LOCO - El Pollo Loco stock pops on shareholder return announcement
El Pollo Loco ( NASDAQ: LOCO ) shares jumped 15.38% in premarket action on Wednesday after declaring a special dividend after Tuesday’s market close.
The $1.50/share special dividend is payable on November 9 for shareholders of record as of October 24. The California-based restaurant chain also announced a new share repurchase program of up to $20M, effective immediately.
“Despite the challenges over the last couple of years we have continued to build our balance sheet and believe it is time to once again return capital to our shareholders reflecting our low leverage, asset light growth strategy and anticipated positive cash flow in the coming years,” Board Chair Michael Maselli said. “Based on these factors we are in a good position to declare this special dividend and initiate this buyback program.”
He added that the announcement underscores the board’s confidence in the trajectory of the company. The optimism comes despite an over 45% decline for the stock in the past year.
Read more on the details of the announcement .
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El Pollo Loco stock pops on shareholder return announcement