UPDATE 2-Advance America Q3 profit beats Street view
* Q3 EPS $0.14 beats estimates
* Q3 revenue falls 5.5 pct to $173.9 mln
* Expects to take charge in Q4 related to center closings
* Halves dividend to 6.25 cents (Recasts, adds details, background) Oct 29 (Reuters) - Advance America Cash Advance Centers Inc (AEA.N) reported third-quarter profit that topped analysts' consensus view, helped by lower expenses that mitigated a fall in revenue, and halved its dividend to conserve cash.
The company said Ohio citizens will decide whether to have access to a regulated payday advance product when they vote on Nov. 4, and that if it must close its centers in Ohio, it will incur significant one-time closure costs and possibly an impairment of goodwill.
The Ohio state legislature passed a bill in May that effectively capped the interest rate on payday loans at 28 percent interest, causing problems for companies offering payday products.
Such loans, which tide over borrowers for short periods, carry effective annual interest rates that can top 300 percent.
Advance America had earlier said that it does not believe it will be economically viable to continue operations in Ohio under the payday lending law.
Apart from Ohio, the company is also looking at a vote by Arizona citizens on Nov. 4 to remove the sunset provision of the existing payday lending.
The company, which closed all 30 centers in Arkansas and all nine centers in New Mexico, said it expects to take additional charges of about $0.4 million in the fourth quarter related to center closings in Arkansas.
The company said it signed a pact with a unit of Cash America International Inc (CSH.N) to market and drive online loan customers to an Advance America website.
Advance America competes with companies like Cash America, First Cash Financial Services Inc (FCFS.O) and Ezcorp Inc (EZPW.O).
The Spartanburg, South Carolina-based company posted profit of $8.4 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with $5.7 million, or 7 cents a share, a year earlier. [ID:nWNAB4312]
Shares of the company closed down 3 percent at $1.85 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Deepak Kannan)
