gaines, executive vice president and acting chief executive officer of Manchester.

"Rex's management experience in all aspects of the buy-here, pay-here model, as well as previous experience with organizational development and dealer education, will assist Manchester's acquisition strategy by leveraging the most successful aspects of individual operations in addition to maximizing economies of scale," Gaines continued.

"Rex's expertise also broadens the types of companies Manchester can acquire to include acquisition targets where current management will not stay in place. Additionally, we will be in a stronger position to help dealers with organic growth," he highlighted.

Company Announces Senior VP, Chief Accounting Officer

Manchester also announced that it has appointed Anthony Hamil as senior vice president and chief accounting officer.

Before joining Manchester, officials said Hamlin served as chief financial officer for F.S. English (doing business as J.D. Byrider) for 10 years where he was responsible for all financial operations reporting, modeling and projections in the BHPH businesses.

Executives said he developed and implemented daily accounting reporting, operational and cash control procedures in a multi-unit environment.

Furthermore, officials said he used statistical methods and financial modeling to price discounts by which the finance company purchased receivables from the sales company; set the finance company's loan loss reserve; set deal structure parameters for vehicle sales, including price, gross, margin, amount financed, interest rate, term and down payment; and also priced the sales company's extended service contract, budget and projected future cash flow for purposes of annual budgeting and operations.

Lawrence Taylor, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Manchester, pointed out, "We are very pleased to have Tony join Manchester. His addition adds to our accounting depth, particularly at the operational level.

"Tony, along with the additional manpower that we expect to add under his direct supervision, will help to ensure that Manchester's aggressive acquisition strategy is being implemented with advanced accounting and financial oversight," Taylor continued.

Officials pointed out that Hamlin has served as a training consultant in area of BHPH, cash and controls, along with daily reporting procedures. Moreover, he served multiple terms on J.D. Byrider National Franchise Group's Computer Steering Committee, Operations Committee and Software Selection Task Force.

Manchester Names Communications Director

In other recent news, Manchester announced the appointment of Chantelle Hardy as communications director.

Before joining the company, Hardy was the assistant director of dealer marketing with H&H Associates. Officials said she has worked with BHPH dealers for more than 10 years and "is a specialist in assisting dealers with many of their financial needs, as well as developing sources of funding required to grow their business."

Manchester to Acquire Texas-based Capitol Car Credit and Thrifty Car Sales Facilities

In other recent news, Manchester announced it is purchasing two entities: Quick Car Credit Inc., doing business as Capitol Car Credit and doing business as Thrifty Car Sales, in addition to the related finance company, Texas Auto Credit Solutions Corp.

Capitol Car Credit operates four retail facilities throughout the metro Austin area. Three of these facilities are located on Interstate 35, the main freeway through the Central Texas North/South corridor.

Following initial discussions with Manchester, William Mokry (who owns the facilities) said he began to reposition the retail lots operated by Capitol Car Credit and to acquire locations designed to complement the company's newest facility, which is located in the Round Rock/Georgetown suburbs of Austin.

Rick Stanley, Manchester's chief executive officer, said, "We are very pleased to announce this transaction. Capitol Car Credit will become one of the cornerstone dealerships in our plan to acquire established dealerships in the rapidly growing Central Texas market. Central Texas is projected to surpass the San Antonio metro area in total population within the next 10 years."

Mokry and his sons founded Capitol Car Credit in 1997. Mokry said he has more than 30 years of new and used car retail, service and finance experience, including serving as general manager and president of Arrow Motor Sales, which operated Mazda, Chrysler/Plymouth, Jeep Subaru dealerships.

Moreover, he served as general manager of Waldon Automotive Group's Buick/Nissan, Southview Chevrolet-Jeep/Eagle and Apple Valley Chrysler/Plymouth-Isuzu dealerships.

Additionally, Mokry is a member of the Thrifty Car Sales Executive Committee, which represents more than 50 Thrifty franchisees.

Manchester Coverts Nine Stores to New DMS

In addition to announcing several new executives and other news, the company said it has converted nine of its current locations to a new DMS from Autostar Dealer Management.

"We looked at several options and determined that Autostar's proven system would allow for a seamless integration of existing data, as well as a Web-based platform with integrated modules with expandability to grow our business," explained Taylor.

Hamlin added, "The database platform of this system allows for simple conversions for future acquisitions with the ability to customize data fields to meet our specific needs.

"These standardization design features, matched with the system's simple customized reporting modules, will allow us to consolidate all subsidiaries by extracting data across all companies with consistent account groupings," Hamlin continued.

According to officials, Autostar was established in 1991 and has installed software in more than 2,000 dealerships. Moreover, executives said Manchester and Autostar are currently collaborating on custom applications for the stores.

"I have seen hundreds of successful operations, and every one has a part of their business that provides them with a unique competitive advantage," said Gossett.

"This system will allow our dealers to continue to maintain those advantages, while at the same time giving Manchester the ability to maintain certain standardization, ensure legal compliance required of our dealers and be able to consolidate all of our operations in a timely manner and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements of public companies," he added.

More about the Company

The Dallas-based company said its goal is to sell acquired and newly generated receivable portfolios through a securitization process. Back in October of last year, Manchester acquired Nice Cars and its related finance company, Nice Cars Acceptance Corp.

Based in Georgia, Nice Cars operates six lots that focus on the BHPH segment of the industry.

In December 2006, Manchester acquired F.S. English (now operating as Freedom Auto Sales) and GNAC (now Freedom Auto Acceptance). These related companies are headquartered in Indianapolis.