RCI Hospitality Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Skip to Participants
Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Greetings, and welcome to RCI Hospitality Holdings second quarter twenty twenty five earnings conference call. You can find the company's presentation on RCI's website. Go to the Investor Relations section, and all the links are at the top of the page.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Please turn with me to Slide two of our presentation. I'm Mark Moran of Equity Animal, and I'll be hosting our call today. I'm coming to you from Washington, D. C. Eric Lange, President and CEO of RCI Hospitality and CFO Bradley Shea are in Houston today.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Please turn with me to Slide three. RCI is making this call exclusively on xSpaces. To ask a question, you will need to join the space with a mobile device. To listen only, you can join the space on a personal computer. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

A question and answer session will follow. This conference call is being recorded. Please turn with me to slide four. I want to remind everybody of our safe harbor statement. You may hear or see forward looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Actual results may differ materially from those currently anticipated. We disclaim any obligation to update information disclosed in this call as a result of developments that occur afterwards. Please turn with me to Slide five. I also direct you to the explanation of Rick's non GAAP financial measures. Now I'm pleased to introduce Eric Langan, President and CEO of RCI Hospitality.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Eric, take it away.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Thank you, Mark. Please turn to slide six. Thanks for joining us today. Let me run through some key takeaways. All comparisons are year over year unless otherwise noted.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

As we previously announced, revenues reflect the sale divestiture of five underperforming Bombshell segment locations and the effect of severe weather on company same store sales in January and February. This was offset by improving trends in March and contributions from new and rebranded locations. Profitability reflects the lower same store sales offset by lower cost bombshells related units and lower In addition, during the subsequent during and subsequent to the second quarter, we continued to make progress with our back to basics five year cap allocation plan. We acquired two upscale adult nightclubs, Flight Club in Detroit and Platinum West in South Carolina. Price multiples were in line with our cap allocation strategy.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We are also working on another acquisition. We opened a bombshells in Denver and rebranded and reformatted the Chikas Locust in El Paso. This reduced our list of development projects. And we repurchased 56,875 common shares for $2,900,000 ending the quarter with approximately 8,800,000.0 shares outstanding. Now here's Bradley to review our performance in more detail.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Thank you, Eric. Please turn to Slide seven. All comparisons are year over year for the quarter unless otherwise noted. Total revenues were $65,900,000 compared to $72,300,000, a difference of $6,400,000, primarily due to closures or divestitures of nonperforming bombshells and the effect of bad weather, as Eric mentioned. 18 club and bombshells locations had to close one or two days each.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

And even if clubs and bombshells were able to open, they experienced slower business, particularly on weekends when temperatures were below zero or had heavy snow and ice, for example, in Dallas and Houston. But with warmer temperatures in March, sales began to improve. Impairments and other charges were $2,100,000 compared to $8,200,000, a difference of $6,100,000. That was due to lower impairments in nightclubs. As a result, net income attributable to RCIHH common shareholders was $3,200,000 compared to $800,000, a difference of 2 and a half million dollars.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

GAAP EPS was 36¢ per share compared to 8¢ per share. Net cash provided for operating activities was $8,500,000 compared to $10,800,000, a difference of $2,300,000. That was primarily due to a reduced operating margins due to lower sales. As a result, free cash flow was $6,900,000 compared to $8,800,000. Adjusted EBITDA was $14,200,000 compared to $17,200,000, and non GAAP EPS was 65¢ compared to 90¢.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Now please turn to slide eight. Nightclub revenues totaled $57,500,000, a difference of $1,800,000 or negative 3.1 percent year over year. Key factors included a 3.5% decline in same store sales and the absence of Baby Dolls Fort Worth due to a fire. This was partially offset by $1,000,000 from Flight Club acquisition and four rebranded clubs not in same store sales. Alcoholic beverage sales declined 5.3%.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Service declined 2.9%. However, food, merchandise, and other increased 2.4%. Impairment and other charges totaled $2,000,000 with impairments spread across four clubs. This compares to impairments and other charges of 8,200,000 in the year ago quarter. Operating income was $14,600,000 compared to $11,000,000.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Margin was 25.4% of revenues versus 18.6%. Results primarily reflected the impairment decline offset by sales decline. Non GAAP operating income was $17,100,000 compared to $19,800,000. Margin was 29.8% of segment revenues versus 33.4%. Non GAAP results primarily reflected the sales decline.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Now please turn to slide nine. Bombshell's revenue totaled $8,200,000, a difference of $4,500,000 or 35.6% year over year. The key factors here included sale and divestiture of five underperforming locations in the fourth quarter of twenty four and the first quarter of twenty twenty five, which impacted revenues by 3,700,000, a 13.4% decline in same store sales and bad weather. This was offset by two locations not in same store sales consisting of a full quarter of Stafford, Texas location and a partial quarter of the new Denver location. Operating results were a loss of $227,000 versus an income of $699,000.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Margin was negative 2.8% of segment revenues versus a positive 5.5% in the year ago quarter. On a non GAAP basis, the segment was virtually breakeven with a loss of $67,000 versus income of $750,000 or negative 0.8% of segment revenues versus positive 5.9%. These results primarily reflect that the sales decline from open locations and Bombshell's Denver preopening costs, most of which were offset by the selling divestiture of nonperforming locations. Please turn to slide 10. GAAP expenses totaled $5,500,000 a decline of $1,300,000 Non GAAP expenses totaled $5,400,000 a decline of about $900,000 Expense margin was 8.4% of revenues versus 9.4% GAAP and 8.2% versus 8.8% non GAAP.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

This decline primarily reflects lower overhead from fewer locations. Please turn to slide 11. We have slides in the upcoming deck that discuss free cash flow and adjusted EBITDA, which are non GAAP. In advance of that, we wanted to present the closest GAAP equivalents, which are operating income, non net cash provided by operations, and income. Please turn to slide 12.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

We ended the first quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $32,700,000. During the quarter, we used $6,000,000 as part of the Flight Club acquisition and $2,900,000 to buy back shares. As a percentage of revenues, free cash flow was 11% and adjusted EBITDA was 22%. Both primarily reflected lower margins. Please turn to Slide 13.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Our debt at March 31 increased $5,900,000 from December 31. The increase primarily reflects financing related to the Flight Club acquisition and the construction of bombshells Rowlett and Lubbock, offset by scheduled paydowns. The weighted average interest rate was 6.7% compared to 6.6% in a year ago quarter. Total occupancy cost was 8.5% of revenue compared to 8% a year ago, reflecting lower second quarter revenues, not higher costs. Debt to trailing twelve month adjusted EBITDA was 3.56 times compared to 3.32 times in the preceding quarter, reflecting the higher debt at March 31 and lower second quarter EBITDA.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Debt to trailing twelve month adjusted EBITDA should decline as sales rebound with warmer weather and growth from locations that have come online more recently and from those anticipated to open. Debt maturities continue to remain reasonable and manageable. Now here's Eric.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Thank you, Bradley. Please turn to slide 14 to review our capital allocation strategy. Our plan calls for allocating our free cash flow in the following manner: 40% to capital allocation or to club acquisitions and 60% to share buybacks, debt reduction and dividends, with the goal of growing free cash flow per share at 10% to 15% annually. Please turn to Slide 15. Operationally, we are focused on our core nightclub business, reviewing every club to increase same store sales on a regular basis.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We'll rebrand, reformat or divest our underperformers. Our nightclubs plan also involves acquisitions. Our goal is to acquire an average of $6,000,000 of adjusted EBITDA per year, focused on the best clubs, buying base hits with an occasional home run. Our target metrics remain the same, three to five times adjusted EBITDA for the club and fair market value for the real estate targeting 100% cash on cash returns in three to five years. Purchases would be made with cash on hand, bank financing, or seller notes.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We would also consider using stock if our valuation improves. For bombshells, we're working to improve existing locations, targeting 15% operating margins, and a return to same store sales growth. We also plan to complete two new locations in development. The final part of our plan is regularly buying back our stock, flexing up if we consider the price to be particularly undervalued. We also anticipate modest annual dividend increases.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Over the five years, we aim to generate more than $250,000,000 in free cash flow and repurchase a significant amount of shares. By fiscal twenty nineteen, our targets are $400,000,000 in revenue, dollars 75,000,000 in free cash flow, 7,500,000.0 shares outstanding, and the end result would be doubling free cash flow per share to approximately $10 from last year's. Please turn to slide 16. To give you an idea of the progress we've made on the share buyback, ten years ago, we had about 10,300,000.0 shares outstanding. As of last Friday, we had about 8,800,000.0 shares, which is about a 15% drop.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Please turn to Slide 17. With Bombshells Denver and Chico's Locust now open, we have five remaining developments. Three are very close to completion. We are targeting Bombshells Lubbock for the opening later this month or early June and Rick's Cabaret Central City for early next month as well, and Bombshells Rowlet sometime this summer. We are still awaiting construction permits for Baby Dolls West Fort Worth, and we are awaiting engineering review and zoning plans for the bombshells or for the Baby Dolls, Fort Worth that, was burnt in the fire.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We have also sold our Aurora, Colorado property, which we were going to use for bombshells and listed the other properties for sale in Austin and Huntsville. As we've continued to make progress with favoritely.com, our social media fan site for an adult nightclub entertainers and staff. We are out of beta now, and we have added a few more clubs and entertainers since our news release last month. I'd like to thank all of our loyal and dedicated team members for all their hard work and efforts and all of our shareholders who believe and make our success possible. Now here's Mark.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Thank you very much, Eric and Bradley. If you'd like to ask a question, please raise your hand in the x space. When you finish, mute your microphone to eliminate any background noise. We have a limited number of speaker spaces today, so after your question, we may move you to the back of the audience to free up space. Now first, we have Orchid Wealth.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Please take it away. Hey, Orchid Wealth. You're still on mute.

Analyst

Hey, guys. Just a couple quick questions about financing. You know, obviously, with the market being where it is today, you'll probably encounter a lot of, possible sellers. If you guys could use seller financing, what do you feel like is the average rate of return that you're gonna have to pay these sellers? And if you have to resort to using bank financing, what's that rate?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

No. They're both pretty close to same, about six to seven percent right now in the current market.

Analyst

Okay. So you guys are you're essentially paying what people pay on a thirty year fixed mortgage. Right? That's kinda crazy.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

If that's if that's going right.

Analyst

Yeah. No. No. Actually, that's fantastic. The other part being is, you know, any you know, obviously, from a year or two years ago when you guys weren't making acquisitions, you know, have you noticed any difference in the people that you're speaking to about, you know, making deals or you're negotiating with or talking with about how they're approaching it differently from a few years ago or a year ago?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Well, you know, a few years ago, everybody was trying to use 2022 numbers, which were just astronomically high. And, you know, '24 has been a really bad year for for the industry. People are have been I mean, we're down, but, I mean, I've talked to other people. We've seen other numbers are down higher percentages than us, even. So there's you've got that.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So now they're trying to do some type of, you know, average or combination because they don't wanna use the low numbers from '24. But we're we're coming up with solutions to some of these deals as you've seen with our our South Carolina acquisition. We've gotten finished, and we've got the Detroit acquisition completed. And we've got several more we're working on right now. It's just a matter of coming to terms that makes sense for us.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We're not

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

we're we're not in a hurry to get anything done unless the terms are right, then we'll then we'll move very rapid.

Analyst

You know, as a as a side note, what what do you think the average range is of the owners that are out there? I mean, are we dealing with people in their fifties, sixties, seventies, you know, people that are you know, I'm I'm trying to get an idea of, like, you know, what when you're looking at the clubs that are out there, you know, obviously, if they're talking to you about selling their their children or their relatives don't wanna take over the business. So is there an age group you're typically dealing with?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

I mean, the majority of the guys from their in their late sixties to eighties to to low eighties that we've been talking with so far. You know, there's there's some guys in their forties we're talking to right now as well. They're trying to decide if they wanna stay in this business or they wanna go do something else, which we've had a few buyouts of of guys like that in the past. You know, they get married. They have kids.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

They decide that the adult entertainment business is not something they wanna stay in. So we we see that sometimes. But I would say the majority are, you know, between the ages of probably 65 80.

Analyst

Okay. Alright. Thank you, guys.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Yep. Thank you.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Thanks so much. Next up, we have Aaron. Aaron, please take it away. Looks like you're still on mute. Okay.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Next up, we'll bring Adam Wyden up. Adam, once you're connected, please take it away. And you're still on mute, Adam? Hey, Adam. You're still on, on mute?

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

And I will text you right now. While we're waiting for Adam to unmute, I will pull up Jason. So, Jason, once you're connected, then you are good to go. Adam, you're unmuted if you wanna proceed.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

I still show unmuted on my end. Both him and Jason are still muted.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Jason or Adam, whoever, unmutes first can have the next question.

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

I'm unmuted.

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

Thank you, Mark.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

There we go.

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

Thank you, Mark. I just wanted to ask Eric about the new acquisition in in Detroit with the new Flight Club and what, rebranding and new improvements you have made to the Flight Club and how the Detroit market is treating you guys.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

It's been great for us. We we really we really like the market up there. You know, we got we got our typical welcome where everybody told every entertainer and customer all the crazy things that we were gonna do, which we have never done before. So we we had a a little rough start in the beginning because a lot of the entertainers were, afraid to come to work because they thought they I mean, some of the some of the stories they come up with this time were really good. But that lasts about two weeks, and we get the the word gets out and, you know, we get our customers in, especially as we start seeing, some of our VIP guests from other states come to town and know that, it's an RCI club and come in.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So we got we got over that pretty quickly. Of course, we had some great ice storms and some weather that was very, unwelcoming, in Detroit as well during the during the first takeover, but it's going very, very well now. We've done some minor upgrades. The club is in really good shape, so we upgraded the POS systems. We changed some of their systems on how they how they treated and find entertainers, how they, did some did some stuff that, you know, is it's we just don't we don't we don't operate that way.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So we we had to fix those things and get that into play. Since then, it's been very, very good for us. We're on course with the numbers we predicted.

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

Good

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

to hear. Good to hear. What do you think was the biggest operational change that you guys had to do from the previous owners down there?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Just treating the way they treat guests. I mean, they wanted everyone to be a VIP. You know, if you weren't spending 2 or $300 when you walk in the door, you weren't weren't you weren't treated very well, I don't think. That that's kind of our our take of it. And so, you know, we wanted to make it a place where the average guy can come in and and have a good time.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

And if you wanna be a VIPO, there's plenty of space in the club for VIPs as well. And so we kind of created that, you know, all around encompassing club like we do at at in the majority of our markets. I think that was the biggest change we made.

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

Okay. Nice. And then one last question with, you know, the Aldall Entertainment business, you know, being very popular on the infamous, you know, 8 Mile Road. Are you guys looking at any other adult entertainment clubs on 8 Mile, or are you guys just gonna stay more in the suburbs of Metro Detroit?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

I mean, we've looked we've looked in Detroit. We've looked at about four or five clubs up there. We were actually on a hunt. In fact, I posted on my ex and posted some pictures of some of the clubs and some of the flight you know, taking the flight up there and some of those things. We've talked with other owners.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We haven't been able to come to terms with any of them that we agreed to at this point, but but we're always open. I mean, we're always looking for sure.

Jason Scheurer
Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

Okay. Thank you for your time, Eric and Mark. Thank you, guys.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Thank you.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Thanks very much for your question, Jason. Next up, we have Adam Wyden. Adam, feel free.

Analyst

Can you guys hear me?

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

We can.

Analyst

Perfect. Okay. Three questions. First question is on the insurance accrual. You guys created your captive, and I know you had, like, a 5 and some million dollar charge in the quarter, the previous quarter.

Analyst

Can you sort of give us some clarity on how much, you know, sort of the insurance accrual you had in the quarter on your EBITDA that, quote unquote, wouldn't have been cash that's sort of burdening your EBITDA?

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

You know, the accrual for this quarter is 1,300,000.0, Adam, but we look at it on a annualized basis. Our first quarter annualized run rate was about 9 point x million dollars. And given the actualization of run rates and whatnot, it reduced to about $8,800,000. So we won't know until any of these claims come in, any invoices, things like that. But it is a noncash.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

You're correct. It is a noncash, just a purely accrual charge. So about $1,300,000.

Analyst

Right. But you took a big charge in the first quarter, so we wouldn't expect we wouldn't expect basically huge accruals going forward. Is that right?

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

Correct.

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

I just told you, I think the annualized is 8.8. So from that, you guys can speculate what the next two quarters, you know, could be based upon recurrent trends. Now if we have massive claims coming through or invoices or new lawsuits come in, that can change it. But it just depends on what falls off and what gets added by the actuary.

Analyst

Got it.

Analyst

And how much did and we had a big charge in the first quarter. Right? We had, a 5 some odd million dollar charge in

Analyst

the first quarter?

Bradley Chhay
Bradley Chhay
Chief Financial Officer at RCI Hospitality

That's correct.

Analyst

Got it.

Analyst

Okay. That makes sense. Can you I know a lot of restaurants have been complaining about weather, and you said, well, you know, weather was bad and

Analyst

you couldn't get in because of snow.

Analyst

I mean, is there any way to sort of quantify, like, how much EBITDA we lost in the first quarter because of weather? And, like, if you I mean, I I know it's hard, but I'm saying, like, do you have a sense of sort of, like, you know, sort of what the burden was a little bit? Like, based on if you like, let's say you'd close the location instead of having the people open. Like, do you sort of have a sense of, like, what you think weather hurt you on comps or or EBITDA a little bit?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Yeah. I think it's about I I mean, I don't there's no way to know for sure, but, I can tell you that I I believe that it was over about a eight week period, and it was about 700,000 a week in in sales declines. And I'll tell you where I get that from is that we were doing 4.9 to, five for the $5,100,000 during those first eight weeks, January and February, when we're having weather and close downs. And by March, we were doing 5.7 to $5,900,000 per week. So if you figure our true average should have been 5.7 to 5.9, and it was 4.9 to 5.1.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

It's about 700 a week over about a eight week period. So, yeah, if you did that, it's about $5,600,000 in sales. And you take that to a margin, like, 3,000,000 probably in EBITDA. That that probably was more because we still probably more. Because we still have the cost.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Right? We still had the cost. We didn't have any of the revenue. We still had the cost. So, it was considerable.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

And I think you'll we'll we'll have a real good idea of it, you know, as we come out of this quarter, because I don't suspect too much weather in April, May, or June, to to affect us much, at this point. So the only thing we have this year is we have, you know, Easter was in April this year instead of March, and, you know, and this Mother's Day weekend was, was a little off for us, but not not too bad, but but a little off. But I think we'll I think we're gonna come in pretty close to about 5,700,000.0 a week average this year or this quarter. It's what I'm that's what I'm hoping. Unless we get some pickup at the at the May and in June, so we'll see how that goes.

Analyst

Okay. On on the m and then I got two more questions. On the m and a pipeline, you talked about, another club. You're you know, can you talk a little bit about what what you think has contributed to EBITDA so far between Detroit and then this other one, South Carolina, and the other one that you're go that you're working on now and sort of what the pipeline is? Because it looks like you're looking like you're averaging a good amount more than 6,000,000 of EBITDA right now.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Well

Analyst

I mean, do you

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Well, South Carolina didn't contribute anything. We didn't close until April, but it will contribute this quarter. And Detroit didn't contribute much last quarter because we closed in January, but January and February had really bad weather. We were still taking over, so there were some there there were some operating costs that we we increased as we first went up there before we got the revenues back up. But it is is doing very, very well for us, and it will contribute, probably on par with the with the $2,000,000 run rate that, that we estimated when we when we purchased it.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So it's gonna be in good shape. So that's why I think this quarter April, May, June will be a much better quarter for us to gauge everything on. We also had just recently closed the bombshells. We fired, David Simmons, the director of operation for the restaurant division. We promoted someone else from within.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

They've they've really started working on changing those things and changing costs. We've lowered costs considerably. We're making some other cost changes. We've got the Denver location open. We've got Lubbock opening, hopefully, on May 29.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

If not, by June 5, I think we'll be open for sure. So Bombshells is gonna go through some significant changes in this quarter, and I think we'll get a much better idea of Bombshells as well. Plus, Bombshells was drastically affected by weather. You know, we had the Houston Rockets in the playoffs this year, so that helped a little bit. So, hopefully, NBA basketball continues to do well for us, through the through the NBA playoffs.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

And, and we've got, you know, Astros baseball back up. So I I think we'll be in a much better idea to see, you know, where Bombshells have gone by June 30. That's kind of been and I think I kinda told you that once before, in a conversation we had where I said, you know, it's gonna take till the June for Bombshells to really you know, for me to figure out, you know, the change we've made if they're if they're effective, if they're if they're if we're doing any good with them, and to get these other two locations open so that, so that any any and all drag for Bombshells is gone.

Analyst

Right. But we're not building outside of like, you said you sold the you sold Aurora and you sold Huntsville.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

No. We we we have it listed. We we we have not sold Huntsville. We sold Aurora. We have the Huntsville property listed.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We have the Austin property listed where we were gonna build Bombshells locations. Both those both those properties are being listed for sale or lease right now. We're we're gonna start working on all that. The Grange is closed. It's been for sale.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We've got people looking at it, but, you know, this is a it's a tough restaurant environment right now. So I think it will take a little bit. Maybe by the end of the summer, I I suspect that we'll we'll see some movement on those.

Analyst

Right. But you it's it sounds like, you know, you've gotten rid of all the bad bombshells by and large. You've got the final two that you're open, which you're opening because you've, you know, sort of very far along. And then I guess it sounds like your focus is trying to get it to comp positively and, you know, figuring out whether it makes sense to divest it or what what to do with it. Right?

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Exactly. I mean, you know, if we can get a good offer for it, we would divest it. I mean, we're not you know, we we the offers when we put it up for sale the first time, we got ridiculously ridiculously crazy. Like, people wanted us to give them $80,000,000 worth of our assets for no money down and pay us $20,000,000 for 50% of them and, you know, basically have no liability on their side. Keep all the liability on us and but give them a % operational control.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

And we and we can't do that. I mean, that's that's not a fiduciary. I mean, at least if I did that, I couldn't even walk away. Right? I'd be stuck with whatever they decided.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

At least this way, we can close and sell our properties. There's a lot we have a lot of options still. This is the first quarter we've ever really lost money at Bombshell since its inception, over fourteen years ago. And the majority of that loss was was basically the, the startup cost for opening Denver. So, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm very optimistic on a go forward basis that we can get the bombshells to a point where, they they level out, you know, the the whole industry and and of that side.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

I think I think even Twin Peaks reported, negative same store sales for the first time, this last quarter. So it is it is it's a tougher market out there in the restaurant side of of the business. It is actually it's it's actually we're seeing a little bit on the club side as well, where some of the drinking is you know, number people are the number of people through the clubs have been pretty steady. Our head counts have been good. Just the amount of spend has has been down a little bit based on the on the regional managers and and that and that that I've been talking with.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So, I'm optimistic that, as we get into the summer, as, you know, these tariff wars settle down and and things start turn to normal, they get the new you know, if the Republicans pass a new tax bill and they get some certainty for the next three or four years, three three and a half years, I guess, I think the economy could could, could do very well. And if that happens, that'll be great for us.

Analyst

I mean, gas I would think gas prices and all the inflation things that they're looking at, like, like, gas prices and milk prices and all this stuff. I mean, I would think that all of those things should be a tailwind for you guys. Not to mention, don't the comps get a lot easier for you guys over the next couple quarters? I mean, you didn't start comping positively in nightclubs, I think, until the calendar fourth quarter last year.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Yeah. Fourth quarter and first quarter, and then we were down again. So we're flat for we're up three, and we're down three. So we're we're flat for six months, basically Right. For for 2025.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

But I I think that was mainly weather related, on the club side. Some of us VIP spend as well, but we were making it up. We were doing very well with putting know, like I said, we're putting more people through the doors, and that's working very well for us now. As you see, our food and merchandise sales are up, but, you know, people are just aren't drinking as much. They're just not spending as much.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

And what they're not drinking is the high the high dollar bottles, the high dollar bottle sales, the liquor sales. You know, we're they're they're drinking by the glass and instead of or by the drink buying by the drink instead of by the bottle. So bottle service is down. VIP spend is down. As you've seen, our service revenue is down, almost 3%.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So I think that's really what we've gotta watch and and focus on. We do have the Knicks in the playoffs, and New York is is doing very, very well. Club's been doing doing great up there. People are really coming out. They're they're you know, the I think they sold out the Madison Square Garden for the watch parties even when they were playing in Boston.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

So that was great for the clubs. We're a block away from the from the garden there. So that's been really good for us. You know, Miami's gone off a little bit, so, hopefully, you know, as we get into the summer months, we can get a little stronger in Miami. We like I said, the head counts are good.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

We just gotta get the spend up. I think a lot of that is uncertainty. Right? And you gotta remember, a very large portion of our customer base, especially the high dollar spend, are small business entrepreneurs who make, you know, considerable amounts of money. But if their money is uncertain, then they won't spend as much as they as they normally would.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

They'll get a little more reserved in their spending. And so as as as the uncertainty goes away, I believe that that we'll see our numbers come back up.

Analyst

Okay. Thank you.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Yep.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Thanks so much for the questions, Adam. Next up, we we have manhands nine. Please take it away.

Analyst

Thank you for taking my question, and I really appreciate this venue to, talk with you. With the new administration, making a lot of noise and headlines, As part of their project 2025, pornography was listed as being they they had wanted to to say that it should be outlawed. And I wondered if you have heard anything about this, if there's anything that you'd wanna add about that.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

No. I I so you haven't heard anything. We haven't had any issues. I don't think we're technically in the pornography business. We're not really making videos and and whatnot.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

You know, our biggest our biggest, protractors are always human trafficking, and we are very avid anti human trafficking advocates. We're, you know, founding member of Post, Club Owners Against Sex Trafficking, and we have done everything we can do, and continue to do everything we can do in our powers to, to fight sex trafficking and human trafficking in all forms as well as a congressional our our training program has had received a congressional honor, and, we're gonna continue to, to work with that program. I think, if you look at any real studies that less than point 1% of all human trafficking is through adult nightclubs, or even has any has has any ties to any adult nightclubs, while our you know, there there are people out there that against our industry that would try to skew those facts. I think those facts are are pretty much given, when you, when you get into real studies, real scientific studies that have, real data. So, I'm not too worried about, about anything like that.

Analyst

Thanks for taking my my question.

Eric Langan
Eric Langan
Chairman, CEO & President at RCI Hospitality

Yep. Thank you.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Fantastic.

Mark Moran
CEO at Equity Animal

Thank you very much for the question, and thank you, Eric and Bradley. On behalf of the company and our subsidiaries, thank you, and good night. Please visit one of our clubs or restaurants to have a great time.

Executives
    • Eric Langan
      Eric Langan
      Chairman, CEO & President
    • Bradley Chhay
      Bradley Chhay
      Chief Financial Officer
Analysts
    • Mark Moran
      CEO at Equity Animal
    • Analyst
    • Jason Scheurer
      Founder & President at Orchard Wealth & Legacy Management

Key Takeaways

  • Total revenues of $65.9 million, down 8.9% year-over-year, primarily due to the sale of underperforming Bombshells locations and severe winter weather, partly offset by new/rebranded clubs and improving March trends.
  • Net income rose to $3.2 million ($0.36 GAAP EPS) versus $0.8 million ($0.08 GAAP EPS) last year, driven by $6.1 million lower nightclub impairments despite reduced same-store sales.
  • The nightclub segment generated $57.5 million in revenue (–3.1%) with a non-GAAP operating margin of 29.8% after $2 million in impairments, while Bombshells revenue fell 35.6% to $8.2 million, resulting in a slight non-GAAP loss.
  • RCI repurchased 56,875 common shares for $2.9 million and acquired two upscale nightclubs (Flight Club Detroit and Platinum West South Carolina) for approximately $6 million, advancing its “back to basics” capital plan.
  • The five-year capital allocation strategy targets deploying 40% of free cash flow to club acquisitions and 60% to share buybacks, debt reduction and dividends, aiming for 10–15% annual free cash flow per share growth and over $250 million in free cash flow.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
RCI Hospitality Q2 2025
00:00 / 00:00

Transcript Sections