VF Corp. heir shows support in Engaged Capital board push: Rpt.
Activist investor Engaged Capital is seeking to gain board seats at apparel maker VF Corp (VFC), according to a Reuters report. An heir of the founding family of VF has reportedly expressed support for Engaged Capital's efforts.
Yahoo Finance's Julie Hyman and Josh Lipton break down the details.
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Editor's note: This article was written by Angel Smith
Video Transcript
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JOSH LIPTON: Engaged Capital reportedly gaining support from the founding family of VF Corp, that's according to Reuters. The activist investor looking to make changes to VF Corp board. Shares of the company jumping in today's trade. You can see they're up about 13%, Julie. So the active investor Engage Capital apparently has the backing of the founding family of VF Corp, in its push for board seats, this is according to Reuters reporting.
The descendants of the founding family, Julie, apparently hold about 15% of the company, Engage controls about it looks like a 1% stake and Engage has already apparently identified it looks like three people with what they say is retail sector turnaround expertise to serve as director candidates on this one.
JULIE HYMAN: Yeah, it's unclear to me if he has the buy in of the whole family, or just one representative of the family, Kelly Barbie, who Reuters spoke to and is citing here. So that's a little bit still in play. But regardless, Bracken Darrell, who is the relatively new CEO of VF Corp has already been making some of the changes, even after the company's earnings missed estimates last week.
They said they were going to evaluate potential options for their packs business, that is backpacks. Kipling, JanSport are the well-known names in there. And also an interesting headline that caught my eye is that Darrell has been buying shares. He recently in a filing was revealed he bought $1 million worth of shares of VF Corp, so trying to show his confidence in the path that the company is on.
JOSH LIPTON: Skin in the game. He has been at work, I mean, you're right. He has this turnaround plan in place with cost cutting and layoffs. But you look at that stock and yes, it's up today, but it has been shelled over the past 12 months for sure.
JULIE HYMAN: Yes, it has.
