Got a press release from Central Parking this AM — Monroe Carell is moving to a position of Chairman of the Board, Emmanuel Eads is moving from COO to CEO and Alan Kahn and Greg Stormberg are moving to new positions of Executive Vice President reporting to Eads. Alan will, in addition to current duties, handle international operations and Greg, once again in addition to current duties, will take over New York.
In addition the company’s "new strategic plan" says basically they are going to get rid of marginal and low growth markets (cities and countries), reduce the number of unprofitable operating agreements, target national accounts, grow their management contracts, expand “Operational Excellence”, and continue to sell off what ever real estate they have.
All the details are in their news release here.
What a switch — the company that bought the parking business, is now planning to sell off its low growth markets (up to 15 cities in the US and 8 countries) and focus on the high growth areas. Butch Eads actually says the words in the release. "The plan recognizes that big is not necessarily better."
Wow…this sounds like a company that is completely reevaluating itself. It also sounds like an opportunity for other organizations to take over locations in the smaller markets. This will be an interesting year for Central.
There are of course some unanswered questions about the changes. I have put out my feelers and will keep you informed as the info comes in. Don’t want to speculate at this time. They did spend upwards of $200 K in severance costs in the last quarter, and my guess there will be more to come.
Their stock this AM is virtually unchanged on an anemic earnings report, with profits down from the same quarter of last year.
JVH
