Pre-Paid Legal Shares Fall After President Smith Resigns
By Judy Fettner
Ada, Oklahoma, Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc.'s shares fell 25 percent after the company said Chief Executive Officer Harland Stonecipher replaced Wilburn Smith as president and membership in its legal insurance plans declined for the first time in 39 quarters.
The company's shares fell $6.61 to $19.57 at 4:00 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
Smith, a 22-year employee of Pre-Paid and its president since 1997, on Friday said he resigned on Dec. 30 to spend more time running an independent group of Pre-Paid salespeople. The Ada, Oklahoma-based company said it lost 13 percent, or 176,511, of it members in the fourth quarter, while recruiting 169,350 new members. That left 1,382,306 members on Dec. 31, the company said.
In a separate release, Pre-Paid estimated that fourth-quarter net income will increase by about 35 percent to 40 percent from a year earlier because of lower cash commissions paid to associates. Pre-Paid earned 36 cents a year earlier, the company said in the statement.
Pre-Paid plans to release its final fourth-quarter results on Feb. 18 after the market closes. |
