By Investing.com — Shares in Dollar Tree (NASDAQ:DLTR) rose in premarket US trading after the budget store chain announced that Chief Executive Rick Dreiling had stepped down after almost two years in the role.
According to a company spokesperson quoted by Reuters, Dreiling’s decided to leave the position due to personal health challenges over the last two months.
Dreiling will be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Michael Creedon Jr. on an interim basis. Lead Independent Director Edward Kelly will also take over for Dreiling as Chairman of the company.
Dollar Tree said it was not searching among internal and external candidates for Dreiling’s successor.
Meanwhile, the firm backed its third-quarter outlook and reiterated its desire to undergo a strategic review of its operations, including the possible sale or spin-off of its Family Dollar unit.
“Mr. Dreiling was instrumental in a number of management changes and initiatives that have helped to invigorate the Dollar Tree and Family Dollar banners, in spite of a challenging consumer and competitive backdrop,” analysts at KeyBanc led by Bradley Thomas said in a note. “We believe this announcement will add incremental urgency to the Family Dollar strategic review process.”
Earlier this year, Dollar Tree unveiled plans to shut 970 Family Dollar locations, as it grapples with intensifying competition from bigger rivals like Walmart (NYSE:WMT) and Target in the race to attract inflation-hit consumers with lower prices. So far, 655 stores had been closed as of Aug. 3 and said it would shutter another 45 by the end of 2024.
Dollar Tree’s stock price has plummeted by more than 53% so far this year.
(Yasin Ebrahim and Reuters contributed reporting.)