Taxi Medallions. $1.04 Billion We Believe the Continued Rise in Taxi Medallion Prices Indicates the Strength of That Market, Even During at Year End
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What investment outperforms Taxi Facts the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Standard & Poor’s 500, the Nasdaq Average, Real Estate, and even Gold over the years? 2009 Annual Report Taxi Medallions. Medallion Financial Corp. 437 Madison Avenue 38th Floor New York, NY 10022 Medallion Financial Corp. Toll Free: 877 MEDALLION www.medallion.com ...over the years since 1947, taxi medallions have a compound annual growth rate of 9.8%. Who is the recognized leader in the taxi medallion industry, currently with almost $1 billion* in taxi medallion loans and small business loans under management? * The Company has originated $3.5 billion in loans since it’s IPO in 1996. Medallion Financial. Medallion Financial Corp. 2009 Annual Report Taxi Facts How many taxi trips are taken each day in New York? What is the value of a corporate Data from taxi meters has What is the highest price shown that there are about ever paid for an individual medallion in New York City? New York medallion? In New York a corporate taxi fleet The individual New York medallion averaged... 450,000 Medallion hit cab rides a day in New York. $600,000 $775,000 an all time record in the month of December in December of 2009. What is the highest 2009, and increase of An increase of 3.7 percent from price ever paid for 9.1% from $550,000 a corporate New in December 2008. $747,000 in December 2008. York Medallion? $800,000 for a corporate Taxi Facts: Medallion sale in early 2010. Passengers spend more than What is the average Medallion value in the four largest markets? $1 billion The average value is about $500,000 on taxi rides in NYC each year. MEdaLLION FInanCIAL IS THE LEadING LEndER IN THE TAXI IndUSTRY. page 2 Of New York’s taxi What are the largest taxi How many taxi medallions, how medallion markets? medallions are in many are individual each market? medallions and how New York: 13,237 many are corporate New York Chicago: 6,951 or fleet medallions? Boston: 1,825 37% Chicago Philadelphia: 1,600 of all medallions are individual medallions. Boston Taxis The ratio is set by law. generate How many and tens of medallions are there thousands in the top four of jobs. markets in the U.S.? Philadelphia 23,613 How may people ride in New York taxis each year? medallions in the 250 million top urban areas. page 3 To Our Shareholders: MEDALLION FinAnciAL NOT ONLY OVERCAME chALLENGES in 2009, a year that will be remembered as one of the most trying in the history of banks and financial institutions, but we produced strong operating earnings and expect to improve these results in 2010. Our accomplishments stood in sharp contrast to the down market but our strategy remained straightforward. We operate fundamentally basic businesses that provide much needed financing to niche industries: taxi medallion owners and investors and similar small businesses that are the foundation of the American economy. Medallion has served these same industries as lender and investor since 1937. Then, as now, there was economic adversity and uncertainty and then, as now, taxi medallions were a safe investment with the same promise of upside potential for those who seized on the unwritten message contained within, that hard work and focus lead to strong earnings and growth. Those words rang true for those who had the good fortune and wisdom to invest in medallions in 2009 and earlier. In mid-December a New York corporate taxi medallion sold for $775,000 up from $747,000 in 2008 and a long way from the original $10 invested by Leon Murstein when he bought his first medallion in 1937. An individual Alvin Murstein Chairman & medallion in 2009 was priced at $600,000, up from $550,000 in 2008. All in all, Chief Executive Officer New York taxi medallions have risen in value by 270% since 1996. Andrew M. Murstein President TAXI MEDALLIONS ARE PRimE ASSETS ON which WE BASE OUR BUSinESS. We expect them to continue to hold their value and grow even in difficult times. The taxi industry has always attracted hard working, ambitious drivers and owners, often immigrants and minorities, who have found the work as a route to stability and the American Dream. By providing the necessary financing, Medallion has been able to contribute mightily to making this dream happen and to show steady profits for its shareholders and investors. Here are some of our highlights for 2009: yyy Total assets under management were basically level in 2009 — $1.076 billion at the start of the year and $1.040 billion at its end. Part of the drop is attributable to our success in participating our loans to financial institutions, which pay us to manage the loans. yyy Loan delinquencies continued at near-record low levels in 2009. yyy Taxi medallion prices reached all-time highs in New York and Chicago. yyy Medallion’s total return to shareholders was 18 percent in 2009. yyy We maintained our quarterly dividend throughout calendar year 2009, providing a 9 percent dividend yield. EARLY in 2010, WE BEGAN diSSOLVinG thE SPEciAL PURPOSE AcQUISitiON CORP. (SPAC), we established in 2008. After looking at well over 100 acquisition opportunities, we decided not to invest. The decision was difficult but appropriate because none of the opportunities that we evaluated, had the right mix of profit potential and risk avoidance. page 4 While we would have preferred a more favorable outcome, we are satisfied this one time event in 2009 has no ongoing impact on the fundamental operations of our company. We still had a good year and outperformed most other finance companies. During the year Jack Kemp, who had served as chairman of SPAC from its inception, passed away. Total assets under Mr. Kemp, a one time Republican vice presidential candidate, professional football star, Congressman and Cabinet secretary, served SPAC well and will be sorely missed. Management? MEDALLION FinAnciAL’S CORE BUSinESS IS LEndinG, SECURED BY TAXI MEDALLIONS. $1.04 billion We believe the continued rise in taxi medallion prices indicates the strength of that market, even during at year end. a time of economic adversity. We see excellent prospects for further growth and expansion in New York and the other cities we serve. In addition to a record high corporate medallion price in New York, taxi medallion prices reached a new high of $202,000 in Chicago, more than tripling over five years. Loan delinquencies Markets around the world stabilized in 2009 and began to rise following the crash in 2008. During continued at near-record this period, the enduring strength of the taxi medallion as an asset class prevailed. Over the decades, low levels in 2009. taxi medallions have outperformed stock and commodity markets – real estate, currency, oil and gold. This contributed to the less than 50 percent loan-to-value ratio of our medallion portfolio, demonstrating our credit quality in the world economy today. Our commercial asset-based and mezzanine lending divisions, which provide a significant portion of Taxi medallion our assets and revenues, had strong portfolios this year even as many of our competitors exited those prices reached markets. We anticipate new opportunities for growth to arise from this exodus throughout 2010. all-time highs in OUR CREdit SOURCES REMAinED STRONG in 2009. Medallion Bank, a portfolio investment, New York and was very profitable with almost one half billion dollars in assets. Its earnings rose 59 percent in 2009 Chicago. despite tough economic conditions. We established the bank six years ago to see us through the kind of challenging times we experienced in 2009, and the bank provided us with a dependable low cost of funds. During 2009, we maintained our $200 million credit facility begun in 2008, and established new lending relationships with a number of regional banks. Total return to We believe that our strong balance sheet, conservative underwriting standards and excellent prospects shareholders was will appeal to institutional and individual investors in the coming months and years and that they will 18 percent in 2009. consider a flight to quality when evaluating our company. WE ARE GRATEFUL TO OUR OUTSTAndinG BOARD OF diREctORS from the worlds of finance, sports, public service and entertainment for their devoted service throughout the year. Six of our nine members are “disinterested” directors, according to regulatory definitions, giving the board an independent overview. Our independent directors also include a baseball Hall of Famer, two former state governors, and several distinguished business owners and entrepreneurs. We also wish to thank our diligent employee team whose expertise and caring are what make Medallion so special to borrowers. Successful specialty lenders such as Medallion are only as strong as the people who represent them. We are fortunate to have the best. Alvin Murstein Andrew M. Murstein Chairman & Chief Executive Officer President page 5 Medallion Financial Corp. 2009 Annual Report Taxi Facts What is the fare for Is taxicab ridership increasing? the average taxi ride? According to recent data, it is. In December 2008, In 2006, the average fare taxis carried an average of 432,000 fares a day. was $13 in New York and That rose to 455,000 in Jan. 2009 and in Feb. 2009: Chicago, $15 in Los Angeles and Boston, and $14 in 478,000 fares per day! Philadelphia. What is the origin of the word CAB? It got its name from its predecessor, a horse pulled On a dollar-for-dollar basis, carriage called the what is the market share Cabriolet. for taxis as compared with public transportation and car services? Taxi fares now account for an How long is the average taxi ride? estimated 30% of all fares paid by 5 miles in cities around the United States, passengers for taxi, bus, subway, and car service and 2.8 miles in New York City.