Clearwater, Florida, - May 3, 2006: Nicholas Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq, NICK) today announced the opening of two (2) new branch offices located in White Marsh, a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland and Port Richey, Florida. The new locations continue the Company's planned expansion of its branch office network, which now includes, forty-four (44) offices in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and Maryland. Each of the offices is a full-service lending and collection facility. Nicholas employees have been working to develop business in each area for several months prior to the opening of the new locations.

The Company opened 7 branch offices during the past year and intends to continue opening additional branch offices in the coming year. Nicholas Financial acquires and services automobile and light truck installment sales contracts that it purchases from over 1,400 new and used car dealers.

On April 26th, Nicholas Financial reported record earnings results for the 16th consecutive year. The Company reported that quarterly net income grew 24% on a 33% increase in revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2006, compared to the same period last year. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006, the Company reported net income growth of 31% on a 30% increase in revenues, as compared to the previous fiscal year.

Founded in 1985, with assets of $149,495,000 as of March 31, 2006, Nicholas Financial, Inc. is one of the largest publicly traded specialty consumer finance companies based in the Southeast. The Company presently operates out of 44 branch locations in both the Southeast and the Mid-West States. The Company has approximately 10,000,000 shares of common stock outstanding. For an index of Nicholas Financial Inc.’s news releases or to obtain a specific release, visit our web site at www.nicholasfinancial.com.

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