MARYVILLE Tenn. Ruby Tuesday Inc. chairman and chief executive Samuel Beall purchased 100,000 shares of the company’s common stock on Tuesday, increasing his holding by more than 10 percent, amid annual lows for the casual-dining operator’s stock price.
Beall, who for more than a year has been touting Ruby Tuesday’s turnaround plans, upscale rebranding and focus on quality, purchased the stock for per-share prices between $3 and $3.05, according to a regulatory report filed Wednesday. His holdings now total 705,208 direct shares, 209,424 shares held through a limited partnership, 13,626 shares held by his spouse and about 23,251 shares held in a salary deferral plan. Together, Beall’s stake in the company totals about 1.8 percent of the 52.8 million shares outstanding.
Ruby Tuesday’s stock had hit a new annual low of $2 per share last week, when the company reported a 97-percent plunge in profit to $250,000 and when the market in general took heavy hits. Like many casual-dining chains, Ruby Tuesday has struggled to maintain customer traffic. Its latest-quarter same-store sales fell 10.8 percent at corporate restaurants and 7.9 percent at domestic franchised locations. Corporate revenues fell 6.6 percent to $324.0 million.
