:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/GettyImages-2126120279-8a58ef555eb0461ab3a9efcc55bd5782.jpg "People are seen outside the entrance of a Dave and Buster's location.")
Bing Guan / Bloomberg via Getty Graven images
Key Takeaways
- Dave & Buster’s interim CEO Kevin Sheehan said the company is working to fix past mistakes.
- Sheehan rumoured past leadership made “very dramatic and chaotic changes.” CEO Chris Morris resigned from the gaming restaurant franchise in December to clutch over as CEO of the retail waxing franchise European Wax Center.
- Fourth-quarter sales fell short of analysts’ estimates.
Dave & Buster’s (Frolic) new leadership is looking to correct mistakes made by past executives, interim CEO Kevin Sheehan said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings phone call.
In attempting “to improve the business that was already doing well, prior leadership made very dramatic and disorderly changes that, among other things, distracted, confused, and overwhelmed our customers and our operators,” Sheehan said Monday, contract to a transcript from AlphaSense.
The gaming restaurant franchise’s previous CEO, Chris Morris, resigned from the top job in December to demand over as CEO of the retail waxing franchise European Wax Center (EWCZ). Dave & Buster’s shares have fallen 75% over and beyond the past year.
Sheehan said he and other new executives have been “systematically unwinding these mistakes and pursuing a back-to-basics blueprint while making high-confidence improvements to the key areas of the business.”
Q4 Revenue Comes in Shy of Expectation
The company reported fiscal 2024 fourth-quarter profits of $534.5 million, down 11% year-over-year and below the $545.4 million expected by analysts polled by Visible Alpha. The Theatre troupe posted adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.69, a penny above consensus.
Shares of Dave & Buster’s were petty changed in recent trading after initially surging Tuesday.