Business
Glass Lewis Recommends Shareholders Vote for ALL of Cracker Barrel Old Country Store's Highly Qualified Directors
Both Leading Proxy Advisory Firms Urge All Shareholders to Vote the WHITE Proxy Card LEBANON, Tenn., Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cracker Barrel Old Country
About this update from Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"Both Leading Proxy Advisory Firms Urge All Shareholders to Vote the WHITE Proxy Card\n\n\nLEBANON, Tenn., Nov. 10, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Cracker Barrel Old Country Store® (Nasdaq: CBRL) (\"Cracker Barrel\" or the \"Company\") today announced that Glass Lewis & Co. (\"Glass Lewis\"), a leading provider of proxy research and vote recommendations to the institutional investment community, has recommended that all Cracker Barrel shareholders vote the WHITE proxy card \"FOR\" all of the Company's highly qualified director nominees at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders on November 19, 2020. \nCracker Barrel announced yesterday that Institutional Shareholder Services (\"ISS\"), also recommends all shareholders vote on the Company's WHITE proxy card. \nIn making its recommendation FOR Cracker Barrel's slate, Glass Lewis commented1: \nWe believe there is insufficient justification for supporting Biglari's campaign at this time, and that shareholders would be best served supporting the Company's director nominees. The Board currently comprises a reasonably well-rounded mix of qualified directors who have complementary experiences, qualifications and backgrounds across various industries and disciplines. Having reviewed and considered the Company's stated strategic plan, we see no reason for shareholders to supplant the Board's judgment at this time. The Board has been effective in overseeing the Company's strategy of enhancing the core business, expanding the footprint and extending the brand...since the onset of the pandemic, the Board appears to us to have been highly responsive and engaged in its efforts to navigate the Company through this new market environment, including taking prudent measures to pivot the Company's focus towards its core business and operations while rolling out new initiatives to drive sales. The Company's operating performance has largely been in line with or better than that of its peers. Over the course of the pre-pandemic periods, the Company's return on capital had consistently ranked in the upper quartile of its peers, while the Company's net profit margins exceeded the peer median. The Dissident Nominee's experience as an operator of regional restaurant franchises may not be particularly relevant or necessary to the Company at this specific juncture. Further, we believe the Company's rationale for rejecting...