RCI Reports 4Q23 Club & Restaurant Sales And Share Buybacks; Sales For Its Nightclubs And Bombshells Restaurants Of $74.1M, An Increase Of 5.6% YoY, For Q4 Ended September 30, 2023
Author: Benzinga Newsdesk | October 10, 2023 09:13am
RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:RICK) reported sales for its Nightclubs and Bombshells restaurants of $74.1 million, an increase of 5.6% year over year, for the fiscal fourth quarter ended September 30, 2023. Sales do not include non-core operations and are preliminary and subject to final closing. Full 4Q23 and Fiscal 2023 financial results are expected on or around December 14.
Eric Langan, President & CEO of RCI, said: "The 4Q23 sales increase primarily reflected the benefit of acquisitions. This was partially offset by the continued effect of vacation travel and the Texas heat in July-August. But the situation began to improve in September."
Nightclubs
Sales totaled $60.5 million, an increase of 7.5% or $4.2 million year-over-year. Contributing to the increase were $9.2 million from FY22-FY23 acquisitions not in same-store sales and $0.8 million from reformatted clubs not in SSS.
This was partially offset by a SSS decline of 9.6% or $5.1 million and a $0.7 million decrease from clubs closed prior to 4Q23.
As anticipated, Nightclubs faced challenging year-over-year comparisons when RCI experienced its last post-COVID "bounce" quarter with sales jumping 40.4% 4Q22 vs. 4Q21.
Bombshells
Sales totaled $13.6 million compared to $13.9 million in 4Q22. Key factors were $1.6 million from the FY23 acquisitions of Bombshells San Antonio and Grange Food Hall which mostly offset a 14.1% SSS decline. Sales should benefit from a new location in the Houston suburb of Stafford opening in 1Q24.
Casinos
The gaming and liquor license and building permit processes are continuing for the planned Rick's Cabaret Steakhouse & Casino and Bombshells Sports Casino in Central City, CO. The goal is to open both in FY24 depending on when all necessary government approvals are received.
Share Buybacks
We repurchased 32,586 common shares for $2.13 million or an average of $65.23 per share in 4Q23. As of September 30, 2023, we had $16.6 million in available stock repurchase authorization and 9,397,639 shares outstanding.
