Westar Financial Revenues Triple in 1Q02 to $140 Million

    TUMWATER, Wash.--July 2, 2001--Westar Financial Services Incorporated (OTC:WEST), the leading automobile e-finance company, today reported that revenues almost tripled to $140 million for its first fiscal quarter of 2002 from $37 million in the first quarter ended June 30, 2001. This record top line growth marks the fourth consecutive quarter with revenue growth of more than 100% from the year earlier period. Revenues increased 40% from the immediate prior quarter as the company's financial portal continued to generate record volumes of prime credit auto contracts.
    "As our newer private label partners begin to fully implement our portal financial solution, we are seeing very strong revenue growth with expanding margins," said R. W. Christensen, Jr. "We expect earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2002 to double to $.36 per share from last quarter's level of $.18 per share, an increase of $1.31 per share from the first quarter of fiscal 2001. We plan to report full results for 1Q02 later in the month."