Boston Chicken is a company which rapidly acquired/built stores and also got in the bagel business. it has filed chapt 11 bankruptcy. doing some reading saw where the bagel operation is making money, but the chicken is losing... can buy a share of stock for about the same price as a piece of chicken. 50 cents. stock symbol has been changed to BOSTQ. it had a low of 37 1/2 cents, but don't know how many shares traded at the closing of 50 cents....
some of you guys may want to read some of the stuff on boston chicken and it might give you some ideas about the future of aafg. boston chicken immediately closed some stores, etc.
Boston Chicken Files Chapter 11
AP Online, Monday, October 05, 1998 at 17:51
By MICHAEL TOPEL
Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) - Five years after going public in a frenzied stock
offering, Boston Chicken Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection Monday and closed 15 percent of its stores.
The restaurant chain, which closed 178 stores, said it sought
court protection because of about $283 million in debt that comes
due Oct. 17.
Boston Chicken and its homestyle Boston Market restaurants
created a Wall Street sensation in 1993. Its initial public
offering was priced at $20 per share and shot to nearly $50. The
stock split 2-for-1 in 1994.
The stock has since plummeted, closing at 50 cents Monday on the
Nasdaq Stock Market, down 25 cents.
Some analysts said the Golden-based company had expanded too
quickly and lost focus.
Between May 1992 and this year, Boston Chicken grew from 34
stores in the Northeast to 1,143 nationwide. Sales jumped from
about $21 million in December 1991 to nearly $1.2 billion in 1996.
Along the way, meatloaf and ham were added to the chicken and
mashed potatoes on the menu. The company also invested in a bagel
chain.
After years of growth, Boston Chicken posted mixed sales in
1997. This spring, the company's co-chairmen stepped down.
Jerry Hirschberg, who tracks Boston Chicken for Standard &
Poors, said ''a lot of people were taken with the concept'' at
first. But he said the company's subsequent strategy seemed to be:
''Put up a thousand or so stores, then figure out how to run
them.''
Chapter 11 allows a company to hold off its creditors while it
tries to put its finances in order.
The company said about 2,700 of more than 18,500 employees would
be transferred with the store closings. About 500 employees, mostly
hourly workers, would lose their jobs; those employees will be
offered severance pay and help finding other work.
remember i am still not a shareholder, just a lurker and a reader of your thread...
pete2 |
