Commenting on the Company's decision to move into Ohio, President Peter Vosotas stated, "It has been our strategy to create a critical branch office mass in each state in which we choose to do business. When we do this, we can invest the monies and time required to be in full compliance with the regulations of the particular state and we can more economically manage these branch locations. We have accomplished this in Florida, Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina. We are currently working hard to implement our branch location strategy in South Carolina and in the near future, Michigan. We are very excited about the business potential in the mid-western states and are extremely pleased with the caliber of employee that we have been able to attract in Ohio and Michigan. Now if it would only stop snowing and warm up a bit, we should see our business in Ohio, Michigan and North Carolina improve considerably."

Founded in 1985, with current assets of $85,101,000 as of December 31, 2002, Nicholas Financial is one of the largest publicly traded specialty consumer finance companies based in the Southeast. The Company has approximately 5,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding and has reported increased revenues and earnings for the past 12 years. For an index of Nicholas Financial Inc.'s news releases or to obtain a specific release, visit our web site at www.nicholasfinancial.com.