EQUIVEST FINANCE, INC. FOURTH QUARTER AND YEAR END RESULTS

Source: Equivest Finance, Inc.

March 6, 1999
Equivest Finance, Inc. (NASD:EQUI) has announced record financial performance for the three months and year ended December 31, 1998. Fourth quarter 1998 pretax income increased 128% to a record $2.3 million, compared with $1.0 million for fourth quarter 1997. Revenues increased 158% to a record $11.4 million in the fourth quarter of 1998, compared with $4.4 million in the fourth quarter of 1997. Fourth quarter net income increased by 34% to $1.3 million, or $.05 per diluted share, compared with $1.0 million, or $.04 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 1997.

Net income for 1997 was essentially the same as pretax income due to the ability of the company in 1997 to utilize net operating loss carry-forwards. Remaining NOL's were exhausted in the first quarter of 1998. Therefore, the increase in net income reported for the fourth quarter 1998 came after absorbing the transition to a fully taxable status, compared with the fourth quarter of 1997 when only minimal tax was paid.

For the 1998 full year, pretax net income increased by 149% to $8.5 million from $3.4 million for the full year 1997. Revenues for the year increased 86% to $29.6 million for 1998, compared with $16.0 million for 1997. Net income for the full year 1998 rose 62% to a record $5.2 million, or $.20 per share on a fully diluted basis, compared with $3.2 million or $.15 per diluted share for 1997. The company had 25,198,351 shares outstanding at year end 1998.

Net income for 1998 reflects the impact of federal income taxation following the exhaustion of remaining NOL's in early 1998, compared with 1997 when NOL's eliminated most federal income taxation. None of the earnings reported today resulted from gain on the sale of notes or other financial instruments.

Equivest's performance for 1998 marks the second consecutive year with pretax profit growth of more than 100% compared with the prior year.

The performance in 1998 reflects in part the company's acquisition of Eastern Resorts Corporation in August of 1998, which owns or operates seven timeshare resorts in New England. Eastern Resorts was responsible for much of the revenue increase in 1998, as well as a portion of the growth in pretax profitability and overall portfolio growth. Another important factor in the increased pretax profitability in 1998 was an overall reduction in interest cost notwithstanding a significant increase in the total amount of loans outstanding. This was due in large part to a reduction in interest costs at Resort Funding due to a conversion in the fourth quarter of 1997 of $25 million in debt owed by Resort Funding into equity.

The Company recently announced that it is acquiring six timeshare resorts and hotel properties, together with an additional resort site, management contracts and a portfolio of consumer note receivables from the Kosmas Group International, Inc. of New Smyrna Beach, Florida. The properties involved in the proposed transaction had total sales of vacation intervals in 1998 of more than $20 million, compared with sales of vacation intervals for the full year 1998 by Eastern Resorts of approximately $13 million. These properties are located in Maryland, Florida, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., and the Caribbean.