Ft. Worth, Texas – In his first external move at RadioShack, newly installed chairman/CEO Julian Day has ended the company’s policy of accompanying quarterly earnings announcements with public conference calls, effective immediately.
Instead of holding regular question-and-answer sessions with analysts, the company will issue a comprehensive press release that describes the prior quarter’s business performance.
“Providing shareholders clear written descriptions of business issues and performance is crucially important,” Day said in a statement. “At the same time, RadioShack management is wholly focused on improving operations and building value for shareholders and believes this approach best serves both goals.”
Alan Rifkin, a retail analyst at Lehman Brothers, disagrees. “While we admire Mr. Day’s accomplishments in the past,” he wrote in a research note, “given the significant challenges and different dynamics at RadioShack, we don’t believe becoming less transparent is good at this time.
The company is scheduled to report its second quarter earnings on Friday, July 21, 2006.
