BUKS - I'm hopeful that all the mgt shakeup will work out positively. But upcoming Q4 might be a "big bath" quarter with lots of expenses in order to wipe the slate clean of the Stewarts (I still don't know if this was a friendly parting of the ways or not). If they report bad earnings and the stock plunges, I'll be a buyer.
I like that the new CEO isn't some new guy coming in who knows nothing about the company -- he's been there a couple of decades. And the Chairman of the Board (Wagoner) has been Chairman since the elder Stewart (ex-CEO) came on with the company, so again, long tenure and knows the biz.
In the proxy, it says, "In fiscal 2022, there were three related-person transactions related to director and CEO, Mr. Clark D. Stewart. Butler National employed the brother (Wayne Stewart as an engineer), son (Craig Stewart as a Vice President) and son-in-law (Jeff Shinkle as an architect) of Clark D. Stewart, an executive officer. Compensation for these related-persons was calculated in the same manner as the Summary Compensation table resulting in compensation of approximately $292,000, $484,000, and $247,000 respectively, for fiscal 2022, and $353,000, $503,000 and $255,000 respectively, for fiscal 2021."
We know Craig (the son) and Clarke (the 83yr old father) are both gone, and I would guess maybe the other two as well, but who knows. The company took a $1.3 million charge for the termination of the son, which was around 3 times his previous year compensation. The CEO father made around $863k, so I'm guessing there might be a $2.5 to $3 million charge for that in Q4.
But after that, the consolidation of locations, plus elimination of some possible nepotism, and I'm hoping for a much leaner, meaner organization where earnings improve in Q1 and beyond. (One oddity, however, is that because they're both big shareholders, they're both remaining on the board.)
We shall see what happens. Last year the 10-K was filed on 7-15, so pretty soon. Who knows, maybe we'll get the dreaded, "after-hours on Friday" filing to try and minimize the damage.
