8-K

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the

Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):	Commission File Number:
November 5, 2003	0-27812

MEDALLION FINANCIAL CORP.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware	04-3291176
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)	(IRS Employer Identification Number)
437 Madison Avenue New York, New York 10022
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:
(212) 328-2100
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

ITEM 5.    OTHER EVENTS AND REGULATION FD DISCLOSURE.

Medallion Financial Corp. (the “Company”) intends to issue a press release to the news media to announce, among other things, the Company’s results for the third quarter of 2003.

A copy of the press release is attached hereto as Exhibit 99.1 and is incorporated herein by reference.

ITEM 7.    FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS.

99.1    Press release, dated November 5, 2003.

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SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

MEDALLION FINANCIAL CORP.

By:	/S/    LARRY D. HALL
	Name:    Larry D. Hall Title:       Acting Chief Financial Officer

Date: November 5, 2003

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Exhibit Index

Exhibit No.	Description
99.1	Press release, dated November 5, 2003.

EX-99.1

Exhibit 99_1

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

AT THE COMPANY:	AT ZLOKOWER COMPANY
Andrew Murstein-President	Harry Zlokower/Dave Closs
Larry D. Hall, CFO	(212) 447-9292
1-212-328-2100
1-877-MEDALLION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 5, 2003

MEDALLION FINANCIAL CORP. REPORTS

THIRD QUARTER RESULTS

OPERATING EARNINGS MORE THAN DOUBLE

COMPANY AUTHORIZES STOCK REPURCHASE PROGRAM

DIVIDEND INCREASES

NEW YORK, N.Y., November 5, 2003 — Medallion Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: TAXI), a specialty commercial finance company with a leading position servicing the taxicab industry and in small business commercial lending, and owner of the largest taxicab rooftop advertising company in the world, announced that operating earnings, or net investment income before taxes, more than doubled to $696,000 or $0.04 per share in the third quarter of 2003, up from $312,000 or $0.02 per share in the 2003 second quarter, and up from a loss of $6,462,000 or $0.35 per share in the 2002 third quarter. Net income or net increase in net assets resulting from operations, also rose sharply to $1,111,000 or $0.06 per share, up from $755,000 or $0.04 per share in the second quarter, and changed from a loss of $8,384,000 or $0.46 per share in the 2002 third quarter.

“We are very pleased with our results this quarter and with the continued positive progress of the Company,” stated President Andrew Murstein. “This was our most profitable quarter in eight quarters. Since we started to pay down our old bank facility back in September 2002, we have shown continued increases in both assets and profitability in each and every subsequent quarter.”

Mr. Murstein added, “Our interest rate spreads have also continued to increase. In the third quarter we had a net interest margin of 3.92%, up from 3.55% in the second quarter, and up from 2.93% in the 2002 third quarter. Our operating expenses have also declined in absolute dollars and as a percentage of our assets.”

Mr. Murstein continued, “We are also pleased to announce that the Board of Directors has approved the first ever stock buy back in the history of the Company. The Company has empowered the Company, in its discretion, to repurchase up to $10,000,000 of its outstanding common stock from time-to-time. Pursuant to relevant requirements, the Company, should it pursue this program, will send out notices to our shareholders of record indicating our intention to repurchase shares, and then start the program shortly thereafter. We have never been more confident in our prospects than we are today. Over the past 60 years we have always been successful in our ability to generate top quality loans, and always concentrated our efforts on the liability side of our balance sheet as we needed to reduce our cost of funds and find a reliable low cost funding source. We now feel we have finally achieved that goal with the approval of our industrial loan bank charter and approval by the FDIC for Federal deposit insurance, along with our other various funding sources. We currently remain over-capitalized, with more than $163,480,000 of equity, and only $260,914,000 of debt, setting our debt to equity ratio at only 1.6 to 1. We plan on leveraging up our balance sheet while at the same time considering the opportunity to buy back our stock so that we can improve our return on equity and increase shareholder value.”

CFO Larry Hall stated, “ This was a very solid quarter for us. Our interest income increased, our interest expense decreased, and our operating profits increased dramatically from the prior quarter. Medallion prices continue to remain very strong. In fact, New York City taxicab medallions recently sold at an average of over $275,000 each. This is an

increase of more than 33% from just two years ago, and this is also the highest average price in several years. Our 60 and 90 day and over delinquencies also came down from the second quarter. Taxicab medallion loans also continued to show gains as we increased the portfolio 4% to $277,243,000, from $266,067,000 in the second quarter.”

Mr. Hall continued, “Due to our earnings in the quarter, as well as our greatly improved liquidity position, we are pleased to increase the Company’s dividend for the third successive quarter. Also, for tax purposes, we intend to qualify as a regular taxable entity for fiscal year 2003. However, we expect not to be subject to any or just minimal taxes, as we expect to utilize net operating losses that occurred in prior periods to offset 2003 taxable income. The qualified dividend we pay to our shareholders on 2003 income would then be taxable at the rate of 15%, instead of ordinary taxable income rates of up to 35% that shareholders might otherwise pay if we elected to qualify as a RIC for 2003. The Board of Directors therefore agreed to increase the Company’s dividend to $0.05 per share, up from $0.03 per share in the second quarter. The dividend will be payable to shareholders of record as of November 14^th, and is payable on November 21^st, 2003.”

Medallion Financial Corp. is a specialty finance company with a leading position in the origination and servicing of loans financing the purchase of taxicab medallions and related assets. The Company also originates and services commercial loans financing small businesses in other targeted industries, and operates the largest taxicab rooftop advertising business in the world. The Company and its subsidiaries have lent over $1 billion to the taxicab and commercial customers.

Please note that this press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties relating to business performance, cash flow, costs, sales, net investment income, earnings, and growth. Medallion’s actual results may differ significantly from the results discussed in such forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a difference include, but are not limited to, those factors discussed under the heading “Investment Considerations,” in Medallion’s 2002 Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Financial tables follow.

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Medallion Financial Corp.

Consolidated Income Statements

	Quarter Ended									Nine Months Ended September 30,
	September 30, 2003			June 30, 2003			September 30, 2002
										2003			2002
Total investment income	$	6,693,333		$	6,468,097		$	7,952,209		$	19,689,715		$	26,253,609
Total interest expense		2,811,803			3,197,815			5,044,839			9,338,790			15,792,026
Net interest income		3,881,530			3,270,282			2,907,370			10,350,925			10,461,583
Gain on sale of loans		87,967			526,769			147,295			803,666			735,514
Other income		905,534			739,232			782,692			2,765,880			3,765,365
Total noninterest income		993,501			1,266,001			929,987			3,569,546			4,500,879
Salaries and benefits		2,070,463			2,438,868			2,220,918			6,943,720			6,958,765
Professional fees		430,916			268,346			557,842			819,241			2,074,370
Costs of debt extinguishment		123,057			(88,616	)		5,870,517			63,302			8,972,299
Other operating expenses		1,554,510			1,605,998			1,649,581			4,781,360			5,002,790
Total operating expenses		4,178,946			4,224,596			10,298,858			12,607,623			23,008,224
Net investment income (loss) before income taxes		696,085			311,687			(6,461,501	)		1,312,848			(8,045,762	)
Income tax provision		53,471			9,304			68,323			72,774			68,323
Net investment income (loss)		642,614			302,383			(6,529,824	)		1,240,074			(8,114,085	)
Net realized gains (losses) on investments		4,494,411			8,214,032			(975,416	)		12,146,878			(5,044,686	)
Net change in unrealized appreciation (depreciation) on investments		(4,025,981	)		(7,761,295	)		(878,499	)		(11,090,773	)		358,987
Net realized/unrealized gain (loss) on investments		468,430			452,737			(1,853,915	)		1,056,105			(4,685,699	)
Net increase (decrease) in net assets resulting from operations	$	1,111,044		$	755,120		$	(8,383,739	)	$	2,296,179		$	(12,799,784	)
Weighted average shares
Basic		18,245,228			18,242,728			18,242,728			18,243,570			18,242,728
Diluted		18,517,491			18,366,749			18,242,728			18,355,123			18,242,728
Declared dividends per share	$	0.05		$	0.03		$	0.03		$	0.09		$	0.03
Net investment income (loss) before income taxes per share
Basic	$	0.04		$	0.02		$	(0.35	)	$	0.07		$	(0.44	)
Diluted		0.04			0.02			(0.35	)		0.07			(0.44	)
Net investment income (loss) per share
Basic	$	0.04		$	0.02		$	(0.36	)	$	0.07		$	(0.44	)
Diluted		0.03			0.02			(0.36	)		0.07			(0.44	)
Net increase (decrease) in net assets per share
Basic	$	0.06		$	0.04		$	(0.46	)	$	0.13		$	(0.70	)
Diluted		0.06			0.04			(0.46	)		0.13			(0.70	)

Medallion Financial Corp.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

	September 30, 2003		December 31, 2002
ASSETS
Medallion loans	$	277,242,543	$	210,475,921
Commercial loans		104,849,594		138,360,895
Equity investments		1,596,499		7,409,628
Net investments		383,688,636		356,246,444
Investments in and loans to Media		3,748,683		4,505,356
Total investments		387,437,319		360,751,800
Cash		16,867,843		35,369,285
Accrued interest receivable		2,230,247		2,546,101
Servicing fee receivable		2,765,172		2,838,417
Fixed assets, net		1,244,759		1,551,781
Goodwill, net		5,007,583		5,007,583
Other assets		15,488,674		17,222,825
Total assets	$	431,041,597	$	425,287,792
LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY
Accounts payable and accrued expenses	$	6,339,624	$	7,066,118
Accrued interest payable		308,697		5,589,754
Floating rate borrowings		209,978,623		182,922,241
Fixed rate borrowings		50,935,000		67,845,000
Total liabilities		267,561,944		263,423,113
Total shareholders' equity		163,479,653		161,864,679
Total liabilities and shareholders' equity	$	431,041,597	$	425,287,792
Number of common shares outstanding		18,252,728		18,242,728
Net asset value per share	$	8.96	$	8.87