Boston, MA 03/07/2014 (wallstreetpr) – BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) is not the kind of company that likes wrong brush with its shareholders, especially activist investors who can on a bad day cause untold headache to the management. The company has an upcoming annual meeting and board elections. The schedule for the meeting has not been publicly communicated, but it is known that the company holds such meetings in June. Now that June is in the future, we can hope the company will stick to tradition – but you can also expect surprises.
As the company prepares to constitute a new board of directors, there is already a lot of chatter happening around the matter and touching on what some activist investors are up to this time around. BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) current has a 10-member board.
The company can at any time have no less than seven board members and no more than 13 board members. All of the current board members are eligible for re-election. Thus, it is said that the company might decide to inflate its board membership to the maximum allowed number – 13.
Activist investors plotting for board positions
At least three activist investors have shown interest to nominate several candidates to stand for election to BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI)’s board. These disclosures were discovered in the most recent filing with Securities Exchange Commission.
Luxor Capital Partners L.P and PW Partners Atlas Fund II, all which have combined 12.4 percent stake in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI), have plans to nominate five members to stand for the upcoming board elections. Also, Clinton Relational Opportunity Master Fund L.P., with 0.48 percent stake in BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) is preparing to present five member for election to the board.
On these reports, shares of BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) were up more than 21.55 percent to $33.62.
Way Forward
BJ’s Restaurants, Inc. (NASDAQ:BJRI) is concerned about competition and wants to grow its sales. Thus, the company is planning to increase its ad spending in the first quarter to about $5.5 million. That will be higher than $3.4 million spent in 2013 over the same quarter. Also, the company is keen on boosting sales through introducing online ordering and mobile payment. These will not only speed services, but will help the company to realize better sales.
