RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:RICK) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript December 16, 2024 4:30 PM ET

Company Participants

Mark Moran - CEO, Equity Animal
Eric Langan - President and CEO
Bradley Chhay - CFO

Mark Moran

Greetings and welcome to RCI Hospitality Holdings Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. You can find the company's presentation on RCI's website, go to the Investor Relations section, all the links are at the top of the page.

Please turn with me to Slide 2 of our presentation. I'm Mark Moran, CEO of Equity Animal. I'll be the host of our call today. I'm coming to you from New York City. Eric Langan, President and CEO of RCI Hospitality; and CFO, Bradley Chhay are in Houston today.

Please turn with me to Slide 3. RCI is making this call exclusively on X Spaces. To ask a question, you'll need to join the Space with a mobile device. To listen only, you can join the Space on a personal computer. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow, and this conference is being recorded.

Please turn with me to Slide 4. I want to remind everybody of our safe harbor statement. You may hear or see forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. We disclaim any obligation to update information disclosed in this call as a result of developments that may occur afterwards.

Please turn with me to Slide 5. I also direct you to the explanation of RICK's non-GAAP financial measures.

Now, I'm pleased to introduce Eric Langan, President and CEO of RCI Hospitality. Eric, take it away.

Eric Langan

Thank you, Mark, and thanks for joining us today, everyone. [Technical Difficulty] All comparisons are year-over-year unless otherwise noted.

Please turn to Slide 6. Fourth quarter nightclub sales, same-store sales increased for the second quarter in a row. This was the first time since the first half of fiscal 2023. But total company sales declined due to a hurricane and a fire resulting in lower EPS. However, non-GAAP EPS, net cash provided by operating activities, and free cash flow, all increased. We ended fiscal year ‘24 with 8.955 million shares outstanding, a reduction of 4.7% year-over-year.

Turning to the capital allocation, we have officially launched our Back-to-the-Basics five-year plan. We have already made some considerable progress in implementing this plan. That includes continuing to buy back more shares in the current fiscal quarter -- first quarter of 2025. We also divested four underperforming Bombshells location, closed the Denver food hall, reduced Bombshells related debt, and discontinued franchising.