CKE Restaurants, Inc. announced October 18 that its board of directors has approved a share repurchase program, whereby the Company may repurchase, from time to time, up to 5 million share of CKE’s common stock. “With our share price below book value, we believe this program represents an excellent investment on behalf of our shareholders and underscores our confidence in CKE,” said William P. Foley II, CKE’s chairman and chief executive officer.
The board also elected to rescind its decision to approve a program to lend up to $10 million to CKE’s senior management and members of the board of directors for the purchase of the Company’s common stock. The program had been approved on October 4, 1999, but had not been implemented. “Our previously announced initiative to sell at least 350 Company-operated restaurants to franchisees not only will enable the Company to reduce debt, but also will enable us to implement this corporate stock repurchase program,” Foley stated.
“We are very encouraged by the level of interest received from existing and prospective franchisees, and we have a number of transactions proceeding to definitive agreements.” Foley added, “Earlier this month we had approved the stock purchase loan program believing that it offered the optimum advantages over other alternatives. However, numerous shareholders voiced their concerns regarding the program, which we took under consideration. We recognize that the stock repurchase program is a more straight-forward approach to enhancing shareholder value.”
