Ark Restaurants Corp. (NASDAQ:ARKR) Q1 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Unidentified Analyst: Good morning guys, good morning Michael another greater quarter. Just a follow-up to comment you made regarding share price and dividend. I think you said in the financial weekend earlier that numbers are back to pre-pandemic 2019 quarter. Obviously, the dividend was eliminated during the pandemic for obvious reasons and stock prices, is relatively flat now some of the volatility during the pandemic. Obviously there were some that said, given the current state of finances and I assume – the interest rate environment being what it is, are shareholders we kind of screwed even if the stock didn’t do anything we got paid the way by it. What was a better dividend that we’re getting now? Is there any discussion in consideration as I think the dividend back to pre-pandemic levels or perhaps some sort of special dividend as shareholders remain patient, waiting for the next move? Thank you.

Michael Weinstein: Jeff, how are you? Jeff, every Board meeting, we discuss the dividend. And as our balance sheet has been bolstered by two things – the business is doing better, obviously. And we’re not finding ways to spend our capital or our cash on the balance sheet fast enough. We discussed it. Look, my interest here honestly and – unfortunate my family has assets away – significant assets away from this business. My goal has always been to protect my shareholders. And maybe I’ve been a little bit too conservative along the way. Maybe there were deals we should have done, where we sort of been more aggressive about bidding for them. Maybe leases that we should have signed that required a guarantee that I didn’t want to put the company on the line for, but the goal here has been to protect the shareholders.

And we never had a lot of debt. We’ve never been in a position where we can service the debt that we did have. And so that conservative nature is sort of shared by most of my Board members. We have a couple of Board members that would be more aggressive than with the dividend than the majority right now. But it is up for discussion. And every quarter, we discuss it. And I think as we get further away from the pandemic, the likelihood is that we will revisit the dividend and there may be an increase. But right now – we like the cash position we’re in, and we like our balance sheet.

Unidentified Analyst: Thank you, guys.

Michael Weinstein: You’re welcome.

Operator: Thank you. Our next questions come from the line of Roger Lipton with Lipton Financial Services. Please proceed with your question.

Roger Lipton: Yes Mike yes, Mike I have to follow that – with capital allocation. I was going to ask, and I will ask what would be the timing of your CapEx in Las Vegas? How much will you spend and when?

Michael Weinstein: So this year, our obligation to MGM, we have essentially three leases out there, all of which – there are three leases and there are also letter agreements. So letter agreements sort of cover the banquet business, the room service, pool service, the employee dining room, none of those things need renovations. The three main leases are for the Village Streets, which is sort of like a fast food area America, which is their 24-hour restaurants that we have and Gallagher’s. The obligation this year for Gallagher’s is certainly under $2 million, probably $1.5 million, but we’re just in the process, and we don’t know if there’s going to be cost overruns, but we think Sam and Jennifer, who are the key players along with the local people in Vegas, but the key players here have really gone over those numbers with Linda Clous, who is our facilities manager and overseas construction as well that likelihood is $1.5 million in CapEx. But please remember beyond that, we’re paying people who work for us there, 70% of their salaries, even though they’re not working, which we’re utilizing them for other things where we can, but there’s a staff there that’s being paid.